Year 1 Phonics Check - Information for Parents

When the reports were given out  on Friday there were some questions from Year 1 parents about the Phonics Screening Check.
This is a simple test delivered to see whether the children are at the expected level for phonics knowledge. It isn't a reading test as the words are given in isolation. In fact many of the words are 'alien' words that are only designed to test phonic awareness.
The test is out of 40 and the pass mark is 32. If you child scores below the mark it is another way of identifying to us if they need additional support in their phonics.

Because we follow Read Write Inc, we already were well aware of the progress and level of the children. They take tests like this every 6 weeks as part of the program. There were no surprises with the results and the support required for the pupils who did not make the pass mark is already in place. These pupils will then be retested in Year 2 and you will be informed of the result.

It is worth pointing out the dramatic impact that RWI has had on phonic awareness and reading confidence. Last year (the first year of the assessment) 28% of pupils reached the right level. This year 74% reached/exceeded the pass mark.

We are confident that next year will see further improvement.