Year 1 Screening Check and Year 2 Assessments Information session for parents 9 th May 2017

1. Year 1 Screening Check and Year 2 AssessmentsInformation session for parents9th May 2017 Anna Fairhurst

2. What is the phonics screening check? • The phonics screening check is a statutory assessment for all children in Year 1, and those in Year 2 who did not reach the expected level last year • The phonics screening check will take place during the week commencing 12 June 2017. • The phonics screening check comprises a list of 40 words that children read one-to-one with a teacher. • There is no time limit but the phonics screening check would normally take between four and nine minutes for each child. • The check will take place in a quiet area of the school.

3. What will the children be expected to do? • Children will be asked to read words aloud. • They will be told that they can ‘sound out’ before trying to say the whole word if this helps them. • The check is divided into 2 sections and the words become progressively more difficult, a previous check included: • yop, queep, farm, truck, girst, flute, index, portrait... • The focus of the check is to see which sounds the children know and how these can be put together or blended to read a word, therefore the children will be asked to read made up ‘nonsense’ words • THIS IS NOT A READING TEST

4. The phonics screening check will be constructed of 20 real words and 20 non-words. The non-words will be presented with a picture prompt (a picture of an imaginary creature) and children will be asked to name the type of creature.

5. What will the check look like? The check will begin with simple words and moves on to more complex words. There will be: • Simple CVC words for example the non-word ‘vap’ • Words with consonant digraphs such as ‘chill’ • Words with vowel digraphs such as ‘week’ or ‘hooks’ • Words with adjacent consonants such as ‘start’ or non-words such as ‘jound’ • Words containing split digraphs such as ‘phone’ or ‘slide’ • Words with alternative spellings of phonemes such ‘day’ and ‘trains’ • Non-words that can be pronounced in alternative ways for example ‘voop’ • Two- syllable words such as ‘dentist’ or ‘starling’ Video

6. How will the data be used? The data will be used in the following ways: • Individual children’s results will be made available to parents • Children who do not reach the target level will receive more support and have another go in June of Year 2 • School-level results will be recorded and made available to the governors, ODST and Ofsted for data analysis and monitoring and for use in inspections. • National results will be reported to allow schools to benchmark the performance of their children.

7. How can you help? • Encourage your child to ‘sound out’ when reading or writing. Focusing particularly on spotting more unusual sound patterns. For example • Digraphs- 2 letters making one sound cow • Trigraphs- 3 letters making one sound night • Split digraphs- 2 vowels with a consonant in between spine - i_e • Encourage your child to use their sound mat when writing. • Children can practise their phonics by playing games online.

8. How can you help? • REMEMBER: using phonics is not the only strategy needed to become a fluent reader. • Please continue to read with your child each evening and encourage them to: • Sound out and then blend the sounds • Re-read to check it makes sense • Use pictures for clues • Ask and answer questions about the book • And most importantly ENJOY READING!

9. Year 2 National Curriculum assessments • In recent years, ‘old’ national curriculum levels (e.g. Levels 1, 2, 3) have been abolished as set out in the government guidelines. Children are now described as working towards, working at and working at greater depth according to the Year 2 expectations of the new curriculum. • The new curriculum is more rigorous and sets high expectations, which all schools have had to work hard to meet in the last two years.

10. Assessments • Unlike in Year 6, the main reported score is the teacher assessment • Teachers use the tests to inform their assessment, backed up by evidence in children’s books • In other words, if a child’s test score is different from their usual ability, the teacher can disagree with the test • Children are reported as being: • “Working towards the expected level” • “Working At the expected level” • “Working in Greater Depth within the expected level

11. Test Results • Test results are reported as scaled scores • 100 represents the ‘national standard’. • Each pupil’s raw test score will therefore be converted into a score on the scale, either at, above or below 100. • The scale will have a lower end point somewhere below 100 and an upper end point above 100. • A child who achieves the ‘national standard’ (a score of 100) will be judged to have demonstrated sufficient knowledge in the areas assessed by the tests(remembering that the tests only inform the teacher’s assessment)

