What is a Good level of development for phonics at end of reception?

[Goofy03]

A question for the primary school teachers- what would be at the expected level of development for phonics at end of reception year, please?
What would a child be able to do? What reading band might they be on?
Thank you for any advice.
If a child is behind, what support can the school reasonably put in place? Do children generally catch up?

Not a primary teacher, but which scheme are you using? That may help as they all are slightly different.

DD's school use Little Wandle, and, I believe, are just started level 4. The teachers and TAs do specific interventions with anyone who need additional help, and work with the parents to ensure everyone knows what to do.

The best thing a parent can do is read constantly with their child- not just to and with them, but also in everyday life. Use every opportunity possible- shop signs, birthday cards etc.

The EYFS states that they should be able to say a sound for each individual letter of the alphabet (knowing that ‘a’ makes the sound in Apple) and at least ten digraphs- ‘ai’, ‘ee’, ‘oo’ etc. They should be able to read some common exception words (tricky words)- ‘the’ ‘go’ ‘he’ etc and use all this knowledge to read sentences and (short) books.

Support would normally be extra phonics sessions and 1-1 reading sessions. Children can of course catch up but a lot would depend on why they were slipping behind in the first place. As PP said, reading at home is also going to be crucial in moving them forwards.

I understood 'yellow' band (lilac, pink, red, yellow) was what they hoped for by end of year.

The Early Learning Goals are not linked to book bands at all. Most schools don't use them now, as it's a dated system. They are also not specific to certain phonic schemes (for example it doesn't state what digraphs or common exception words a child should know, as schemes deliver them in a different order).

There's not a 'phonics' ELG, it's Word Reading and Writing. It's not uncommon for children to achieve one but not the other. At this stage, writing is the most common one for children to struggle with.

ELG: Word Reading
Children at the expected level of development will:
- Say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs;
- Read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound-blending;
- Read aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic
knowledge, including some common exception words.
ELG: Writing
Children at the expected level of development will:
- Write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed;
- Spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter
or letters;
- Write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others.

If you're concerned, speak to the teacher. The support a school can offer a child who is deemed behind will vary depending on what areas they struggle with (blending for reading, segmenting for spelling etc). The best thing you can do to support at home is daily reading practise.

Yes it's very possible for a child who doesn't achieve the ELG in Reception to catch up and pass phonics screening in Year 1 (for example), depending on how far behind they are of course. Some just aren't ready yet.

It depends on what you mean by behind. My DD could read but didn’t understand phonics. She failed every phonics test. The teacher had no concerns as her reading was ahead. Some children don’t learn to read using phonics. My DD was an avid reader, I read to her from a very early age and we read together every night until she was 10. This was lead by me at the beginning but she wanted to carry on so we did. She learned to read by sight not by phonics.

I think reception is very early to predict what a child's overall English ability is going to be. Are the school concerned? Does your child 'get' the phonics way of learning to read? Do they blend well? This is often as important as recognising phonics diagraphs.

If you want your child to keep up then my advice would be to

1. have an open dialogue with their teacher about progress and work with their observations

2. Be child-led at this age. If they prefer being read to or talking to improve their vocabulary then do lots of this. If they prefer playing games then make games up.

3. practice blending if you think they don't get this. Play games where you elongate words and guess what the other is saying eg 'can you pass me that b-a-g

4. If you're practicing phonics sounds then little and often. Have a couple of sounds each week and make flashcards and flash them in front of your child in little burst or have them up on the kitchen wall or something.

I think ultimately though the most important thing at this age is to foster a love of reading and information gathering. Everything else will usually fall into place if you just give the kid time