Y1 Phonics test

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Have had a quick look but can't find what I want to find online. What percentage of y1's passed the check this year?

No reason other than curiosity!

The provisional figure nationally is 69%. It's early data, so you won't find it online at present.

Hmmm. Well, in my kids' 'outstanding' school, which has just got excellent Sats results at KS1 and 2, and 17% Level 6 in maths (which I'm guessing is good...) the phonics screening results were abysmal. Only 40% passed, and those who didn't meet the standard included some very able children who are excellent readers. Despite everyone on here trying to convince me otherwise, I am concluding that this screening test is probably fairly meaningless. (Shame though, cos DS2 who is decidedly un-stellar in all academic respects, actually passed it!!)

The screening results definitely aren't meaningless ... they show your son has the skills to tackle unknown words when he meets them whereas 60% of his peers don't. Long term children in the school learn how to pass a comprehension test ... a different skill.

It's a measure of how well - or not - a school teaches the alphabetic code. So agree with mrz, not meaningless at all.

I was pretty sure DS3 was being taught phonics well - it seems I was right - 86% of the children in his school passed it.

A friend told me that this test involves pronouncing made-up words. Is this right? and if so how can this be of any use in a language like English, where pronunciation is virtually random? If it's not right, what does the test involve?

No ArgyMargy the check requires children to decode 40 words 20 real words and 20 pseudo words using their phonic knowledge. English has a complex spelling system but it is not random - sounds can have more than one spelling and a spelling can represent more than one sound and the check takes this into consideration.

www.spelfabet.com.au/2012/12/nonsense-words/

I think at our school (which has high EAL and SEN numbers) 76% passed.

In dgs class 30% of boys [out of 9?] and 60% of girls[out of 6?] passed which is pretty awful actually.In fact 3 boys and 4 girls passed so I can't see the Maths. Dgs did pass.

Our school didnt tell us how many passed in DD's year. Were they supposed to?

The official printouts gave percentages of boys/girls/both

They're not obliged to report it though, are they, mrz?

Btw, have helpfully pointed out to ds's school they statutory obligations - still in the Education Act if not in the ARA

Their

Over half the year didn't pass it at our school either. Not sure if this highlights an issue with the test or with the year group. Our year 2 and 6 SATs results have been excellent so I would suggest the former answer myself..

It highlights an issue with your school's teaching and the children's learning of the alphabetic code.

The fact that comprehension is excellent in Year 2 and Year 6 would mean that many of the children have worked it out for themselves, or that teaching is better in Y2. What are spelling results like? Again, it's possible to get good results in reading comprehension and writing without good decoding/spelling skills.

I had a very clever little girl from Russia arrive in my Y5 class with no English in September - in June she scored a 4A in a reading test. She can't decode around 20% of the words atm and is steadily learning but is clever enough to get the gist. She will no doubt go on to gain a level 5 in Y6 - but cannot read many of the words

What do you mean by official printouts mrz? DD just had a letter from school explaining what the phonics check was, how it was carried out and then her score at the bottom.

Thanks for the info mrz, and the link. TBH I wasn't convinced by the blog and it will be interesting to see how this pans out.

When we input the class information it produces a printout for each child explaining what the codes mean the child's score and lots of school/national data for all children/girls/boys

I wasn't trying to convince you ArgyMargy just give you the facts.

The check follows effective diagnostic assessment methods used for decades by educational professionals, including many schools ... the only difference is that now all schools must carry out these checks rather than it being. Non words are the best way to check if a child has the skills and knowledge to tackle words (there is no chance that they will have memorised the word) after all when you are just six most words are non words until you meet them for the first time and they become part of your vocabulary.

Feenie - that's really intersting that a child who can't read well can get a 4a on the reading comprehension test.

My school won't believe me that my DS has reading problems - because he got a 4c on a reading comprehension paper they insist he can read.

Yes, mrz I appreciate that. I just can't get my head around this in terms of the wide variation of spelling and pronunciation that exists in English. How does it account for regional differences, for example? And differences in syllable emphasis? I suppose what I'm really asking is - who is deciding what is correct, and therefore who passes and who fails?

The non words used for the check this year feature spellings that have only one pronunciation - fot-keb-gan- ulp (all one syllable words)
Children aren't failed because of regional accent or speech sound difficulties and are assessed by a teacher who knows the children well including how they speak.

Thanks Mrz, interesting to read some good info around it.

I was pleasantly surprised with our 'good' school in a very unaffluent area. 81% of children in Yr1 passed. My son, who I thought would struggle passed with flying colours. The school have worked bloody hard though.

Definitely not meaningless to me.

At the beginning of Y1 we were given about 5 sheets of 'monsters and aliens' pictures that had made up words for the dcs to decode. This was to practice 'nonsense' words when reading at home.

It was explained to us quite clearly what the phonics test was - we just weren't told when it would be (which was a good thing for me).

Yes, thanks mrz - that's very helpful. I appreciate your time & patience!