As an erstwhile early years and primary school teacher I know the importance of teaching children to learn to read. However, it\u2019s also crucial as parents, carers and educators that we help children to develop a pleasure for reading. The phonics screening check should not detract from this primary goal.<\/p>\n This website contains affiliate links. As an affiliate I may earn money from qualifying purchases. As an Amazon Influencer\/ Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.<\/em>\u00a0Thank you if you do use one of my links \u2013 it helps keep my website going. Please see\u00a0affiliate link<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0disclaimer page<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for more information.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n This blog post will explain what the phonics screening check is, why it is used and ideas and activities for home and school to support.<\/p>\n The phonics screening check is administered in 2025 from the start of the week beginning 9th June. It is for the majority of children in Year 1 in UK schools. There are some exemptions that you can find here<\/a><\/strong>. Schools do not usually let parents know what day their child will have the test administered.<\/p>\n The phonics screening check is a UK based assessment.<\/p>\n The\u00a0phonics screening check<\/a>\u00a0is designed to confirm whether pupils have learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard. It will identify pupils who need extra help to improve their decoding skills. The check consists of 20 real words and 20 pseudo-words that pupils read aloud to the check administrator.<\/p>\n Source: gov.uk Website<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The phonics check looks at phonemes and graphemes (check out the glossary here<\/a><\/strong>) for up to the end of phase 5 in phonics. What are the phases? Check out this post<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The phonics screening check is not an assessment on a child\u2019s ability to read. Phonics is just one skill that comes together with other skills to learn to read. <\/p>\n The phonics screening check purely assesses whether a child can decode to read real and pseudo (nonsense\/ aliens) words. A child may be able to decode easily but may have no comprehension of what they are reading. <\/p>\n Alternatively, a child may be a fluent reader by sight of words with no decoding ability. There\u2019s a myriad of possibilities and I feel it\u2019s important that we don\u2019t confuse a child\u2019s ability to score on the phonics screening check (or not) and their ableness to read and whether they find reading pleasurable.<\/p>\n The phonics screening check consists of 40 words. There are usually four words as a vertical list on each page. Words that are real are written without any illustrations. Words that are pseudo (nonsense\/ alien) words have an alien\/ monster illustration next to them to show that they are not real. Real and pseudo words are not mixed. You get a page of real or a page of pseudo words. <\/p>\n For children who are quite proficient readers or use a range of skills to read they can find pseudo words more challenging as their brains naturally attempt to use the variety of strategies they know \u2013 not just their phonics. This can mean that their brain uses a strategy \u2013 taught in schools \u2013 to find a \u2018best fit\u2019 word for what they are reading. <\/p>\n Basically, their brain tries to find the right word from what they know. This will obviously not work when reading a pseudo word and therefore it is important that these readers know that this test ONLY tests their decoding skills and that they must use their phonics to read a nonsense word.<\/p>\n Absolutely not, yet I do have one piece of advice. The score for the phonics screening check, although reported to parents and carers, tells you (on the day of testing) how well your child was able to decode both real and pseudo words. <\/p>\n This result should not be a surprise for your child\u2019s teacher (it\u2019s one of the reasons I feel the test is not necessary). Children who have not yet fully grasped phonics decoding skills should already be getting targeted support to help them. <\/p>\n I also feel that you should already know if your child\u2019s teacher feels they are unlikely to pass the check and have a plan of how they will be supported for the rest of Year 1 and into Year 2.<\/p>\n Therefore, if your child scores below the expected standard please don\u2019t worry but be proactive. I would suggest requesting a meeting with the class teacher to discuss. Below are some starting points you could ask.<\/p>\n Some children don\u2019t grasp phonics. This is a known fact. As I\u2019ve said before, phonics is just one skill in learning to read. It is important to identify when phonics is just not right for a child so that precious time can be spent on other skills to ensure that their reading journey isn\u2019t stalled and frustration associated with reading sets in. There\u2019s not just one way to learn to read. <\/p>\n Your child passed the test but you have concerns around their reading \u2013 what should you do? Phonics is just one skill and as previously mentioned being able to use phonics skills doesn\u2019t make a reader. If you have any concerns do speak to the class teacher.<\/p>\n Sadly, schools are under a lot of pressure to \u2018perform\u2019 when it comes to testing such as this. You may find that some schools rely heavily on practising skills for the phonics screening check. I do feel it\u2019s important to ensure children are familiar with the idea of the phonics check administration (I\u2019ll go into my reasons for this more later) but for some schools this can be a heavy focus to the detriment of other application of skills. This situation can mean that a child may pass the test when actually they may not have if such rigorous \u2018practise\u2019 hadn\u2019t been in place.