Anyone else with a child who scored low in the phonics screening.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Was it expected

What support is being offered

What can we do at home

Was this the first you heard of any problems ?

The phonics screening check hasn't happened for this year yet?

www.gov.uk/guidance/key-stage-1-and-key-stage-2-test-dates
Not for another month - Week commencing 12th june

Have you heard about some sort of mock test? I'd be really alarmed if it was the first you knew of any problems though!

It must have been some kind of practice run then that set them panicking. I got collared by Dds teacher yesterday.

Am mainly annoyed because speech signed her off they were crap anyway though but they still have the school doing stuff I told the speech therapist ages ago didn't work with her and because I raised concerns 're her reading in reception and I was told she was trying really hard and she was getting there and clearly now with the screening looming it's suddenly dawned on them..

Doing a mock test is totally against its objective isn't it?
So now the school do some quick fix booster with those children scored low and let them pass, and say they need no help because they passed?

Tbh I don't know exactly what they have done. Whether is a mock test or a recap she didn't get all I know is she was said to have scored low in the screening and tell me what they were going to do.

Our school"mock" tested in the September of year one and then gave intensive daily support to those who needed it so the had 9 months of extra help.
A couple still didn't pass though but even the poorer readers did generally pass.

I've been warned that DD isn't likely to pass. My DS has consistently had a reading age, two years ahead of his chronological age and it made me worried that DD needed help because she was massively behind.

So I had her assessed by a tutor. She's eight weeks behind her chronological reading age. Unless your DC is struggling to learn to read, personally I am ignoring the whole thing.

My DD is progressing and is happy, I'm not willing to join in a culture of panicking about her not succeeding in the test culture we now have in schools.

I'll put my soapbox away now Giles

I'll put my soapbox away now Giles

To be honest you have to be what would once have been called 'remedial ' not to pass. Even poor readers pass. They've been having it drummed into them every day since they started school. I'm sure they will pass!💐

In Dds case she's level three.

What's not helping is a) I said in reception I suspected she works alot from sight rather than sounding out.

And b) she's been the same band for ages now and has basically memorized alot of the books as she's had them more than once so when she appears fluent with book it's cos she knows the story not because she can read it.

I was told dd1 didn't pass the practice test. I was surprised as she's a fairly good reader. So we did the online things they recommended and they also sent home some stuff which again, she's done well with.

So I'm a bit confused as to why she's not passing.

We never had any of this practice stuff with dd1. Now dd2 is talking about alien words and bringing stuff home.

I totally agree with irvine in that all this practice defeats the object.

If the test is a good diagnostic tool for identifying phonic knowledge gaps, then preventing its use outside of the PSC isn't very helpful, unless there are lots of other similar tests. So I don't really agree that a practice test is bad. Like 2014newme school, DD's school used it from YR1 (in fact DD did it in reception too, but I don't know if that's universal in the school.)

However if the school is just giving them the same books repeatedly, and is surprised that the PSC will not be passed only a month before then they may be simply trying to cram etc.

My ds1 did not pass the phonics screening and still did not pass at year 2. He has had lots of input but has been diagnosed with dyslexia.

We knew he would not pass and he also had a speech disorder.

School put in place 'dancing bears' we also do 'toe by toe '. We tried 'reading eggs' and have used lots of 'nessy' products.

Some children do not pass as they are good readers and make all the words 'real words'

Ds1 finds phonics exceptionally difficult and it has a negative impact on his reading and writing.

Two of my children failed in year 1 but passed in year 2. They were subsequently diagnosed as being dyslexic. If your child is of normal intelligence and fails the test then it's a huge red flag IMO. Is it true that phonics is effective for 80% of learners. The other 20% need to use other strategies to be able to learn to read.

Agree, sir. I think if used like 2014's school serves the same objectives.

Ds3 'failed' it last year. Thanks for the description of him as remedial, pp. I hope you don't work with children.

As a result he has had a lot of extra help with literacy this year. The school (who are generally great) were keen for me to do lots of extra stuff with him to improve his chance of passing and I did some but not tons, as he has lots of different interventions already and he deserves some down time. I could see how it benefitted them for him to pass in yr1, but I didn't feel it really benefitted him to scrape through and miss out on additional support this year. So yes, I knew beforehand that the school didn't think he'd pass and think it's bad that the school have left it until a month before the test to tell you otherwise.

I am fairly sure ds3 will pass it this year, but if he doesn't it will only be because he now finds the concept of alien words really stupid and wants to make them into real words. He was diagnosed with very poor eyesight at the end of reception and it was only at the beginning of this academic year that we really had everything figured out (he has lots of eye drops!).

kicker, I think phonics are effective for 95+ % of children if taught properly, if I remember correctly.
Mixed methods are effective for 80%, and 20% would have problem.

Remedial, really? FFS... Anyway, I digress, DS failed this last year but like a poster further up thread we had a tutor who had already told us that he wouldn't get the score needed to 'pass'. He is going to have to do it again this year, but has had lots of support from school and also school are going to have an official assessment arranged for him when he turns 7 later this year.

Sorry, that should have said official assessment for Dyslexia.

No, I said what would have been called remedial in the old days. 🙄 I've no idea what it's called now? Do tell me.

I think it's been renamed learning difficulties.

A child with a learning disability or a child with special educational needs.

Have you been living under a rock not to have heard either of those terms?

You sound like you really know what you are talking about 2014

I can think of three children who didn't pass first time and are now fine. They're not dyslexic or remedial. They were just five year olds who took awhile to grasp phonics or were better suited to learning to read by other methods.

Not all kids that fail a phonics test have special needs or learning difficulties . Some are just not very bright. Or are slow learners, or lack home support etc
It's those I mean, the ones that would have been called remedial. No learning difficulties or special needs. What is the correct terminology for them?