to find it difficult to take the year one phonics test seriously?

[xmasadsboohiss]

i understand the theory behind it, but i still think it's bonkers!

How can anything that produces words such as spunch be a bad thing? ... yabvvvu

A good teacher does teach a child to read, 5yearsandcounting and if they've taught them their phonics properly then they'll have no problem with the phonics check.

It's not the fault of the test that some teachers are hyping it up to the kids, it's just a national version of what the teachers should be doing anyway as part of their phonics teaching.

Our year 1 and 2s get half an hour of phonics in groups specific to the phase they are at 4 times a week.

Much as I dislike phonics as a 'cure all' to teach reading, our school has seen huge improvements, especially among the children in the middle ability groups.

It doesn't suit all and can be tricky for those with dyslexia/processing disorders though.

I think testing is a good way to establish who needs additional help so they can be targeted. It isn't about labelling children as failures.

DS5 failed it last year. I wasn't surprised and didn't care. He should be retaking it this week, probably to orris as he didn't do it today. I'm still not bothered about whether he passes, yet another fad test of the governments. I just want to know he's doing ok in his general education and is happy in school.

I know the reception class at his school do computer games with made-up words and real words, so I guess that's preparing them for the year 1 tests. But we have a lot of EAL pupils at our school and I would have thought that would skew the results as they may not know enough English to know the difference. Are allowances made for this?

I think the test is taking a lot of flack for what is actually poor practice in schools. There isn't any need for children to know they are taking a test, for cancelling school plays or for telling children they need to practice every day and have to do well. There are plenty of schools that don't do any of this and still get good results.

It's the same thing as the differences between those schools where year 2 children don't know they are taking KS1 tests and those that do loads of practice papers and have very formal testing arrangements.

starlight i think it is important that the things the little ones are tested on and how they are tested are taken seriously by parents. i'm delighted with my little one's school but i don't have blind faith in everything the individual school or the educational establishment as a whole are doing. i understand the need to identify kids that are finding phonics hard - and it's not a system that suits everyone - but really they are learning to read not 'decode'!

Sounds like a load of bollocks to me. Surely you start reading around 2/3 with flashcards of sounds. Then you start reading words. Why read nonsense words, what's the point?

It's the same with maths, they seem to be teaching it adding in extra steps that just don't seem necessary to me.

It is a DECODING test not a READING test

I wish the screening test had been in place when my Teen has been in infants. Then maybe it would have been noticed that she didn't know her phonics and remedial action could have been taken.

She is nearly 15 and still has difficulty decoding words she hasn't seen written down before. Often when I tell her how to pronounce it she knows the word and what it means. Unfortunately when we adopted her in y4 we had more important things to sort. Most of her phonics has been gained with her little sister.

The test certainly doesn't 'label children as failures' . It identifies children who will need extra support in y2 to learn a key skill to support their reading for life.

Sorry! Completely disagree rafals. Fluent readers do not read every letter. Some of the nonsense words in the phonics test are so similar to regular words they almost seem designed to trick! The pilot study clearly outlined this difficulty with a lot of anecdotal evidence suggesting nonsense words were in fact a disadvantage to able and fluent readers.

My phone is making up words now! To orris should read tomorrow!

Please remember that it is the government that insist on this, not teachers. Most teacher I know think it is utter nonsense. Moreover it has to be administered by a teacher, not a TA, a teacher and therefore take a teacher out of the classroom for a few days.

My son failed. August birthday and no allowance made for that as far as I could see. He got no extra help the following year at school either.
Didn't matter, he caught up anyway during year 2. He's now year 3 and ahead of "average" with his reading.

I just feel sorry for my dt's teachers as they have Ofsted to contend with week as well!

I do agree that no child should no they are completing a test and no good school should be placing pressure on such young children. It does bother me that this test seems to present phonics as a more significant skill when learning to read than any other. This is just not the case for all or even most children.

i think in theory the test doesn't label children as 'failures' but in real life some parents and children will feel that way. personally i'm just not comfortable with that kind of labelling and competitiveness at such a young age. don't six year olds have better things to worry about!

Arghh 'know' obviously.

Its bloody ridiculous. My son is attempting to make actual words. Too confusing.

None of our able children have managed to miss the required level. Not one over the last two years.

Infact there are very few, if any at all, surprises. We know in advance who is likely to have no problem, those who are borderline and those who will struggle.

If an able reader fails to reach the required level then something has gone wrong with either the instructions and ability to follow the instructions, or they don't really know their phonics sounds - hence why it may be useful to do to identify such children as they are likely to be fine in y1/2 reading and writing but will end up Struggling later on when the words get trickier.

FatherSpodo they don't need to know the difference, they just need to be able to read the 'word' that is on the page in front of them. It shouldn't be a problem for most EAL children. There are plenty that meet the required standard, even those that start schools with very little English. Probably an issue if they join part way through year 1 with no English but otherwise shouldn't be too much of a problem.

It isn't just a fad either. It's been used for years and years as a screening check for potential reading difficulties. If your child had a reading problem and was referred to an Ed Psych or for dyslexia assessment, they would probably sit a test very much like this one. It really is a light touch check to screen all children for potential difficulties so that they can be picked up and dealt with early.

They could get round that by not having to report the scores to the parents. The children need never know. At the end of the day it's an assessment tool for schools to see whether their phonics teaching is spot on, needs tweaking or demands a complete overhaul.

And phonics is THE significant skill needed for reading, what else is there?

There should be no emphasis at school on it though. Children shouldn't really be aware they are doing an assessment type thing at all. Just that they're reading to the teacher. No homework should be required.

very good point jodie - only the school need to know.

What else is there? Well there's whole word recognition, use of context. A whole host of skills is required.

But children learn in different ways. I learned really well with whole word recognition and was a free reader by 6, despite being mildly dyslexic. My school did no phonics at all but we still all learned to read.