Phonics Screening - COVID-19

Due to COVID-19, Year 2 pupils who should have been screened in the summer of Year 1 will now complete their phonics screenings in the Autumn term.

Year 1 pupils, and any Year 2 pupils who need to repeat the screening, will be screened in the summer term.

Phonics Screening Result 2019

Our pass rate for the 2019 Phonics Screening test was 80%.

KS1 Reading Scheme

From EYFS, our children follow the Oxford Reading Tree (ORT) scheme.  You might be familiar with the Biff, Chip and Kipper stories already.  If you're not, you soon will be!  

Reading schemes are developed in conjunction with literacy experts.  ORT books are written with a mix of high-frequency and decodable words to develop a range of reading strategies.  The books gradually get harder as the child progresses through the scheme, starting at Stage 1 going through to Stage 9.

Reception

Reading books are changed every Monday and Friday in Reception.

Year 1 and Year 2

Reading books are changed every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in Years 1 and 2.

Your child should be reading at home every day.  Please sign your child's yellow Reading Record to confirm they have read.  We cannot change a child's reading book if their Reading Record hasn't been signed.

If you have any questions about reading at St Philip's, please do not hesitate to ask your child's class teacher.

Phonics

Phonics is the teaching of initial word sounds and blends to aid and encourage young children to learn to read.  At St Philip's, we follow the Letters and Sounds initiative which was published by the Department of Education in 2007.  It aims to build children's speaking and ;listening kills in their own right as well as to prepare children for learning to read by developing their phonic knowledge and skills.  It sets out a detailed and systematic programme for teaching phonic skills for children from Reception through to Year 2.

Phonics Screening Check

Children in Year 1 throughout the country take part in a phonics screening check during the same week every June.  children in Year 2 will also take the check if they do not achieve the required result when in Year 1 or they haven't taken the test before.

The test contains 40 words.  Each child will sit one-to-one with a teacher and read each word aloud.  We try to keep this as informal as possible and don't tell the children it is an assessment. The test itself  takes approximately 10 minutes.  The list of words consists of 20 real words, and 20 pseudo words (nonsense words).  Pseudo words are included because they will be new to all pupils; they do not favour children with a good vocabulary knowledge or visual memory of words.

By the end of the summer term, your child's results will be sent home and will confirm if the child has met the standard threshold or will need to resit the next year.  The results are used to analyse the school's performance and for OFSTED purposes.  

Phonics Sessions

Children across KS1 have a 30 minute phonics session every day.  These are ran in small groups by our highly trained and motivated staff who ensure the sessions are fun and engaging.  Each child will progress through the different phases of Letters and Sounds, often going back over sounds that need repeating.

If you have any questions or concerns about Phonics and the assessment, please do not hesitate to speak to your child's class teacher.