Phonics Screening Check
Year 1
What is phonics?
Phonics is a way of teaching children
to read quickly and skilfully.
Children are taught how to recognise
the sounds each individual
letter makes(phonemes) and to identify
the sounds that different combinations
of letters make(graphemes) such as ‘sh’ and ‘oo’. Children then use this
knowledge to segment then blend words in order to read.
How do we teach phonics?
Children are taught to read by breaking down words
into separate sounds or ‘phonemes’. They are then
taught how to blend these sounds together to read the whole word.
At Our Lady and St Joseph’s we teach phonics following the Ruth Miskin, Read Write Inc
Programme.
Children start with 20 minutes a day when they enter F1, this is then increased to an hour session
from F2 to Year 1.
Most children should come off the programme as they enter Year 2, however is needed remain
for further support in the development of reading and phonics.
What is the Year 1 phonics screening
check?
• The Year 1 phonics screening check is a short, light-touch assessment to
confirm whether the children in Year 1 have learnt phonic decoding to an
appropriate standard.
• This ‘midpoint check’ during their time in KS1 will ensure that we have a
clear understanding of what the children need to learn in year 2.
When does it happen?
• Schools will be able to administer the check at any time that
suits them during the week 13th - 17th June 2016.
What does the check involve?
• The check includes a list of 40 words - half real, half pseudo which each pupil reads one-to-one with a teacher.
• Children are allocated 10 seconds in which they need to read each
word.
• Every child is different, but in the pilot most children took
between four and nine minutes to complete the assessment.
• The threshold is typically 32 words out of 40.
Examples of what it will look like.
Do children get confused by the non-words?
• We regularly use alien words in our teaching of phonics to emphasise
using our phonics knowledge and not to rely only on word
recognition.
• In the check the non-words are presented alongside a picture of an
imaginary creature, and children can be told the non-word is the
name of that type of creature. This helps children to understand the
non-word should not be matched to their existing vocabulary.
What happens if your child does not meet
the standard?
• The screening check will identify children who have
phonic decoding skills below the level expected for the
end of Year 1 and who therefore need extra help. Schools
will be expected to provide extra help and children will
then be able to retake the assessment in Year 2.
What are we doing to prepare?
• Alongside the daily teaching of phonics (Read Write Inc) children
have guided reading sessions weekly and read with a adult 1:1 to
build upon their individual reading targets.
• We have begun to revise sounds and words as a whole class for
10 minutes each morning- to allow children to access all the
sounds covered in the test.
What can you do?
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Keep up the fantastic reading from home which has a huge effect on children’s reading.
Use the school linked websites- bug club and espresso which have fantastic resources.
Encourage children to sound out new words.
Access the brilliant range of online phonic activities- some are listed below
http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/
http://www.familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/phonics/play/
http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/content/games/literacy_menu.html
http://www.ictgames.com/phonic_fighter4.html
http://www.ictgames.com/literacy.html
Questions?