1. Year one phonics screening check 2016 - 2017

2. What is the phonics screening check?
The Phonics Screening Check was introduced by the Government in June 2012 for all Year One pupils. It was designed to give teachers and parents information on how your child is progressing in phonics and reading.
It is a short and simple assessment to ensure that children are able to decode when reading to an appropriate standard by the age of 6. All Year One pupils must complete the check.
The Phonics Screening Check helps teachers to identify any children who need extra help, so they can receive the support they need to improve their reading skills. These children will then need to retake the check in Year Two.
The Phonics Screening Check comprises of a list of 40 words and non-words which the child will read one-to-one with a teacher. There are around 4 words per page and takes around 10 minutes to complete.

3. What does It test?
The test is designed to identify if your child is able to;
- Sound out and blend graphemes in order to read simple words.
- Read phonically decodable one-syllable and two-syllable words, e.g. cat, sand, windmill.
- Read a selection of nonsense words which are referred to as pseudo words.

4. Terminology
CVC A consonant-vowel-consonant word, such as cat, pin or top. You may also come across the abbreviation CCVC for consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant words such as clap and from. Also CVCC for words such as mask and belt.
Phoneme Phonemes are the smallest unit of speech-sounds which make up a word. If you change a phoneme in a word, you would change its meaning. For example, there are three phonemes in the word sit /s/-/i/-/t/. If you change the phoneme /s/ for /f/, you have a new word, fit. If you change the phoneme /t/ in fit for a /sh/, you have a new word, fish - /f/-/i/- /sh/.
Grapheme Graphemes are the written representation of sounds.
Digraph Two letters which together make one sound. There are different types of digraph – vowel, consonant and split.
Split digraph Two letters, which work as a pair to make one sound, but are separated within the word.
Item A word or non-word that a child is asked to read as part of the screening check.

5. What does the screening check look like?
SCREENING CHECK EXAMPLE
YOUTUBE

6. What are nonsense words?
These are words that are phonically decodable but are not actual words with an associated meaning e.g. brip, snorb. Pseudo words are included in the check specifically to assess whether your child can decode a word using phonics skills and not their memory.
The pseudo words will be shown to your child with a picture of a monster and they will be asked to tell their teacher what sort of monster it is by reading the word. This not only makes the check a bit more fun, but provides the children with a context for the nonsense word which is independent from any existing vocabulary they may have. Crucially, it does not provide any clues, so your child just has to be able to decode it. Children generally find nonsense amusing so they will probably enjoy reading these words.

7. What is allowed?
• either sound and blend the word or just say the word
• in any accent
• taking into account any difficulties with pronunciation
• self-correcting
• being generally encouraged

8. What is not allowed? • saying the sounds without blending
• being encouraged to have another go
• having several goes and then having the correct one accepted (The final one must be scored.)
•being told whether correct or not

9. What happens if children do not succeed?
If your child does not reach the pass mark they will be given additional support in Year Two.
The children will then resit the Phonics Screening Check in the following summer term and these scores will once again be submitted to TAW and the DFE.

10. Who sees the results?
•Parents; a letter will be sent to Parents with final reports at the end of the academic year.
•Telford and Wrekin and the DFE; School will send their data at the end of the assessment period.

11. Pass mark
Since the tests began the pass mark has been 32 out of 40, but the tests have become more difficult as the years have progressed. The check is not about passing or failing but checking appropriate progress is being made. If children do not reach the required standard, then they will be retested in Year Two after accessing additional support. Children progress at different speeds, so not reaching the threshold score does not necessarily mean there is a serious problem. Your child will re-sit the check the following summer term.

12. Helpful websites www.ictgames.com www.phonicsplay.co.uk
Youtube; Mr Thorne Does Phonics
Squeebles (app)
Mr Thorne apps
Oxford Owl – phonics made easy

13. EXAMPLE