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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

Year 1 Phonic Check

110 replies

BaconAndAvocado · 28/04/2013 19:28

To,all you KS1 experts out there, how and when is this test carried out and what bearing does it have on a child's education?

Ds2 is a good reader thoughI worry about him being asked to read "nonsense words". If he thinks they're not real he won't attempt to read them!

OP posts:

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daftdame · 29/04/2013 19:32

Never found it a problem most 5 & 6 year olds really want to please teacher even if they are stubborn little darlings at home

Mrz - This is either terribly presumptuous or you really are superhuman!!!

mrz · 29/04/2013 19:37

No daftdame I'm not superhuman or presumptious

Hulababy · 29/04/2013 19:40

TBH I find that children often perform better in this kind of thing where they have some 1:1 attention with their teacher. Most children love the chance for a bit of 1:1 where they get to show off what they can do - in my experience anyway.

mrz · 29/04/2013 19:49

and mine Hulababy

daftdame · 29/04/2013 19:57

mrz - you forgot the !

mrz · 29/04/2013 20:02

no I didn't daftdame

PassTheTwiglets · 29/04/2013 20:02

Do the words in the test change? I'm curious to see how much my DS can do already but don't want him to 'cheat' in the real thing if he'[s seen the test before...

mrz · 29/04/2013 20:06

yes there will be new words each year

BaconAndAvocado · 29/04/2013 21:04

Maybe it's a girl/boy thing

OP posts:

mrz · 29/04/2013 21:07

Well I've taught about 1000 children and not noticed a gender "thing"

mrz · 29/04/2013 21:10

and I'm the mother of a boy and a girl

Elibean · 29/04/2013 22:04

Or maybe just a personality thing.

Yes, I'm sure kids will do all sorts for teachers that they won't do at home - especially in 1-1 situations! That said, the little boy I'm thinking of may just go very quiet and get upset because his indignation at 'made up' words will conflict with his desire to please.

Or maybe I'm underestimating his teacher's charm (which is considerable)!

pointythings · 29/04/2013 22:11

I have two DDs aged 10 and 12, and when they come across new words they still use their phonic knowledge to sound it out. Nine times out of ten this will work, and they will then get a good idea as to what the word means based on what they already know. The tenth time I will explain the word to them. I used to be very about the phonics screening test, but not anymore.

mrz · 30/04/2013 07:25

So are you saying you think this boy would refuse to decode a real word which isn't part of his vocabulary Elibean?

MoaningMingeWhingesAgain · 30/04/2013 07:42

DD is certainly a stubborn little darling at home but very 'good' and compliant at school, I'm confident she will try her best.

However I also know that the school is coaching them quite a bit for the phonics test. The results were poor last year, but DD has been coming home for weeks saying things like ' queep - that's a made up word isn't it Mummy.it sounds like creep but it isn't'

christinarossetti · 30/04/2013 10:43

I don't think the phonics screening is a particularly big deal for children.

It's a few minutes reading 40 words/alien words with a teacher they know.

moaning, my Y1 dd has certain encountered lots of made up words throughout learning phonics (and of course new words that she has to use her decoding skills to work out). I'd be surprised if this was the first time Y1 children have seen 'alien words'.

MrsMelons · 30/04/2013 10:43

I am suprised schools are still 'coaching' for the phonics test, it has been in long enough for the teachers to realise this is how they are being asked to teach phonics surely?

DSs school never coached the children at all but as part of their phonics lessons each week they have always read nonsense words. The children think nothing of it and they had very good overall results in the phonics test last year with only those they already knew about not passing. DS1 loves football and reads a football magazine each week so has no trouble reading foreign players names etc as he has learnt to decode so well.

christinarossetti · 30/04/2013 10:58

The phonics screening only came in last year, although of course schools have been expected to teach phonics properly for much longer than that....

Cloverer · 30/04/2013 11:03

Who are these children who refuse to read words they don't know? I see them mentioned on phonics threads but do they exist in large numbers in real life - and how did they get to that point at only 5 or 6?

daftdame · 30/04/2013 11:12

Mrz - I do not dispute the teaching of phonics - at all.

I was troubled by your assertion that it is usual for children to be better behaved for their teachers than their parents.

Whilst I don't dispute this may be true in some cases, the opposite is equally true in others.

If my assertion lies outside your experience you still have to remember many parents will experience teachers that their children did not perform well with. Not all teachers are shining examples of the profession, children can suddenly become anxious in unusual test like situations (as per the examples above when children are coached) and your assertion is too general to recognise this even exists.

MoaningMingeWhingesAgain · 30/04/2013 11:14

I'm not worried about the test at all, I see it as very much testing the school's teaching of phonics rather than testing the children, I suppose.

I am a bit disconcerted they feel they need to coach the children, and I am a bit unconvinced about how well they are teaching phonics. Last year the results were terrible - I hope they are teaching phonics more effectively as well as coaching the children, IYKWIM.

christinarossetti · 30/04/2013 14:14

Unless the school have improved how they teach phonics, the results aren't likely to improve from a bit of 'coaching'.

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daftdame · 30/04/2013 14:18

BaconAndAvocado - if you think your DS may be disconcerted by 'nonsense' words maybe read Ricky Gervais's 'Flanimals' to /with him, to show how 'nonsense' can be fun.

I think this book could be very good, for your DS, as it contains (fictional) unrecognisable names / terms but puts them very firmly in context - so the activity does not seem so bizarre.

learnandsay · 30/04/2013 14:21

The results might only improve by a point or two but for some children that'll be the amount they need. Familiarity with the format of the test always helps some people to feel at ease. It's like walking the racecourse or inspecting the pitch. Every little helps. But it's hardly the purpose of the test.

christinarossetti · 30/04/2013 14:47

But the 'format' of the test is decoding words!

One would hope that this isn't unfamiliar to 5 and 6 year olds in UK schools.

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