Phonics Screening Check takes place in Year 1, in 2014 the checks will take place week commencing 16th June 2014.

What is Phonics?

Every word we read is split into ‘sound chunks’, there are around 42 different sounds which make up the English language. Sounds such as ‘Ay’, make up the words we see and breaking words down to these chunks mean that young children are able to read words by breaking them down into these parts.

The popular Jolly Phonics system letter sounds and letter combinations are as follows;

1. s, a, t, i, p, n
2. c k, e, h, r, m, d
3. g, o, u, l, f, b
4. ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or
5. z, w, ng, v, oo, oo
6. y, x, ch, sh, th, th
7. qu, ou, oi, ue, er, ar

Sometimes called ‘Synthetic Phonics’, a good grounding in these sounds in reception and year 1 make a firm basis for reading and spelling. (Although it has to be said not the only basis).

This method of teaching has replaced the traditional ‘Look & Say’ method which was popular untilPhonics Screening Check recently.

Year 1 Phonics Screening Check

The phonics screening check takes the format of quite a relaxed typical reading session with your child and their teacher.

The words your child will be asked to read will be a mix of real words and made up words such as Vus, Yop, Elt, Desh and Chab. The made-up words are designed to see if your child can use the ‘chunks’ of sounds they have learned to spell out words or ‘de-code’ them. Some children, often really good readers, can find this hard. Good fluent readers know the context and appreciate the story of what they are reading, so non-words seem wrong!

A sample paper (Crown Copyright) from last year can be downloaded here. 2012 Year 1 Phonics Screening Check Past Paper.

More Past Phonics ScreeningCheck Papers.