Teachers who've done the phonics test, what did you find out?

[MerryMarigold]

Just wondering what kinds of useful info it showed up. Is it worth doing? Mrz mentioned it had thrown up some interesting findings...

It's about far more than what the teachers found out.

It's also about what the parents and the LEA found out.....

I'm not the Y1 teacher but I administered the check and I can now tell the Y1 staff that the children need to work on split vowel sounds (oe, ie and u_e) and words with more than one syllable as that is where they are weakest. Obviously different children have different needs which need to be addressed. The really strange thing for me was the number of children who made a near anagram of one particular word (real not pseudo) so I know these particular children aren't looking at the order of the letters.

Our R/1 teacher has been discussing it today, she's in the middle of doing it, and she's very happy so far! The children have found it quite easy, many of the children scoring full marks. ( However she did say she had started with the ones who she knows have secure phonic knowledge so things might deteriorate tomorrow!)

I just asked ds if he'd had to read some funny words at school and he laughed and said, "Yes, one was 'houseyman'!!" Hmmmm....

erm not on the check I did

Same here re split vowel diagraphs, and also reversal of 'ur' and 'ir' .

So far..... Nothing that I didn't know before.
Teachers that are finding out big things that they didn't know before should be having a word with themselves.

Nothing that I didn't know before. I knew exactly who would pass and who wouldn't before I did the check. Im really please with my class this year - they are the best class at phonics I have ever taught and I this is my 5th class of year 1s - they even picked up split diagraphs without a problem.
Next year might be different though.

What I know - My 2 new children need much much more phonics work...!! Obviously their old schools didn't teach phonics! Really cross because I lost a child 2 weeks ago who would have passed. Feel like I put in the work and the other school got her mark! (I know I shouldn't think like that but I can't help it!!)

I found one word I really loved! It will make a lovely child-friendly expletive when the testing is over. For those in the know; "Oh gr...."

One of our boys read that as Icarus! AbigailS ... and I couldn't help saying WHAT?

Mrz, Icarus is brilliant! Wow, he must be very well read even if he's not very good at phonics.

Actually there is 3DS game called Kid Icarus. I was surprised when my DS mentioned it too...

We are doing Greek myths at the moment

Nope nothing I didn't know, I administered the test and took me almost 4 days for our 120 year 1 children, I was sick to death of it by the end of day 2. Split digraphs and r controlled vowels are a weakness for our group 5 children but as they came up a phase (or two) behind the others I'm not surprised.

I had quite a few children offer me a 'ff' for the pseudo word that ended in igh and there was one pseudo word that almost everyone offered me a real word for (the yellow alien with 3 legs if I recall correctly)

And I wasn't offered Icarus but I was offered Albus (twice!!!!)

Wow, we have about 100 in Y1. Poor teacher doing it (ds1's teacher).

I had a good giggle at the 'screning' error! Oh the irony.

I imagine the proof reader is looking for a new job

apparently, dd liked the yellow alien with 3 legs, and she read it with the vowel first. (I am guessing this is the one you are thinking of)

this is the only word she could remember. (i was asking if she had read any alien names to find out if she had done the test and if she had a favourite alien)

do they use the test again as in sats or are people free to talk about them after everyone has finished?

she claims to have got them all right...

as an idle aside, I wonder how many y1 children you would have to ask to find out a list of the words as they seem to do nothing/just played/I don't know all day?

There is meant to be a new version next year

Nothing that I didn't know already.

redwhiteandblue - how many monkeys does it take to write Shakespeare? :)

thornbury - so you knew that 50% of your class would fail.

But did it tell your HT or the LEA or their parents anything they didn't already know?

Will it change anything next year? Or were appropriate interventions already in place, and will remain in place next year?

Will it change the way reading is taught in Nursery, Reception and Y1 next year?

What interventions are you doing for those 50% of kids?

Indigo, there are things I can't change.

I can't change the fact that more than 50% of the children in my borough start school below age-related expectations in speaking and listening. This has a massive impact on their early learning.

I can't change the fact that more than 70% of the children in my class speak another language at home, and that many of the parents say that they don't know enough English to support their child effectively in their learning.

We were already aware that the children who came up from Reception were mostly below the expected level in CLL. We have already tightened up on the phonics teaching in Reception, and seen an improvement in the current cohort.

We have put in place numerous booster groups instead of doing ELS this year, and have kept children out of assembly for extra phonics and reading input. I am lucky that I have a fantastic, highly skilled TA.

The number of children working at 1b or above in reading is higher than the number of children who have "met the expected standard in phonic decoding".

it breaks my heart to have to write on so many reports that the child "has not met the expected standard in phonic decoding". How many parents will see that, and forget all the positive things I have said and the progress their child has made?

it breaks my heart to have to write on so many reports that the child "has not met the expected standard in phonic decoding". How many parents will see that, and forget all the positive things I have said and the progress their child has made?

It shouldn't break your heart.

It's very important that the parents know that their child is behind where they should be.

Regardless of how much progress they have made, they are still behind.