Didn't pass phonics test - what next (pls no discussions on rights/wrongs of phonics!!)

[foodfairy]

My son 'is working towards the governments expectations' after his phonics test. He was given a 1b for reading so I don't think he is too far behind. I'm going to go and discuss with his teacher and just wondered what I could realistically expect the school to be doing to help him next year. Also what I should do over the summer.

I realise there have been a number of threads on this, but they all seem to turn into discussions on the merits of phonics. While I am interested in this I'm really looking for practical advice eg. school should be providing 1 2 1 reading twice a week, try xxx books over the summer.

He's found reading quite a hard slog and I keep waiting for her to miraculously turn a corner which plenty of people say will happen naturally. But also want to be prepared if it doesn't all suddenly click into place. Thanks.

The first thing the school needs to do is use the check to identify where he is having problems (from the check I can see than a number of children haven't got a secure grasp of spilt vowel spellings so that's what we will focus on).
It's most likely that children who have missed the magic 32 by a mark or two won't need any additional support and teachers will plan to cover gaps in children's knowledge as part of the daily class input. Children who scored very lowly will most likely get additional support in groups, but it depends on how the school organises phonics

Try Dancing Bears over Summer :)

I agree re dancing bears. It is not exciting but very very effective. I might buy the cheap black and white pamphlet versions of 'Read write Inc' reading books as they are also very good when focusing in decoding. Introduce or revise a target sound and then read the book which focuses on practicing that sound.

I've used Bear Necessities with a child since January. She arrive in September a complete non reader (struggled with pink book band) just achieved a 2C on the KS1 reading test.

Thanks for the advice. Started dancing bears a month ago. It is pretty dull, but has definitely helped with blending. Will take a look at Read write as well. Guess I will hear from teacher next week what specifically he seems to be struggling with!