Bit disappointed about the phonics test

[Campaspe]

Have read with DD religiously just about every day, and we've spent plenty of time at home going over phonics. She came home today and told me she struggled with a lot of the words, and the teacher had a list of the ones she got wrong. So, it sounds as if in spite of her best efforts, DD didn't pass the check.

We read every night. We sound out words. She likes books and stories. She knows her sounds really well, but gets muddled when putting them back into words. We've worked together on this, but it just hasn't clicked yet. In class, she reads purple books and her teacher hasn't mentioned any concerns.

I feel disappointed that after all DD's (and mine!) work, it just hasn't clicked yet. What more can I do? Will it just sort itself out? Does it really matter?

[Elibean]

I am very happy to say that dd2 didn't even know she'd taken the test. They certainly didn't use the word 'test', they just "went into Mrs X's little room and read some silly made up words" and dd really enjoyed herself.

If it had been remotely like Fairy's dd's experience, I would be furious too. As it is, I'm relieved and pleased that the school kept it as it should be - utterly low-key.

Oh - and the parents weren't aware it was happening either. It was just part of their day.

[mrz]

FairyJen you can't blame the screening check for the stupidity of your child's teacher/school.

[mrz]

and of course all those words are 2 syllable words learnandsay so too dificult for the check apparently.

[AlienAttack]

fairyjen that sounds awful. But surely it isn't the test which is at fault, it is the teacher who chose to describe it in these ridiculous and stressful terms to your DD? I think we have to separate concerns about the test itself from how it was delivered by certain schools.

[maizieD]

She was very stressed leading up to it as they were told you need to pass it to get into year 2.

Unbelievable....

[HarumScarum]

I think it's awful that they described it as a test. As far as DD and her friends were concerned, they were just doing some 1 to 1 work with a teacher which happens often anyway. And then they got a jelly bean. Some of these children are not yet 6 - they don't need to know they are being tested.

[RikeBider]

Wow, I would complain about that teacher! What is she playing at?

[FairyJen]

• tears not terms

[FairyJen]

I really disagree with this test. I call it a test as that is how it was described to dd and her class. She was very stressed leading up to it as they were told you need to pass it to get into year 2. She was off ill a couple of days and was in a flap that she had missed it. When she did the test she was told she scored 39. She came out of school in terms that day thinking that because she had missed one poxy mark that she would not be going up with her friends.

I had to get the teacher to explain that she had passed. Personally I think this is too much too young!

< gets off soapbox >

[plusonemore]

really should have read whole thread! Glad she did well

[plusonemore]

OP she might have done well- the way its recorded is a tick for every word but there is a correct column and a not correct column! Perhaps she just thought every time the teacher made a mark it was wrong? Teachers shouldn't be commenting on how many they got right or otherwise. Please don't stress

[RikeBider]

Alien names seems much more meaningful and relevant to a young child than incredibly obscure "real" words - they are much more likely to come across alien names/words in books.

[RikeBider]

OK, but if you need to find such obscure words that there is no chance a 6 year old will have come across it, so a word that doesn't appear in children's fiction or non-fiction books, a word that isn't on any signs, isn't used in conversation, doesn't appear in magazines or newspapers - then what is the point?

[learnandsay]

They're just (more or less) in the order I came across them in the dictionary.

[RikeBider]

Abib might as well be Obib though. Not sure why abib is better?

[scaevola]

It would indeed be a strange child. But generally it's better to run screenings to the highest standards, and that includes removing potential confounders wherever possible.

[learnandsay]

It would be a strange child who was familiar with all of them!

[learnandsay]

My dictionary is 1200 pages long and I don't see any shortage of short and obscure words in it. But of course the argument could centre around how obscure is obscure.
abaft
abib
ablet
ablush
aberr
ablaut

and that's just the top of page 3

[scaevola]

Not for a screening test. For no matter how obscure the word, you may find pupils who have encountered it before.

But obscure words are likely to be novel for most, so there is a virtuous circle of introducing lots of them to practice novel decoding and to enrich vocabulary. And given that this is for 5/6 year olds, the words needn't be that obscure to widen vocabulary and reinforce skills.

[RikeBider]

You'd have to use very obscure but short and fairly easily decodable words though - quite difficult to come up with 20 different appropriate ones every year I'd have though?

[learnandsay]

Nonsense words are required to ensure that it is decoding that is being used.

That's not strictly true, obscure real words could be used instead.

[learnandsay]

My children don't have a white British background and it doesn't seem to be a problem as far as reading is concerned, nor does speaking another language. But, if it is a problem I suppose the screening check has just pointed it out, which is what supporters would say it's supposed to do. I'd be inclined to wonder if it suggested more about the children's parents than the children themselves.

[RikeBider]

tiggytape, surely all schools are prepping their children for it? What are the ones that don't teach decoding doing?

[postmanpatscat]

Nope, not a whole class of SEN - I have 30 children, one of whom has a statement and she scored above the threshold. However, 29 of my 30 have a background other than White British and of those 25 speak at least one other language. Some joined Reception with no English at all.

[Greythorne]

masha
Moderate as ever!