The National Phonics Screening Check is a statutory assessment introduced in 2012 to all Year 1 pupils. It is devised to confirm whether pupils have learned phonic decoding (breaking words down into the sounds that make them up and saying the word) to an age-appropriate standard at the end of Year 1.

It involves your child sitting with their teacher and reading 40 words in total. It begins with practice words that are not scored and then moves onto the test where both real and pseudo-words are included. 

What are nonsense or pseudo words and why are they included?

These are words that are phonetically decodable but not actually words with an associated meaning, e.g. brip, snorp. These words are included in the check specifically to assess whether your child can decode a word using phonic skills and not their memory. The pseudo words will be shown to your child with a picture prompt of an imaginary creature. 

How will the results from the screening check be used?

You will be informed of your child has done in the screening check towards the end of the summer term within your child’s report.

The screening check will identify children who have phonic skills below expectations for the end of Year 1. Schools are then expected to provide extra help and support. The children who do not pass will then be able to retake the assessment in Year 2.

It is necessary to note here that the test is not an indicator of how well children read, simply how well they decode words. Therefore there may be some children who read at, or above, the expected standard that do not pass this test. 

How can I help my child? 

There are a number of things that parents can do to support reading development:

Immerse your child in a love of reading.
Make time for your child to read their school book to you. With all books, encourage your child to ‘sound out’ unfamiliar words and then blend from left to right rather than just looking at the pictures to guess. Practise segmenting (sounding out) and blending (putting words back together) words.