1. Directorate of Children’s Services Letters and Sounds Phonics and High Frequency Words Assessment Pack for SENCOs Denise Foxall Learning Support Service

2. Directorate of Children’s Services Background information and user guidance This document “Letters and Sounds: SENCO Assessment Pack for Phonics and HFWs” is based on the DCSF guidance to schools: “Letters and Sounds: Principles and Practice of High Quality Phonics” (Ref: 00281-2007FLR-EN). It is essential that this assessment pack is used within the context of the original guidance “Letters and Sounds: Principles and Practice of High Quality Phonics”.

3. Directorate of Children’s Services How should it be used? This assessment pack is designed for use in schools by SENCOs and SEN support staff to conduct a more detailed diagnostic assessment of the word level reading and spelling skills of pupils. It should assist SENCOs to determine which phases or elements within “Letters and Sounds: Principles and Practice of High Quality Phonics” have not been successfully achieved by a specific group of pupils - those who may have a SEN.

4. Directorate of Children’s Services What does it look like? Very similar to the current HFW and Phonics checklist There are both teacher record sheets and pupil friendly word lists. Obviously set out in the new L&S Phases. We have not included Phase 1 as schools will use the L&S document to assess pupils strengths and weaknesses in this area of “pre-phonics”.

5. Directorate of Children’s Services Who is it intended for? “Letters and Sounds: SENCO Assessment Pack for Phonics and HFWs” is not intended for use by class teachers to replace their usual classroom assessments and observations of pupils’ learning of HFWs and phonics. Most pupils assessed with this tool will not be in Reception classes or Year 1 but are likely to be older pupils who are still working to achieve skills in Phases 1-6 of Letters and Sounds. The Learning Support Service intends to ‘migrate’ to a Learning Support Service version of this assessment tool from September 2008, making use of it in our assessments with appropriate pupils.

6. Directorate of Children’s Services Where can I get it and how much? It is free for use in Dudley schools. A gift from Learning Support Service to Dudley SENCOs! We will place this on the SENCO web-site, sending all SENCOs an email with direct link. If you don’t receive this in the next 2 weeks, please contact Alice Tromans or Sheila Briscoe on 3733.