Meeting – Thursday 19th December 2013
What is the Year 1 Phonics Check?
‘The phonics screening check is a quick and easy check of your
child’s phonics knowledge. It helps your school confirm
whether your child has made the expected progress.
Your child will sit with a teacher he or she knows and be asked to
read 40 words aloud.
Your child may have read some of the words before, while others
will be completely new.
The check normally takes just a few minutes to complete and
there is no time limit. If your child is struggling, the teacher will
stop the check. The check is carefully designed not to be
stressful for your child.’
- DfE 2012
What are ‘non-words’?
‘The check will contain a mix of real words and ‘non-words’ (or
‘nonsense words’). Your child will be told before the check that
there will be non-words that he or she will not have seen
before. Many children will be familiar with this because many
schools already use ‘non-words’ when they teach phonics.
Non-words are important to include because words such as ‘vap’
or ‘jound’ are new to all children. Children cannot read the
non-words by using their memory or vocabulary; they have to
use their decoding skills. This is a fair way to assess their ability
to decode.’
-DfE 2012
After the check
‘Your school should tell you about your child’s progress in
phonics and how he or she has done in the screening
check in the last half-term of Year 1. If your child has
found the check difficult, your child’s school should also
tell you what support they have put in place to help him
or her improve. You might like to ask how you can
support your child to take the next step in reading.
All children are individuals and develop at different rates.
The screening check ensures that teachers understand
which children need extra help with phonic decoding.’
- DfE 2012
So what is phonics?
‘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’ or ‘oo’; 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 in
learning to read.’
-DfE 2012
Teaching Phonics at Holland Haven
At Holland Haven phonics is taught through daily Letters &
Sounds sessions.
Pupils are taught from reception into Year 1 & 2. Where
needed, phonics and spelling strategies are taught in KS2.
There are 5 phases that children are taught, and children
then progress onto Support for Spelling and other
phonics work as they progress through the school to their
needs and abilities.
So how do I help my child?
 Hear your child read every day and, if they struggle with a
word, model sounding it out.
 This is called a strategy check.
 The child will then have the skills to decode (sound out)
the word and blend it (put it back) together to create the
new word.
• Encourage your child to ‘sound out’ when reading or writing. Focusing
particularly on spotting more unusual sound patterns.
 Eg
 Digraph- 2 letters making one sound
 cow
 Trigraphs- 3 letters making one sound
 night
 Split digraphs- 2 vowels with a consonant inbetween.
Use to be known as the magic e!
 spine - i_e
Play games
 The children love to play games with focus sounds.
 Buried treasure shows real words and non-words
which is perfect practice.
 http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/BuriedTreasure2.html
 There are other games, like Picnic On Pluto which do
the same type of game to practice real and non-words.
Other suitable games
 http://www.familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games.ht
ml
 www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/alphablocks/
 www.ictgames.com/dinosaurEggs_phonics/index.htm
l
 http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Interactive.aspx?cat=40
 http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/
Ideas from the Department for Education (2012)
 Ask your child’s class teacher about the school’s approach to phonics and how you
can reinforce this at home. For example, the teacher will be able to tell you which
letters and sounds the class is covering in lessons each week.
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You can then highlight these sounds when you read with your child. Teaching how
sounds match with letters is likely to start with individual letters such as ‘s’, ‘a’ and ‘t’
and then will move on to two-letter sounds such as ‘ee’, ‘ch’ and ‘ck’.
With all books, encourage your child to ‘sound out’ unfamiliar words and then blend
the sounds together from left to right rather than looking at the pictures to guess. Once
your child has read an unfamiliar word you can talk about what it means and help him
or her to follow the story.
Your child’s teacher will also be able to suggest books with the right level of phonics
for your child. These books are often called ‘decodable readers’ because the story is
written with words made up of the letters your child has learnt. Your child will be able
to work out new words from their letters and sounds, rather than just guessing.
Try to make time to read with your child every day. Grandparents and older brothers
or sisters can help, too. Encourage your child to blend the sounds all the way through
a word.
