Can’t make up my mind about Year 1 phonics check

[Rainallnight]

DD has Year 1 phonics check coming up soon. School have sent home some phonics materials for the Easter holidays (first time they’ve done this), and are putting on a phonics workshop for parents.

I can’t make up my mind whether to do extra phonics work with DD to ‘prepare’ for the test.

A big part of me thinks that this is basically the Government’s test of the school, and I’m not going to make my five year old do extra work for it. Her ability on the day of the test should be her ability with all other things being equal, not as a result of extra pressure/prep. Is that unreasonable?

But on the other hand, if this is the benchmark, then presumably it’s important for Year 2 that they reach that standard?

Can’t decide.

My now yes DS passed his with 38/40.
He still can't read well and struggles massively with it. He was fine with phonics. But his autism and adhd mean that phonics has been pretty pointless for him. He learned phonics. But didn't learn to read well. He will read sentences but miss words out, or put a different word in. So "the" might become "and" or "there" might become "she". Just simple words, which he could blend out if asked. But when he reads he just makes words up. He doesn't notice that the sentence he has read makes no sense either because he does as above or when he reads longer words if he doesn't know it by sight, he says something that isn't even a word. He doesn't notice that it is all wrong.

I despair. I don't even know how to help him. School don't recognise that it is an issue. I already pay for a tutor who does see it, but no changes have been seen in his reading ability.

So yeah. Phonics check for me means sod all.

Now yr4*

Extra work for year 1, NO CHANCE

TakemedowntoPotatoCity

Isn't this the test with 'nonsense' words? Completely ridiculous if you ask me.

This!

It's actually better for all children if parents don't make up for a weak school. It means the school is more likely to get pushed to change/improve. Change/improvement will benefit all children including the disadvantaged ones who often don't get the extra help at home.

Feel free to take one for the team with your own child’s education. I won’t be with mine.

Print some out and play games with them - snap / pairs

Have some on the walls and ask every time you go upstairs - ask her guess which sound you’re holding in your hand - let her have a go.

Doesn’t have to be a sit down activity

@ThisMustBeMyDream you are right about phonics, it’s not the catch all it’s reported to be. DfE are slowly catching up.
If you want to help your son, the Lifeboat scheme might be worth a look.

Also, the words you mention such as ‘the’ and ‘she’ are not decodable using phonics, which might be why he struggles with those.

@OppsUpsSide

Also, the words you mention such as ‘the’ and ‘she’ are not decodable using phonics, which might be why he struggles with those.

All words are decodable. Some parts of some words have less common grapheme/phoneme correspondence. You can decode every word if you know the code.

Yes I did but then again I do a lot of extra work with my children. This is very cultural for us as our parents were the same.

All words are decodable. Some parts of some words have less common grapheme/phoneme correspondence. You can decode every word if you know the code.

They are phonetically irregular and taught as ‘sight’ or ‘red’ or ‘tricky’ words.

No, phonetics doesn't come in to it.

They use rarer correspondences in the phonic code, and so are taught individually, but its still a case of 'these graphemes represent those sounds'

My son reads well, but by memory. The school sent home a sheet of the monster words, saying once he could do them they would send another. He can't consistently do them, so they haven't sent more. It's so painful. Apparently it's a set of 10 sheets. He also has a physical issue with his mouth, so certain sounds come out funny which I don't think is helping, but the school don't get it, despite him having regular SALT sessions. It's the same issue with reading books and he's on a really low level because of this, but can read really well at home. I know they always perform better at home, and maybe it's because I can understand him.

@saurostu Thanks so much for sharing that fab list!

I’m a year 1 teacher and absolutely hate the phonics screening. A big part of learning to read is sounding out a word and if it doesn’t sound quite right, trying to make sense of it. The fact they include pseudo words means we’re effectively deskilling the children- asking to them to say whatever nonsense they’ve just sounded out. As long as your child is progressing well, I wouldn’t do any extra work for that particular test.

I wouldn't go to great lengths to get your child to pass this test. With DD1 I raised my concerns that we seemed to be taking two steps forward and one back with phonics. I was unsure if she would pass.

They gave me additional worksheets, practice tests etc. I put in all the additional effort and she passed it.

Y2/Y3 I raised concerns about her phonics knowledge and reading ability. Set out a list of things that I noticed. Totally normal they said. She doesn't require any extra support. She passed the phonics test after all. This year I had her privately assessed. She's dyslexic.

No problem! I am hoping to make some more for other year groups too when I get around to it...

Please don't worry about the screening too much. In my experience a loving and caring household trumps a perfect score on the screening test any day!