The Phonics Test for 6 Year Olds

[WroxhamSchool]

Hello from me!

Just a little introduction, I am the Deputy Head of The Wroxham Primary, in Potters Bar. We are a one form entry Primary School with a Nursery. We work on the principle that our children are the most important part of the school and as a result, we include them in their learning. For example the children help work out where we are going to go with our topics and they select the challenge of work they feel confident with, which makes for a great learning environment and one where the children feel valued. The school has moved from Special Measures in 2003 to Outstanding in in 2006, where it has stayed ever since.

That is just a little bit of background information, now onto the main event! I emailed Rowan Davies, who suggested that I posted on here, so I hope that is ok?

As some of you know the Government has decided to bring in a new test for our six year olds in England, to check their phonic knowledge. We at our school and many other organisations (see list below) are against this idea, as it goes against everything that we believe in.

We feel that this test, which will be reported to OFSTED, will narrow the curriculum for the children in Nursery and Reception, as some schools will feel pressure to ensure that the children are ready for the test in Year 1. This is not a good thing as it will result in putting some of our children off reading, as not every child accesses reading through this method.

We have started a campaign, which is gathering momentum, with our base being readingshouldbefun.wordpress.com

On the Blog you will find lots of information about the test, in addition to this you will find a short video showing the real meaning of reading (which does include phonics, just not only phonics).

We would love to have the support of Mumsnet, as we know that you are key to our children's learning (we only have them 6 hours a day!).

I would be interested to hear from people and try to answer any of your questions. I will also direct some of the people who are backing the campaign to this site, as they have additional information to myself.

Below is a statement from The Cambridge Primary Review, which details their position, but I would like to emphasise that we do not have a problem with the teaching of phonics, just the fact that our 6 yr olds don't need to be tested, or have the data sent to OFSTED.

Thanks in advance

Roger Billing

One of the key recommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review, the most comprehensive research into English primary education for the last forty years, recommends that children should have an entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. Research evidence in this country and internationally shows that talking to and with young children is of great developmental importance. Telling stories, listening to stories and enjoying books is a vital part of learning throughout primary school. The following video clip shows that enjoying high quality literature at primary school is essential and that learning to read should be a varied and rewarding process.

Some of the Groups backing the Campaign

David Reedy ? President, UKLA

John Coe ? Chairman, National Association for Primary Education (NAPE)

Alison Peacock ? National Network Leader for the Cambridge Primary Review (CPR)

John Hickman ? Chair, National Association of Advisers for English (NAAE)

Russell Hobby ? General Secretary, National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT)

Christine Blower ? General Secretary, National Union of Teachers (NUT)

Professor Trisha Maynard ? Chair of The Association for the Professional Development of Early Year Educators (TACTYC)

Bill Goodhand ? Chair of The National Association for Small Schools (NASS)

MerryMarigold - Am I right in thinking you haven't taught your DS to read yet?

So how do you know anything else will work better for him than phonics?

Your kid might have all the problems my DD has and not be able to learn to read via phonics or whole word or multi-sensory activities. It is far too early for you to start blaming phonics.......

And if your child does learn to read using whole words, he might never learn to spell........

IME if a kid needs an excessive amount of 'multi-sensory activities' to learn to read, then it is because they have subtle undiagnosed vision and hearing problems. Problems which don't get diagnosed on the NHS, because opticians and audiologists here only test for vision and hearing loss, not any of a multitude of other problems that effect vision and hearing.....

For anyone who doesn't remember my story, my DD was absolutely unable to learn to read anyway at all. But after fixing her vision problems with vision therapy, and fixing her auditory problems with auditory integration training, she very quickly learnt to read (in Y3 aged 8).

So it wasn't phonics or the way it was taught that was the problem - it was her hearing. Her hearing (and vision) was easily cured - what was hard was finding out she had a hearing (and vision) problem.

But I am certainly glad we managed to eventually fix the underlying problems, rather than finding a different way to teach her......

"Few teachers are trained in curriculum design, and if they were they are hardly well placed to trial and test such programmes. This is not their job. Their job is to deliver effective instruction, choose the best that is available that is shown to work."

Malaleuca - I wholeheartedly agree with this.

But who is trained in curriculum design, and where is curriculum design taught?

But who is trained in curriculum design, and where is curriculum design taught?

Good question, Bonsoir! I think some of our curriculum designers could have done with training! We have recently been through a dark period in Western Australia, where an outcomes-based curriculum was imposed for several years, without any kind dof trialling. Teachers were expected to go home and construct curricula based around the desired outcomes. It seems unbelievable but it is true.
There must be somewhere in the world !

Oh gosh, you are not reassuring me here!

All schools communicate with parents differently :)

But at both schools my kids have been at they held a mini workshop for parents on phonics.

However they both also sent home 'look and say' books despite teaching phonics.

So, I would say to you as a parent, the main thing is to ignore the look and say books that are sent home, and just help your kid read decodeable books/words.

(Starting with regular CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant) )

When you start school and start getting books home it'll be easier to advise you. Hopefully they'll tell you if they're using Read, Write Inc, or Jolly Phonics, or Letters & Sounds, or what.......

It seems crazy. The very heart and soul of a school is its curriculum...

It's funny that no-one is able to make a profit from textbooks and materials (and I have heard teachers in other forms of education than school complain about the poor quality of teaching materials) when they seem so extortionately expensive.

I always provided an introduction to "how we use phonics" for new parents when I taught reception in the summer term as part of the induction system.

The curriculum is much, much more than schemes of work and planning IMHO.

Surely the first thing you want to do when designing a curriculum is decide what skills and knowledge you wish the pupils to acquire, and in what sequence?

I share Kelly's view, that is a syllabus rather than a curriculum.

www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm

I always (but without thinking about it) equate a syllabus with a subject, and a curriculum with the whole (encompassing all subjects and a whole view).

I would include things like the school ethos, environment, wellbeing and organisation as important elements of the curriculum

I for one find other people's planning a nightmare which is why I would never buy a commercially produced model. Planning needs to be tailored to individual classes/children not some generic mass market version. My own planning is fluid and often retrospective in response to the children's needs.

I would have derived my school ethos and environment from the desired outcomes rather than the other way round. Organisation I think is quite separate to curriculum. Well-being is part of ethos, IMO.

Curriculum design is an interesting topic and one which I am closely involved in on several levels.
Evidence Based Educational Methods is one of the best books on the topic by some of the best peopel in the field.

We know what works. Unfortunately as Tom Burkard says (thanks for the recommendation Maverick of Inside the Secret Garden-can't wait to get stuck into it) a theory (for which read nothing more than a subjective whim) driven and intellectually guided elite have used our children as guinea pigs and the outcome is the mess we are in now.

There is no comparable growth in the incidence of SEN in any other country apart from the USA, where concerns have been raised about both the spiralling cost of SEN provision and the lack of accountability or independent measures of children?s performance as a result of specialist provision (McLaughlin & Rouse, 2000). Current strategies are having little effect on identifying and addressing special educational needs.

Desired outcomes aren't always linked to a syllabus Bonsoir.

Kelly explores four ways of approaching "curriculum" theory but these aren't the only ones available

1. Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted.

2. Curriculum as an attempt to achieve certain ends in students - product.

3. Curriculum as process.

4. Curriculum as praxis.

intellectually misguided that should say

Tge perception of a curriculum as a process in itself is deeply worrying.
I have had people in education and allied professions tell me that the outcome is irrelevant-the process itslef is the issue.

Terrifying-never more so than when claimed by shirkers and the less intelleigent to justify the tripe they peddle.