What is the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check?
The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check is designed to confirm whether children have learnt the phonic decoding skills to the expected standard. The test was piloted in summer 2011, then introduced into all state schools in June 2012. The first results were published in September 2012. The next phonics screening check for Year 1 pupils will take place during the week starting 10 June 2024. The government hope that making sure that children have good phonic skills by the end of Year 1 will mean that they will be able to read well by the end of Key Stage 1 (end of Year 2).
What will the test cover?
The test will check that your child can do the following:
- Give the sound when shown a grapheme. A grapheme is a letter or group of letters that spell a sound in a word (examples include single letters like ‘c’ and groups of letters like ‘ea’).
- Blend sounds in order to read words.
- Read phonetically to decode one-syllable and two-syllable words that follow phonetic rules.
- Read a selection of nonsense words. These have been included to assess decoding skills as they won’t be able to guess the word. The child will know they are reading a nonsense word because they will have imaginary creature, like the one pictured on the left, alongside the word.
- Read real words like twin, hill, jars, etc.
How long will the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check Last?
Only 5 to 10 minutes, but there is no time limit for the test. Most children will complete the test in one sitting, but it is possible for them to have rest breaks if necessary.
Is it a group test or an individual test?
Individual.
Who will test my child?
This will vary from school to school. It may be the class teacher or the literacy coordinator. In my son’s school it will be the deputy head.
What is the pass mark?
The pass mark (threshold) in the year 2023 was 32 words out of 40. This threshold has been pretty consistent since the start of phonics testing.
Will I find out the result of my child’s Phonics test?
Yes. Your child’s school should tell you. The school can choose how they do this.
Will my child feel they have failed if they don’t pass?
The school should make the test as informal as possible and the children shouldn’t be aware that it is a test.
Will I be able to see the results for my child’s school? Will there be a league table for local schools?
No. You will only know your own child’s results, but the results will be used for school inspections and by local authorities.
How many children passed the Year 1 Phonics Test in previous years?
The official results show that 7% more of girls passed the test compared with boys and this has been a stable gap for many years now. The overall pass rate was 58%. There is an attainment gap for disadvantaged of 17 percentage points for the phonics test – sadly this measure is on the rise.
In 2022 (as at September 2023 the most recent year with figures), 75% achieved the expected level in phonics which is down from 82% in 2019. There has been a general decrease in attainment across key stage 1 compared to 2019 and it will be interesting to see if this is reversed once the pandemic effect works its way out.
What happens if a child fails the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check?
Any pupils who have not reached the required standard at the end of Year 1 should receive extra support from their school to help them improve their phonic decoding skills. They will then have the opportunity to retake the screening check in Year 2. Year 2 children who are retaking the phonics test will have the same questions as the Year 1 children and they will take it in the same week as those in Year 1.
What is my child is absent from school and misses the Phonics Screening Test?
If a child is absent during that week, the school can usually administer the check up a couple of weeks later – the government will announce this date each year. If the child does not return to school in time for this to happen, they will usually sit the test in Year 2.
What happens if a child takes the Year 1 phonics test in year 2 and fails it?
They do not need to take it in Year 3, but the school will be expected to maintain a programme of support for these children.
My child has a regional accent. Will this be taken into account?
Yes. The teacher testing the child will accept regional variations.
My child often self corrects when sounding out words. Will they take the first answer given in the test?
No, they take the last answer, so self correcting is fine. However, the last answer will be taken even if it is wrong, but an earlier answer was correct.
Can I see a sample test paper?
You can see sample questions here.
I’ve also written a similar guide to the Key Stage 1 SATs if you are looking ahead to Year 2.
i asked L’s school if he was on target for this test in case we needed to do a little extra work with him. They said not to worry as he would not have any problems as they work on practicing each day. I don’t mind L being tested but it does nark me a bit if they spend most the year coaching the kids to pass the test so the school looks good. It is just another example of being given a target and killing themselves to hit it.
Yes H says they are practise this regularly. I get the impression that he finds it easy enough, but I do wonder if time is spent preparing for this rather than doing more interesting things. Same problem with the SATs really.
Think the test is really silly. Not based on how children best learn to read. You need children to read for meaning and look at context to make sense of text. This kills reading. I have an B.Ed., and Dip Ed and Advanced Dip Ed and an M.A. in Education , particularly interested in language and reading so have a bit of knowledge in this field. Feel frustrated for children having to go through this farce.
It’s counter intuitive to deal with made up words. I wonder how many good readers fail the test. I’ll be interested to see how H gets on with it in June.
The only reason for this is that phonics are easier to test than any other aspect of reading. Phonics are fine if children have specific difficulties e.g. poor visual memory but for ordinary children best just to read, help them enjoy books and a little bit of phonic work and they are fine. Terrible waste of time, effort, money and opportunity.
Do you know my little grandaughter had her eyes tested and struggled on the bottom line because she thought it was another phonics test and she was trying to make it into a word. That says it all.
Wow really? I know nothing about phonics at all. It was all after my time. I think alpha locks is as close as I’ve gotten!