<\/p>\n If you feel that your child needs more support with their phonics or reading skills do discuss with the teacher. Use the questions above as starting points to help aid discussion. The whole point of the phonics screening check is to identify children who need additional support to get their decoding skills where they need to be to give them the best chance of being a successful reader. Therefore, if you feel your child needs more support (regardless of the score) speak to school. <\/p>\n When children are finding things tricky in their learning it\u2019s important to get the basics checked. Children can find it very difficult to identify that there is a problem as they don\u2019t know any different. When I was a child I didn\u2019t realise that I was rather short-sighted. I had no idea until I got glasses that the world wasn\u2019t blurry all the time \u2013 it was like magic getting specs and meant I could read the board at school!<\/p>\n Something that has always frustrated me when it comes to the phonics screening check is how it is out of sync with childhood speech development. Home Speech Home is a great resource for speech and this page has a chart<\/a><\/strong> that shows when children should have mastered certain sounds; f\/th are sounds that can still cause some confusion at age 6 and are on the phonics check.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know about you, but I\u2019m a planner and I like to be prepared. It helps me feel calmer and less anxious. Many of our children will feel the same and therefore I feel it\u2019s important to help children navigate new experiences. I think this is especially important for those like me with neurodiverse brains.<\/p>\n Lots of schools are great at preparing children for new and unexpected experiences but I know with my daughter she felt much better that we went through things at home too.<\/p>\n You can find past paper examples of the phonics check here <\/a><\/strong>to explore at home. My caution with these is that they are often used as practise in school so children may already be familiar with them. However, they\u2019d be great to just show children what the real and pseudo words look like. <\/p>\n Twinkl have lots of resources for the phonics check<\/a><\/strong>. There are free and paid subscriptions to Twinkl but frequently on the free plan you get an email saying you can choose a free premium resource \u2013 you could pick a phonics check pack.<\/p>\n Interactive games that are great for developing decoding skills through play and distinguishing between real and pseudo words include Obb and Bob<\/a><\/strong> and Buried Treasure<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll find some of my favourite phonic resources here<\/a><\/strong> including the Phonics Screening Check cards <\/a><\/strong>you see above. The great thing about sets like these are that they are unlikely to have already been used in school.<\/p>\n Yoto do a selection of phonics cards that you can use with their Yoto Player or Yoto Mini Player \u2013 for more information on these players head to this post<\/a><\/strong>. The phonics cards<\/a><\/strong> that are available for the Yoto only go up to phase 3 currently (learn more about phases here<\/a><\/strong>). Therefore, they are ideal for early phonics work but won\u2019t cover everything for the phonics check. If you are a member of Yoto Club then you can get the phonics cards as a digital card free. Find out more about Yoto Club and free trials here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n You can find lots of different posts on phonics on my Phonics Homepage here<\/a><\/strong>. If you\u2019re looking for an answer to a specific question or want advice about your child then feel free to drop me an email at lisa@busybusylearning.com.<\/p>\n To access the free members resources on the site including free sound mats for phase 2, 3 and 5 head here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Click on the links below to join groups<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Lastly, don\u2019t forget that phonics is just one very small part of the plethora of skills that come together to make a reader. Phonics, when taught right, is fun! Reading for pleasure is the ultimate goal. One of the best gifts you can give your child is time with you enjoying reading together.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/busybusylearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/IMG_20201109_140120.jpg?resize=688%2C516&quality=89&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n2025 \u2013 When is the Phonics Screening Check?<\/h2>\n
What is the Phonics Screening Check?<\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\nWhat do I mean? <\/h3>\n
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<\/figure>\nWhat\u2019s in the Phonics Screening Check?<\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/busybusylearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Real-words.png?resize=400%2C567&quality=80&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n![\"Voxblock](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/busybusylearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Voxblock-Audio-Player-for-Kids.png?resize=688%2C316&quality=80&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nDoes the Score Matter?<\/h2>\n
Should I Worry About My Child\u2019s Score?<\/h3>\n
Meet with the Teacher Prompts<\/h3>\n
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My Child Passed the Phonics Screening Check but I\u2019m Worried About Their Reading<\/h3>\n
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Speech, Language, Sight and Hearing<\/h2>\n
More Information for UK:<\/h3>\n
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Should I Practise for the Screening with my Child?<\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\nPractise Papers<\/h3>\n
What to Consider Around Administration of the Test<\/h3>\n
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Phonics Resources and Interactive Games<\/h2>\n
Phonics Interactive Games<\/h3>\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\nPhonics Flash Cards<\/h3>\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\nYoto Card Phonics<\/h3>\n
Phonics Support<\/h3>\n
Free Phonics Resources<\/h3>\n
Busy Busy Learning Facebook Groups<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/busybusylearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Conscious-Craft-A-Year-and-a-Day.jpg?resize=300%2C300&quality=89&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nReading for Pleasure<\/h2>\n
Pin for Later<\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nLike this:<\/h3>\n