Learning to Read Through Phonics

What is the phonics screening check? It is a quick and easy check of your child’s phonic knowledge. It helps your school confirm whether your child has made the expected progress. It will take place in June.

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.

Why phonics? Structured phonics teaching is an effective way of teaching children to read. They learn the skills needed to tackle new words in order to read fluently and confidently. They learn to read accurately with phonics.

How does the check work? Your child will sit with a teacher they know and will be asked to read forty words aloud. They may have seen some of the words before while others will be completely new. There is no time limit. If your child is struggling the teacher will stop the check. It is designed not to be stressful for your child.

What are nonsense words? (alien words) The check will contain a mix of real and nonsense words. Your child will be told before the check that there will be nonsense words that they haven’t seen before. We practise reading nonsense words daily in school so your child will be familiar with the concept.

Why are nonsense words included? Nonsense words are important to include because words such as ‘vap’ or ‘jound’ are new to all children. Children cannot read the nonsense 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.

After the check You will be informed as to whether your child has met the required level of achievement at the end of the Summer term If the check has been difficult for them we support will put into place to help them improve. Your child will have a chance to retake the test at the end of Year 2 (Year 1 children) If a Year 2 child still doesn’t meet the required level of achievement they will not be expected to re-take the test in Year 3. However, support will be put into place in Key Stage 2, to help them to improve their phonic skills.