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.

I think that as long as he understands he has to use his phonics and that there will be alien words he has never come across, that should be good enough.

All words are alien words before you have seen/heard them.

So the only practice should be making sure he knows to sound out and not guess. Which is what he should have been being taught for the last two years anyway.

You've said up post that you read every night - you can alternate it to the past papers instead of their reading book if you wish.
But as you've been regularly reading I wouldn't see a need to prep for a test. It May be useful for your child to have a read through one so it's not "new" at school. I think your OP reads like you don't do reading at home but as you've said later down you do - completely up to you x

Seems like this is for the school’s benefit, not your child, however, if my child enjoyed phonics I would do it as general homework / practice. If my child wasn’t keen I wouldn’t make a big deal
of it.

I wouldn’t be practising if you’re reading and the child is reading well. If a child has a challenge with phonics, artificially inflating the test scores can then reduce the help available. There is also no benefit of getting a perfect score versus a pass.

That sounds really dull. I taught my DS to read before he went to school, without using phonics.
I left school to fill in any gaps with their phonics teaching.

The Reception teacher " unofficially " tried the yr1 phonics screening test with a couple of her best readers. They both got full marks, so I presume the teaching was good.
We absolutely never practised phonics at home, but we did read every day.

Good to see that most don't think I'm being unreasonable!

DS is a decent reader and, as PP have suggested, if he's struggling then I'd rather he got any support needed instead of trying to conceal it through test practice.

I'm really surprised that the school is even asking us to practice tbf.

My kids didn't even know they were taking a test. Neither did we. We never practiced for it. Seems crazy at this age.

I did not practise with either of mine but I was confident they would easily pass. They did.

My third child goes to a different school than my older two did. It has an (evidence based) approach that other than reading, there is no homework. It is wonderful! I wouldn’t have dreamt of prepping my child for a phonics test…he passed with flying colours. The biggest parenting regret I have is dragging my older two through primary school homework. All it does-is entrench the difference between only children/children with siblings, single parents/ homes with two parents etc and so forth. Bloody craft projects and posters and nonsense…all to tick a box. Do not waste your time. Teach them to love learning of course, but organically.

Do they normally get homework? Even our year 1s get set a weekly homework task alongside reading so if the phonics prep was part of that then I would be encouraging my child to do it.

You say if they fail then they will be given extra support but it's likely the extra support is currently in place now. In my school they run after school phonics club for children in year 1 who should be able to pass but are currently struggling. This is not offered to the children in year 2 and in my school children continue to be grouped in phonics potentially into year 4 where they attend the group of their level and when possible have an additional 10 mins 1:1 with a TA (however with so many cuts this doesn't always happen as there tends to be bigger priorities).

The biggest issue I see children make in the groups I have is not being able to spot where the special friends are - especially the 'chatty' friends and in some cases wildly guess the word based on recognition of a few letters.

If you are confident your child reads well and can do all these things then I agree you shouldn't need to do much more, but if the teacher has specifically given you things for your child this suggests maybe they think a bit of parental support would go a long way - will you be more supportive in the future for instance if a teacher makes any suggestions to help your child?

Agree that the only prep needed is to make sure they understand what “alien” words are so they are not trying to make those words real words - this is a very early version of “exam technique”! I would do a couple of sheets with him as an alternative to reading the school book but nothing else. Y1s should not be cramming for a test!

The test is just a way of measuring how well the school teaches phonics. If they have a good, systematic approach the majority of the children will learn to use phonics to decode and will pass. Some children struggle despite this for various reasons. Doing a test practice in school is just a way to assess the children to see who needs more input, doing it at home just before the actual test is very unlikely to increase a child's competence. It's not going to teach them anything new - that's what structured phonics LESSONS are for.

Our school have gone crazy over this test. We've had weeks of homework related to it and this week constant messages about it. It just leaves me with the impression that either the teachers have been shit and half the class can't read, or they are under immense pressure by someone (the head?) to make sure the class scores very well.

I would want my DC to pass, as they have to repeat the test in year 2 if they don't. However if they were genuinely struggling, it might be better they DON'T pass so the school give them support.

Both of mine did practise tests a few months before and passed them, so I assumed they would be fine. Our school encouraged reading, but not specific test practise. They did do test practise at school as e.g. the alien words can really confuse some children.

Not at 5 or 6.... They have years ahead to practise for tests.

Phonics don’t work for every child and there’s nothing wrong with this, many children still read by sight and do absolutely fine as a result. It’s particularly common for kids with SEND. The alien words are a sticking point for my DS who can read fluently and has a reading age of 8 at 5. He has SEN and hates the alien words, he tries to turn them into a real word which makes sense logically to me too and I’m NT. It’s just another lovely Goveism.

We have spent a bit of time with him on alien words and he got 38/40 in his practice. This is despite him technically being non verbal btw.

... Reading every day is practising phonics...

I have a child in Y1 doing the phonics test next week too. Asides from reading her phonics books and story books and asking her to work through one past paper I haven't made her do any more prep. They are prepping in class, so I wouldn't worry too much. Especially if the teacher hasn't expressed any concerns to you.

I appreciate this is a SEN issue and phonics don't work for all.

However.
No 6 year old knows every word in the world. They need to understand they may come across words they haven't seen before, or heard. So they need to be able to say 'what does snit mean?' or know to look it up, and not just try to squeeze it into a word they already know.
The phonics test is to encourage good teaching of phonics so as the child progresses to more complex words they can read them (and may then realise they have heard the word and know what it means) rather than shoehorn them to a different word.
e.g. electric, eccentric, eclectic

I was listening to R4 yesterday where they were saying England has been using 'evidence based teaching' for years, whereas Wales hasn't and Wales has poorer results due to this.

My kids used to enjoy working out what the aliens were called. They also liked showing me how good they were at reading the other words. Have you tried to see if he enjoys it? If he does, then why is doing it an issue?

Sod that I didn't practice with my son. They do so much academic work these days in the early years I only do creative tasks with him at home.

Yes I know the context, I read Nick Gibbs’ new book and he covers it well, I recommend giving it a read if interested in the curriculum reforms. I grasp how and why phonics and indeed alien words work for some but I still don’t think reading by sight is damaging. It’s how I learnt and I did a PhD in literature so I did ok…

This is ridiculous, our school isn’t even telling them they’re doing a test and we’ve had no homework about it at all - they’re treating it as a phonics activity, the type of which they’ve been doing in school anyway and no pressure whatsoever which I’m incredibly grateful for. Who needs exam preparation and stress when you’re 5 or 6, most kids in Europe aren’t even in formal achooling

We didn’t even do the homework in primary school. All the evidence shows it doesn’t improve outcomes. Kids need to be kids. No way on earth I’d practice for phonics. Ignore the poster who suggested they’d have to repeat year 2, absolutely not true, as if there’s funding for this! Hilarious.

Its ok to apply critical thinking to your child’s education and not just follow pointless instructions.

I think you read the post wrong - they don't repeat year 2 but they repeat the test again in year 2.

Also to note, yes a lot of this might come down to schools wanting to ensure they are meeting targets but the other reason for setting homework on phonics - parents! You can guarantee all these posters who are being quite blase about the screening will not be so calm about it if their child did not meet the target. Teachers need to cover themselves from parents complaining about why their child didn't meet the requirement so by running clubs, additional phonics in class in the run up to the screening, 1:1 intervention for those who need it the most AND sending sounds home to practice means they can explain to parents they have done all they can, and that actually some support at home would help reinforce learning at school.