Parents of children who have had their phonics screening

[bronze]

Have you all heard how they did?

I haven't and I'm worried as I'm pretty sure dd is going to fail. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to know by now or not or if I'll be told at all

My son got 5

He has phonological processing difficulties so didn't expect him to pass but had still hoped he'd do better

No shattereddreams they don't post their NC levels. Schools only have to report NC levels in Y2 & Y6. The end of Key Stage 2 results are usually published in the press and the government publishes end of KS data on line

Ok so mrz would you like me to start worrying that my child has failed the phonics test and needs more help?

Ps I didn't learn phonetically when I was at school an I think I have done ok....

The point of the phonics screening check is to identify those children who need more help Kardashianw and to ensure they get it not to worry parents.

Brilliant she is getting more help and I am happy of this. An I hope she passes it 2nd time round or I will be worrying. By the way when did this test come in to place?
Mrz have you heard of "number counts" sessions? If so what are your thoughts?

Arya - my DP is the same. I learned with phonics (90s) and he learned with look and say (80s) and sometimes his pronunciation of novel names/places is really odd. I can look at a name like Daenerys and have a go at saying it whereas he really struggles. He's otherwise totally literate and a fluent reader.

This is the second year for the Phonics Screening Check (not a test).
Number Counts is an intensive intervention for children struggling with number part of the Every child counts initiative. I've not used it but it looks ok on paper.

do the school have to inform you? we haven't been told. or if we have, it's somehow passed me by. we have received a school report but this isn't specifically addressed.

Yes they have to tell you if your child met the expected level and their mark out of 40

Thanks mrz I thought the number counts was a brilliant intervention, unfortunately our school didn't have the funding to keep the numbers count teacher on :(
Any "tips" on how I can help my dd with phonics?

The check can be a good diagnostic tool if teachers just look at the words a child failed to read correctly. Last year it was mainly split vowels for our children so we knew this is where we needed to work with those children.
It's hard to say without knowing what your daughter found difficult but in general I would suggest using a cursor (small square of card with a square cut out of one corner so sounds (not letters) can be revealed one at a time to ensure children are looking closely at the word and not simply guessing from the initial sound (or groups of letters) ... you wouldn't say storm for strom for example. Ensuring she says the sounds clearly (no uh on the end) blend through the word if necessary.

For all my predictions, DD2 scored 39/40. She's August 12th birthday.

Her school gave her extra phonics sessions in the afternoons in the lead up to the screening. I presume that they decided to identify children at risk of failing and give them booster sessions prior to the screening, which I think is very sensible.

Ok I understand. I get to find out what she struggled on and will work on this over the summer holidays. So for example the word "shout" I could use that square card over the "sh" move it along "ou" an then "t" it's the ending she seems to struggle with.

If she struggles you can try building sound by sound - sh+ou = shou +t = shoout

shout

I was told by the school that loads of children failed on one word: fuel. This would explain all the 39/40 scores. It's hard.

You don't fail if you get one word wrong, about half my class got fuel wrong .. quite a few said fool

Would you pass for "fuel" if you said f/oo/l.

My DS is in reception so will have this test next year. He knows that "ue" is often /oo/ as in blue,glue,clue etc.

No fool wouldn't be accepted

maja00 I'm glad DH is not the only one!

I think that the 'look and say' approach worked well for many children, and many 'got by' by being able to work out the concepts for themselves. But for others like DH, it was not the best way of learning to read. When I was at school, phonics was a bit of a 'dirty word' as it was the method taught in 'remedial English' to the children who hadn't mastered reading skills. It sounds ludicrous now!

I am going to pss a lot of people off by saying this, but evidence shows that phonics is by far the best way of teaching all* children to read.

I'm not sure you can say "all" children. I'm a big fan of phonics. DD2 is doing really well using RWI at school.

DD1 has SN. She just can't grasp phonics in application. She can grasp some sounds but learns words as whole words. We hope it will change, but if they stuck to phonics in isolation she still wouldn't be able to read a single word.

agreed lougle only 98% ish

Ok, lougle, I concede my wording was probably not the best. It would be better to say that more children fail to learn to read through look and say than fail to learn to read through phonics.

We got ours today with our reports. Heard nothing about it till I saw this thread. DS got 40/40. Not sure if they do any practice at school running up to this. How long have they been doing this test?