DS1 failed the Year 1 Phonics test. Is he alone?

[AnnieMated]

Shocked and upset actually. Trying my hardest not to be, but he's a pretty good reader and is finishing ORT level 6 and reading fluently with no trouble.

He got 28 out of 40 and the pass mark is 40.

What I most concerned about is that the school didn't even inform parents their children were going to be tested, we just got a bland, round-robin letter today in their book bags with the results.

Anyone like to reassure me? Don't want to ask the other mums from the school but will have a chat with the teachers tomorrow if I can...

The test is easy to fail, even for good readers (who try to make sense of the bonkers made up words).

As the 'standard' is 32 words correct out of 40 a child would have to have read at least 9 words incorrectly. While a child might have misread some of the 'bonkers words', trying to make them into real words, to have misread 9 would indicate a poor reader and one who would definitely have trouble in the future if they did that with every unfamiliar word they encountered.

Do try to bring a bit of logical thought to this...

I wish there was a like button

Failed here, I think it was the first year the test was introduced from memory. Now yr5 and reading judged at 10 on the accelerated reader scheme, age expected score is 4.5.

Haven't rtwt but I didn't worry about it, just carried on encouraging reading.

Well looking at this from the other point of view, ds3 has HATED phonics, and I do genuinely think it's held back his reading as he has been bored rigid, has had loads of extra literacy 'help'.

Turns out he was so bored by it all he kept giving them 'more interesting' words rather than reading what was in front of him. Same in maths - he'd give a more 'interesting' number. It was a bit perplexing to me how he could read fine at home, but seemed to find it hard at school.

He got 40 on the phonics check. Wretch of a boy!!!

Sounds like poor teaching

What is so boring about phonics learning or maths?

Learning pseudowords unnecessarily

As far as I understand, the phonics screening is pretty much the only test to be introduced in the last few years which has a foundation in educational research and pedagogy, rather than the egotistical whim of someone in the DfE.

I've always thought that it's very sensible to check that children have a good grasp of phonics so that schools can put interventions in place if they haven't.

DS3 got 26/40 and I offered him a high five. I thought he would be miles off, given that he is on ORT level 4 and really struggles with literacy. I hear him read everyday and we do some literacy activities, but I didn't do any extras for the test - he needs the additional support he becomes eligible for having not reached the required mark, I was not going to 'do' him out of that. Your DS is not alone!

'What is so boring about phonics learning or maths?'

He HATED learning the sounds. He hated the books. He hated learning number bonds. He hated learning how to blend.

Tbh what he wanted to do was to explore his environment, be outside etc. He loves books, but he loves STORIES, not decoding words, and he is excellent at maths, but what he's good at is concepts, not filling in sheets of number bonds. The phonics was the worst though.

Didn't he realise by doing what he was doing, he ended up having " loads of extra literacy 'help"?

I don't know, I would be cross if my ds doesn't do what teacher ask him to do, and says school work is too boring because it's not what he likes to do.

Surely he was doing all that in reception lily? Phonics in many reception classes is 15 mins out of the school day (even taught outdoors) wrapped in lots of play

Reception and Yr1.

No, of course I wasn't 'cross' with him when his teachers said 'he finds it really tricky' and 'he's trying so hard, but he does find it difficult'!!! He is a monkey it seems though, and was literally just bored. But equally, I"m not going to be bored with a 4 or 5 year old who says 'I hate school, it's SO SO boring'.

It's more than just the phonics, definitely, he doesn't like being inside, and is a very practical child, so really the only way he was going to like things was being outside and learning in massively creative ways that would be impractical for an entire class, and his school are fantastic, and have accommodated him as much as is possible in a class of 30. But the phonics and number bonds were the things he found worst of everything.

I think for him, what he didn't like was the learning of things in isolation - so he didn't like learning the sounds, didn't like learning the number bonds etc, because they were pointless to his mind. He does much better with 'proper' problems to solve, and 'proper' stories to read. And whatever posters on here say, I do think his ideal way into reading would have been to do a mixture of phonics and sight words, just to emphasise the practical use of the phonics work.

irvine - what he told me, specifically with relation to maths was 'they ask me a question, I say I don't know, they do it for me and then give me a sticker.'

He twigged that if he got it right, they then gave him a harder question!!! Monkey!!!