12. The Assessments • Reading: two papers • Mathematics: two papers • Writing: judged using children’s work in their books only

13. Reading • The Reading Test consists of two separate papers: • Paper 1 – consists of a combined reading prompt and answer booklet. The paper includes a list of useful words and some practice questions for teachers to use to introduce the contexts and question types to pupils. The test takes approximately 30 minutes to complete, but is not strictly timed. • Paper 2 – consists of an answer booklet and a separate reading booklet. There are no practice questions on this paper. Teachers can use their discretion to stop the test early if a pupil is struggling. The test takes approximately 40 minutes to complete, but is not strictly timed. • The texts will cover a range of poetry, fiction and non-fiction.

14. Reading: Sample Questions • Questions are designed to assess the comprehension and understanding of a child’s reading. • There are a variety of question types: • Multiple Choice

15. Reading: Sample Questions • Ranking and ordering

16. Reading: Sample Questions • Matching and labelling

17. Reading: Sample Questions • Short answer questions • Find and copy questions

18. Reading: Sample Questions • Open-ended questions

19. Mathematics • Children will sit two tests: Paper 1 and Paper 2: • Paper 1: Arithmetic - lasts approximately 20 minutes (but this is not strictly timed). It covers calculation methods for all operations. • Paper 2: Reasoning - lasts for approximately 35 minutes, which includes time for five aural questions. Pupils will still require calculation skills and questions will be varied including multiple choice, matching, true/false, completing a chart or table or drawing a shape. Some questions will also require children to show or explain their working out.

20. Maths: Sample Questions • Paper 1: arithmetic

21. Paper 2: Reasoning

22. Maths: Sample Questions • Paper 2: • Reasoning

23. How to help your child • First and foremost, support and reassure your child that there is nothing to worry about and that they should always just try their best. Praise and encourage! • Ensure your child has the best possible attendance at school. • Support your child with any homework tasks. • Reading, spelling and arithmetic (e.g. times tables) are always good to practise. • Talk to your child about what they have learnt at school and what book(s) they are reading (the character, the plot, their opinion). • Make sure your child has a good sleep and healthy breakfast every morning!

24. How to help your child with reading • Develop an enjoyment and love of reading. • Enjoy stories together – reading stories to your child is equally as important as listening to your child read. • Read a little at a time but often • Talk about the story before, during and afterwards – discuss the plot, the characters, their feelings and actions, how it makes you feel, predict what will happen and encourage your child to have their own opinions. • Look up definitions of words together • All reading is valuable – it doesn’t have to be just stories. Reading can involve anything from fiction and non-fiction, poetry, newspapers, magazines, football programmes, TV guides. • Visit the local library - it’s free!

25. How to help your child with writing • Practise and learn weekly spelling lists – make it fun! • Encourage opportunities for writing, such as letters to family or friends, shopping lists, notes or reminders, stories or poems. • Write together – be a good role model for writing. • Encourage use of a dictionary to check spelling. • Allow your child to use a computer for word processing, which will allow for editing and correcting of errors without lots of crossing out. • Remember that good readers become good writers! Identify good writing features when reading (e.g. vocabulary, sentence structure, punctuation). • Show your appreciation: praise and encourage, even for small successes!

26. How to help your child with Maths • Play times tables games. • Play mental maths games including counting in different amounts, forwards and backwards. • Encourage opportunities for telling the time. • Encourage opportunities for counting coins and money e.g. finding amounts or calculating change when shopping. • Look for numbers on street signs, car registrations and anywhere else. • Look for examples of 2D and 3D shapes around the home. • Identify, weigh or measure quantities and amounts in the kitchen or in recipes. • Play games involving numbers or logic, such as dominoes, card games, draughts or chess.