To not practice for the phonics screening?

[PlinthOfSoap]

Over half term it was suggested we look at past papers and practice with DC. I ignored this as we were relaxing and having fun.

Now a letter came home in the bag last night, asking us to practice over the weekend with past papers.

Am I being unreasonable to not bother, and just let DC have a go at it next week? Assume they have been doing all the necessary prep in school so DC isn't going to be completely blind sided.

I don't see why I would want to try and coach DC to get a better score, or am I doing him a disservice? I thought the results were important for the school but not really for DC, and I don't really want to make it a big thing by practicing past papers.

Is he likely to pass anyway? If so, he doesn't need to practice. If not, he would need to retake in year 2 if he fails.

I don't see why you wouldn't even put a teeniest bit of effort in and support your child with a bit of extra homework, then let them wing it !

I think there's a huge difference between intensive coaching and regular practice. The skill they're asking you to practice is reading which will only be advantageous to your child, surely.

He reads to us every night, but what we're being asked to do is past papers of the test, which isn't normal reading.

I do understand the reluctance to feel like you're preppong such a young child for a test, but all they're actually doing is asking you to do some phonics practice with him. Does he normally read to you? If so,.it's just an alternative reading activity for you to do one evening.

Your child is so young, I would leave it. When my child did theirs they didn't even know they where doing it. My child did fail (hate that word) but passed it a year later. He then went on to get all 7,8 and 9s at GCSE. The phonics test is irrelevant, all it does is make some mums boast in the playground, it does nothing to help the kids

I think so, all parents evenings this year have said he's doing fine. Is it just pass or fail and score doesn't matter?

Do you not already practice phonics anyway? The whole point is that if a child has secure phonics knowledge then their journey to learning to read and write will be much easier for them. You’re making a point that may well be detrimental to your child.

Its good to get them used to studying for tests when they're little and view it as something just different and fun. Instill good habits now and you'll have a lot less stress when its SATs time.

I’d do one just as an extra homework activity - don’t tell DC it’s test prep - just so you can see where he is and how he is doing. If he’s good at reading he may get tripped up by the nonsense words in the phonics test as he is used to words making sense - no point letting him fail with attendant possible confidence impact if 20 mins of test technique prep would have meant he would pass.

The entire point of the phonics test is that they can't really prepare.. they are made up words based on the sounds and yes, I guess you can practice but if the base knowledge isn't there, one weekend of practice won't make much difference.

I think you're totally justified in your position - your DC is Year 1, still so young. They have years of testing and exams ahead - I really wouldn't get too focused on that yet!

Is this is how you are going to be with everything extra you are asked to do ? I mean do it or not but i don't understand why you wouldn't, it is some letters and sounds.

I’m a teacher and also have my youngest doing his phonics test now too. My eldest whizzed through his but my youngest is a good reader but tries to make nonsense words proper words so isn’t doing as well (for the test - not phonics or reading).
I’ve decided I’m happy he’s good at reading and likes reading and has moved up all the phonics groups and is in the final group so he’s obviously doing well.
If he doesn’t pass a test because getting children to read nonsense words is the opposite of what we’re teaching them to do - link it to a known word - then it’s the school’s score which is affected not him.

If however it’s because they’re struggling and need extra support then I would.
My son’s been doing a phonics club after school which I think is a bit much but he’s enjoying it (and practicing nonsense words) 🤦🏻‍♀️

Phonics underpin reading and early spelling. It’s not the only skill needed but is pretty crucial. Good readers don’t always do so well in the phonics screener as they can be confused by the alien words. Therefore if I were you I’d go through one paper together. It’s child friendly with lots of pictures of aliens with funny names. I think you’re being a bit stubborn about it tbh.

I didn’t think anyone prepped for a phonics screening 😂

doing homewoek as requested is different though isn’t it? It’s no different to practising spellings

I disagree. If a child is unfamiliar with the concept of nonsense words, they will be confused and try to make them into real words.

I didn't bother - we just continued reading every night. DS got all but one point in the test.

I knew that DS was a strong reader though who was very bored of phonics in isolation and the best thing for him was to try and read books with him that he would enjoy. I might have taken a different approach if he was getting to grips with phonics.

We don't even tell them it's a test in my school - they just do that assessment instead of our standard trackers...

If he can read well and enjoys it, I'd not worry about it. Phonics is only to read. My own DD couldn't learn to read by phonics (phonological processing disorder) but liked reading anyway and is good at it now at 12 and was then too.

No child in year 1 will be unfamiliar with nonsense words unless their school have spectacularly failed in their approach to teaching phonics.

I'm a teacher and completely agree with you OP some schools have completely lost sight of the fact it's not an important test. In my opinion if a child is struggling then they need extra support throughout year 2 which is perfectly fine for a young child not excessive preparation so they can 'pass' a test and someone can tick a box.

Though this really only matters for the purpose of the phonics test. If they can read anyway, it doesn't really matter imo.

Reading builds spelling ability too.

It really is a test for the school more than the child. We will happily intensively coach a child through the test, knowing they can read but not do phonics, and then ignore it happily going forward if the only issues were alien words. I am not a fan of pure synthetic phonics in all honesty.

DC are at independent school and I don’t think did phonics screening (they don’t sit SATs either), but it became very evident in Y1 that DS was really struggling with phonics. He was assessed for dyslexia by an EP who confirmed he isn’t dyslexic, but was one of the minority of children that phonics doesn’t work for. School took him off phonics and he was taught sight reading instead which worked much better for him. He got 8’s/9’s at GCCE and is on track for A*/As in 3 humanities subjects at A level.

DD flew through phonics with no issues at all. If they’d sat phonics screening I don’t think I would have wanted to coach them to pass, I’d rather any issues with phonics were identified early so any necessary interventions can be made early.

I never did any practice for it with any of my dc and all 4 got full marks. Even the one that has severe dyslexia so I wouldn't stress about it, if they've been teaching them properly they should pass.

How weird

We were never asked to practice or anything.

To be honest I didn't even know it was happening or had happened!!

I didn’t see any point in prepping DS for the test (and the school didn’t ask us to). Last year, the lass mark was 32/40 but schools should be well aware of those that are struggling with reading and those that are doing well without the need for a random test.

this. It’s not a big deal. The standard should be to pass. One of my Dc failed- one of a couple in the year, and all failed for an underlying reason. Eventually the school realised my DC didn’t “get phonics” and she was moved to whole word books. She motored in year 2 and could read fluently by the end.

I wouldn’t expect a child not experiencing some significant struggle to fail tbh.