How do I help my daughter prepare for the yr 1 phonics check?

[Churmy123]

Hi
My dd is 5 (6 at the end of July) and is in year 1. She enjoys school, is well behaved and as far as I know doing well and progressing as she should be. The feedback from her teacher has always been positive. At the last parents evening I was told that she has a flair for creative writing and her writing skills and handwriting are at a year 3/4 level. She also said my dd was one of the 'better' readers and in on turqoise books. At home she is currently confidently reading Enid Blytons Famous Five books. Yesterday after school the teacher called me in to discuss my dds phonics skills. They had done a 'mock' test (last years test I believe) and my dd had only scored 29 out of 40 (32 being the 'pass' mark). She asked if I could do some extra work with my dd at home to try and get her up to the 32 mark before the 'test' in June. She gave me some sheets with words on to work through with my dd and also recommended the 'phonics play' website. We did some of this at home last night and my dd appeared to find it easy and didn't struggle with any of the words. Do I just continue doing this at home? Or could it be that she was having an 'off' day on the day of the 'mock' check? Or is it the 'alien' words that are confusing her? I'm a little confused!!!

Thanks. x

My quote is from learnandsay's post daftdame but it beautifully illustrates how you would know if the test was administered badly which I believe you questioned?

Yes, I get your point now, thanks.

The KS1 National Curriculum reading tests (SATs) have many multi choice questions and if I'm honest it is possible for a child to achieve a good score by guessing

mrz But not publishing whole school results in addition to may be not knowing when exactly the check was in progress or whether the child was floundering / distressed still leaves a parent in the dark somewhat. They don't know whether their child has genuine SEN or whether the teaching has been less than adequate.

So you wouldn't know if your child had been upset at school that day?

The screening check isn't meant to identify SEN children

mrz re. upset - not necessarily, they could've got over it, they may not say why, may just be quiet and then cheer up later. Teachers may not tell you, child may be let out by the TA who knew nothing...endless possibilities.

re. - identifying SEN, I'm relieved. I had obtained that impression from previous posts.

If she got over it before hometime I wouldn't describe her as being at all distressed would you?

Short term distress could be enough to skew the results of a test - I'm not talking about lasting damage here. As soon as the test is over a child could be just relieved it is over - a child does not necessarily worry about the consequences of a test at that age.

Sorry I didn't realise MN had so many sensitive children who will become distressed during 4 minutes of teacher's undivided attention.

mrz Do you not agree with publishing whole school results of the phonic check?

But (I'm sure this has been said) the test is testing the teaching of phonics in the school, not the individual child. So if the test is skewed by upset or anything else, it's up to the school to interpret that rather than for any parent or child to even worry about it, really.

I'm against publishing any results daftdame the league tables are a complete joke but I do think parents who have children in the school should be give the percentage of pupils reaching the expected score.

Elibean as soon as parents are informed there is usually a responsibility put on them to support the extra work required.

They obviously have a huge emotional investment in how well there child achieves and would want to help. This is why if they are considered 'partners' in education they should be treated as such and given a more equal footing in terms of transparency, consultation and communication.

mrz that would be better than nothing.

I can't see what more you would need. I assume if it were so dire you chose to look at other schools you would ask their headteachers about results.

Asking questions on school visits/open days can sometimes lead to unsatisfactory answers, for all kinds of reasons. The answers tend to be fullest when the head has collected all the prospective parents in the hall and gives a talk and then answers questions. I've found when asking questions on a walkabout the answers were sometimes vague or daft.

Ask a direct question - What percentage of your Y1 pupils attained the expected level in the phonics screening check?

If you get a daft answer or worse no answer assume it is bad news!

and never visit en mass

mrz I agree with you, but nobody wants to disrupt their child's education by changing schools on a whim. Added to this there is not exactly a free market with regards to school places.

I would also concur with you in that League Tables certainly are problematic, especially with schools teaching to the test and putting pressure on children and parents to do extra work at the last minute. If this was to happen with the phonics check, which does not seem unlikely considering the OP, it certainly would be counter productive.

However the other extreme, of not giving parents any whole school information, would not hold the school accountable to the parents at all. The parents would just be left to pick up the pieces supporting their child through the extra work they have to do to catch up. This leads to widening the inequality gap between children whose parents are able to support them and those whose parents are not.

I think schools will always be unequal while the goal for all is expected to be academic success only. Being skilled at sports or practical things is undervalued and will mean that many children will always be left behind.

In order to assess schools effectiveness they should do physical co-ordination tests, art and craft skills tests, computer skills tests, maths tests.

And erase the unfair grading of BTECS vs GCSE's. They put the same time and effort into both, they should be graded the same.

Sorry, ranting again.

the test is testing the teaching of phonics in the school, not the individual child

Now you tell me!

A child doesn't necessarily have SEN if they haven't mastered the phonics in the test. They just need some revision or revisiting of the areas of weakness. Please don't make this about SEN. There are enough children who have genuine SEN without this. Of course, there will be some children who have SEN who also fail the check.

But if that was true there would be no need to record the scores of children as individuals, but simply keep a tally of anonymous results.

In fact both the school and the children are being tested.

My point was that it can be difficult for parents to entangle what is genuine SEN and what is inadequate teaching.

At the point in time when you are told your child has achieved less than expected in a phonics 'check' you will not necessarily know how things will pan out. This can put extra pressure on parent and child. Obviously if it validates something you already suspected it may help you child receive extra help.

A child is on the SEN register as soon as a school places them on it. The first stage of this could be where a school identifies they have not achieved the expected result in the phonic check.