Word games like ‘I-spy’ can also be an enjoyable way of teaching children about
sounds and letters. You can also encourage your child to read words from your
shopping list or road signs to practise phonics.
Mr Thorne
 Mr Thorne is a Year 2 teacher who is widely known for his
Letters and Sounds resources and activities with children.
 Here he teachers how to pronounce all of the alphabet
phonemes.
 http://www.mrthorne.com/44phonemes/
 This is the correct way of sounding out- please practice
with your child.
How to segment and blend
cat = c – a – t
run = r – u – n
black = b – l – a – ck
play = p – l – ay
light = l – igh – t
clown = c – l – ow – n
The clown went to play with the black cat.
Spelling
families
So what will my child see in the
Phonics Test?
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearni
ng/assessment/keystage1/a00200415/phonics
Here is the teacher’s training video which will shown
you some kinds of responses from the pilot.
Examples
 Before the test begins, the teacher will explain about
how to spot real words and no-words (non-words
have an alien picture by them).
 They will discuss the strategy that could be used to
sound out.
 Here is the practice sheet from 2012 that the
children would have been introduced to.
Other words from 2012 test
 stin
 proom
 sarps
 thend
 chip
 jazz
 farm
 thorn
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
stop
truck
jump
lords
kigh
girst
baim
yune
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
flods
groiks
strom
splaw
fair
flute
goat
shine
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
crept
shrubs
scrap
stroke
index
turnip
waiting
portrait
 fot
 keb
 gan
 ulp
 poth
 shan
 veen
 quorg
 drap
 flarm
 lect
 voisk
Words from
2013 test
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
thin
peck
torn
cheek
trap
snarl
milk
moist
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
quigh
herks
jorb
zale
bluns
skarld
splot
strabe
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
toy
spike
fuel
name
props
spoilt
scram
strike
panic
second
tantrum
reaching
The lowdown on the test
All questions taken from the DfE website (2012).
When does it happen?
Schools will be able to administer the check at any time that
suits them during the week of the 16th to the 20th June
2014. If a child is absent during that week, the school can
administer the check up until Friday 27th June 2014.
How long does the check take?
Every child is different, but in the pilot most children took
between four and nine minutes to complete the
assessment.
All questions taken from the DfE website (2012).
What was the threshold for the standard in the pilot?
The threshold in 2012 was 32 words out of 40. This standard
was set by Year 1 teachers following a recognised standard
setting procedure.
What skills do children need to meet the standard of the
phonics screening check?
All children need to be able to identify sounds associated with
different letters, and letter combinations, and then blend these
sounds together to correctly say the word on the page. The
same skill is needed whether the word is a real word or a nonword.
The words gradually get harder through the check as the
combinations of letters become more complicated. As long as
the child has said 32 out of the 40 words correctly, they will be
considered to have met the standard.
All questions taken from the DfE website (2012).
Will the standard be the same in June 2014?
The threshold for 2014 will be included in the screening
check materials which will remain secure until the start of
the check week (16 June 2014). The threshold will
ensure standards are maintained over time
What happens if a 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.
All questions taken from the DfE website (2012).
Why did so few children in the pilot achieve the required
standard compared with the numbers of children
achieving Level 2 by the end of Key Stage 1?
The Government recognises that ambitions for the phonics
check are more challenging than the current trajectory towards
reading at the end of Year 2. But we make no apology for
being ambitious about aiming for high standards in the
teaching of reading. We believe that if children get the
fundamental skill of reading using phonics right early on it will
give them a flying start and allow them to move quickly to
reading books for themselves and achieving even more in the
future.
Evidence from around the world shows that a systematic
approach to the teaching of phonics gives children the best
start in their reading. We recommend that some schools might
like to consider their approach to teaching phonics, and make
sure they are setting suitable high expectations for pupils’
progress in Year 1.
Remember...
Phonics is not the only thing needed to become a
fluent reader.
• Please continue to read with your child each night and
encourage them to:
• Sound out
• Re-read to check it makes sense.
• Use pictures for clues.
• Ask questions about the book.
• And most importantly ENJOY READING!
Any questions?