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?

DD is Year 1 and has her phonics check this week. I have no idea if she has done it yet; she never mentioned anything yesterday and I don't expect her to mention anything today. The teacher said when they administer the check it is all done very low-key; the children are just sitting one-on-one with the teacher reading a few words - nothing more, nothing less.

To be honest, I'd be furious if DD came home believing she had 'failed a test'. It's not a test - it's a check to assess how secure a child's phonics knowledge. OP, from what you have posted, the teacher (and school) have dealt with it appallingly; no child should be led to believe he/she has failed a test at such a young age

Hello again everyone. Don't want to resurrect a dying thread, but I did appreciate all the comments, and on the back of advice from people here, I made an appointment to discuss the situation with my DD's teacher. I outlined my concerns, the way I wanted DD to be better at decoding, DD feeling she might not have done well etc etc and sat back waiting for her input. She then completely surprised me by telling me that although she couldn't give me the official results, as I was so worried, she would talk to me in confidence, off the record. It turns out that DD passed the test easily and has no problems whatsoever with her reading. DD had completely got the wrong end of the stick, and got a bit panicky (teacher confirmed she is a perfectionist who does get upset if she thinks she might have made a mistake). The teacher also explained that DD reads quickly and almost doesn't need to decode, so this can make her read a little too quickly at times, but she corrects herself with no problems.

So, what a lot of worry for nothing. And the lesson I've learned is - in the nicest possible way - treat everything my DD says about school with a bit of caution. Thanks to everyone who commented, I was very worried on Monday that I'd missed a problem and your support was much appreciated.

That's good news

great news - just shows what complicated little worlds our children live in really doesn't it.

That's great. Well done to your daughter.

Bit naughty of the teacher to say anything though...

Hurrah for your DD, her teacher and you for getting it sorted!

Aren't the parents supposed to get the results anyway at some point?

I asked DD2 if she had done any alien words with her teacher yesterday. She said 'yes, with a piece of paper book. They use a dot if you get it wrong and a tick if you get it right...'

Very funny, lougle. So much for all the secrecy.

To be fair, she wouldn't have been told that. She just has such a focus on the detail of something and completely misses the wider point. It's so typical of her to notice the recording and gloss over that she was being tested.

LandS - the results usually come out with the school reports.

Why are people saying the school handled it badly? I've just read the OP and it doesn't say "my child thinks she's failed a test". Children do know when they are struggling with reading unknown words, so of course she will say she couldn't read some words on the list the teacher had her read. The "fail" part is just the assumption the OP is making.

Yes, but from now on we're looking in hindsight.

Not sure what you mean Learnandsay? I was only looking at the first post and felt other posters had concerns that the school had mishandled the test. I couldn't see any of that in the opening post, just a child who had made a statement to her mum, who then assumed she'd failed.

Parents will be informed of the results learnandsay, I can't however imagine any responsible parent telling their child they failed ...

MaybeBentley the child shouldn't have been aware she was doing a "test" which strictly speaking she wasn't ... that is how the school handled it badly.

I don't think schools are looking in hindsight. dd2 has been telling me for weeks that she has been doing extra phonics in the afternoon instead of < insert short afternoon activity>.

I can only presume that the school proactively identified gaps in her phonic knowledge and gave extra sessions ahead of the test to plug the gaps.

I think lots of schools panicked and used practice tests because they were worried their phonics teaching wasn't good enough.

We used sample checks with pupils to see the format and have a go, just part of our normal general assessments of children. I see no issue with this. Only done a couple each year at most at key points. Nothing to do with being worried about our phonics teaching either. Nothing sent home.

I didn't do any practice checks prior to the screening ... we do our own assessment but they are much more rigorous than the national check

Don't worry about it.

(year 1 teacher here)

They'll be re-tested same time next year, which they all tend to pass then. Children never know, and they don't tend to be treated any differently than the teacher already does.

Of my class of 19, 4 failed. 3 of them got high 20s, so quite close. Only one did particularly poorly getting 15/32. But he's already flagged as having quite profound special needs.

Interestingly there is a teacher on TES saying only a few of their Y2 children who were retested passed

We did our Y2s today.
No surprises. The children we expected to pass did so. The borderline children also passed.
Those who did not achieve today were not surprises. This is not because of lack of intervention and also additional phonics in addition to their normal daily class phonics. . The children involved all have varying learning difficulties. They did, however, achieve much much higher this year so progress is definitely there - for example achieving 2/40 last year and now 17/40 this time, some higher.

Our child with high level SEN scored 0 last year and 22 this year so we are very proud of him.

Well done that child :)
It's lovely to see them make progress.

Because of the nature of our school we have several children with varying learning difficulties, SEN, EAL, etc - many involved with external agencies and some with statements. And yes - on paper they might not reach the expected levels for all manner of things based on their age, but my goodness they are working their socks off and trying so hard. It is lovely to see their progress when it is written down in front of you.