Sounds like a bright kid anyway Lily! And maybe not so inspired teaching. They shouldn't be just learning letter sounds in isolation. My DS used to answer I don't know because he's super shy and it would get the spotlight off him quicker than thinking and giving an actual answer.

Funny!
My ds was exactly the same. He used to say "I don't know for every thing.
At first parent's evening, I was told his target was something he can already do. I questioned the teacher, and she said he says "I don't know" and she believed him. He was very lazy. After that he didn't get away with it anymore, since the teacher decided to dig a little deeper.

I think that school is really hard for some children when they are so little. DD would have much rather been in fairy land, digging in the garden, dreaming up stories well into Yr2/3. Very young emotionally.

She was born very early (late in the school year) and would have been in the next year had she made it to her due date.

We have many friends on the continent and I took comfort in their system/expectations when she was struggling. We knew she was bright, it just took a bit of maturing for her to be able to convert that in a school setting.

When these children are leaving school/university no one will give a fig that they failed their phonics test.

Of course nobody cares about who passed and failed PSC, when they are leaving school.
It's not a test. It's just a check to identify children who may need help, so they get adequate help and don't struggle later on.

Mine failed last year.
It was taken by a student teacher he didn't know. The week before he'd got 100% in the mock!!!!! (Bloody mocks for 5/6 year olds!!)

So honestly I'd not worry, (I kept repeating it to myself). This year he's flown, top set for everything. The difference a teacher and maturing makes.
Keep reading with them but don't worry, it will be ok.

I remember this thread from first time round, my DD was in that first cohort who took it and failed, it was the first solid bit of evidence that she is dyslexic (she read well by sight at that stage) and did enable both me and her school to put in place extra help. She still struggles a bit with decoding (end of year 5) but has made huge amounts of progress, I'm glad she took the test and wish it had been in place for my older DS who also has SENs.

When these children are leaving school/university no one will give a fig that they failed their phonics test.

Of course, it may have been 'failing' their PSC which got them to uni in the first place...

It is just another measure though isn't it and I hate the constant measuring of children. Back in the day a good teacher would instinctively know which children needed help and apply a common sense approach, now we apparently need to have another 'test' to determine that resulting in parents writing how their tiny child has 'failed' which is madness.

These tests don't differentiate between a 1 September born child and a 31 August born the following year do they?

Massive difference in everything at that age a year apart.

What I really hate about these things ... from the National Foundation for Educational Research blog ...

What are the implications for policy and practice?

Our findings suggest that the introduction of the PSC has catalysed schools to ‘sharpen up’ their phonics teaching and/or to improve their phonics assessment. Yet the ‘truth’, alluded to in the title, is there is no conclusive evidence (at least at present) of improvements in pupil attainment or in progress that could be clearly attributed to the introduction of the PSC. This is despite improvements in phonics attainment, as measured by scores on the check. More research is required to understand better the longer term impacts associated with the introduction of the PSC, and of different schools’ approaches to reading instruction.

CatherineDeB They differentiate those who need more help, from those who don't need more help, age isn't relevant, it's to identify those who need more help, so it doesn't matter if they're summer born or not.

Conclusive evidence of cause and effect of the PSC is not going to happen, but to reject it because of "good teachers", when there are plenty of not-good teachers teaching, and those are the ones it's designed to ensure don't fail the kids.

irvineoneohone DD finds learning about phonics and maths at school boring - she's very internally motivated with her learning - so if they're reviewing something she knows in the group work, she doesn't get involved. But of course, as mrz says that's 15 minutes a day, in the rest of the time where she can choose what to do and get different stuff from the teachers.

Summer born DD has read less than 50 phonics books in her reception year, about 30 at home and a few at school with the teacher/TA, so less than three hours over the year. She can now read, no sight words were involved, and no endless learning about sounds. LilyBolero's kids experience sounds like poor teaching to me, it certainly sounds very different from the experience of my DD, who's gone from nothing to a fluent independent reader of anything in the 3 terms.

When the 11+ makes age related adjustments in marks attained in state grammar entry tests why doesn't this PSC? There is a huge difference in ability at the beginning and end of this school year.

That is my problem with it, it is measuring teaching, the NFER write things like 'sharpening up teaching'.

Meanwhile we have parents (and children) hearing the 'failed' word which is bloody dreadful.