1. St. Scholastica’s Primary School Wednesday 29th April 2015

2. Phonics is a way of teaching children to read quickly and skilfully. They are taught how to : * Recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes; * Identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make- such as ‘sh’, ‘oo’ or ‘ai’ and * Blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word. Children can then use this knowledge to ‘de-code’ new words that they hear or see. This is the first important step to learning to read. What is phonics?

3. Research shows that it is the most effective way of teaching young children to read. It is particularly helpful for children aged 5-7. It gives children the skills they need to tackle new words. They can then go on to read any kind of text fluently and confidently. It frees them up to focus on reading for meaning and enjoyment. Children taught with phonics tend to read more accurately than those taught other methods such as ‘look and say’. This includes children who find learning to read difficult, for example, those who have specific learning difficulties.

4. What is the Phonics Screening Check? The phonics screening check is a quick and easy check of your child’s phonic knowledge. It helps the school confirm whether your child has made the expected progress. In 2015 the check will take place during the week commencing Monday 15th June.

5. How will my child be tested? The screening test will take place one child at a time in a quiet, comfortable room. During the week of 15th June, I will ask your child to read 40 words aloud. Some will be real words, some will be pseudo words. All will be de-codable. We will not be aware of what the individual words are until the week of the test as the tests have to be securely locked away. Your child will probably be familiar with some of the words, while others will be completely new. The check will normally take about 6-8 minutes and there is no time limit.

7. The check is carefully designed not to be stressful for your child. If your child is struggling, I will stop the test. If the school feels that your child is not yet able to attempt the test then we will dis-apply them. You will be informed if this is the case in the weeks prior to the test.

8. The check will contain a mix of real words and ‘pseudo words’(or ‘nonsense words’) Your child will be told when a group of words is real and when they are not. Non words are important to include because words such as ‘vap’ or ‘jound’ are new to all children. Children cannot read non words by using their memory or vocabulary: they have to use their phonic decoding skills. So it is a good way to assess their phonic knowledge. At school, the children are used to reading ‘nonsense words’ and will continue to practise reading these. What are Pseudo Words?

10. Any child absent on the day the check is taking place, can take it on their return to school, as long as this is before Friday 26th June 2015. If a child is absent from the date of the check until after the 26th June, he or she would be recorded as absent when submitting the data. What will happen if my child is absent when the test is administered?

11. Individual results will be made available to parents within 2 weeks of the check being completed. School-level results will be recorded in RAISEonline Results will be made available to Ofsted inspectors Results will not be published in performance tables National and local authority results will be reported to allow schools to benchmark the performance of their pupils. How will the Phonics Check results be used? YearSchoolNationalHackney 201240%58%52% 201370%69%72% 201483%74%79%

12. If your child found the check difficult, we will tell you what support will be put in place to help him or her improve their phonic decoding in Y2. You will be given information on how to help your child at home. Your child will be retested in Year 2 in the summer term. What happens after the check?

13. How can I help my child with their phonics?