Year 1 Phonics Screening Check

The phonics screening check is a quick and easy check of your child's phonics knowledge. This usually takes place in June. The check consists of a list of 40 words which the children will read one -to-one with their class teacher. The list of words contain both real and nonsense (alien) words, which is something the children are use to practising in school.

It is a statutory test done by all children across the country and takes around 10 minutes for each child to complete, dependant upon their pace.

The  Phonics Screening will assess each individual child's phonics skills and knowledge learned through Reception and Year 1.

It will check that your child can:

• Sound out and blend graphemes in order to read simple words e.g. n-igh-t

• ·Read phonically decodable one-syllable and two-syllable words, e.g. cat, sand, windmill.

• ·Read a selection of nonsense words which are referred to as ‘pseudo words’.

Real and nonsense word examples

To see an example of real and nonsense words and how they will appear in a phonics screening paper click the link below.

For the Department for Education Parents and Carers Information on the Year One phonics screening check click on the link below