What phonics should Year 1 know?
Phase 5 phonics
Table of Contents
Phase 5 generally takes children the whole of Year 1. ‘Here, we start introducing alternative spellings for sounds, like ‘igh’,” says Sara. ‘Children master these in reading first, and as their fluency develops, we begin to see them using them correctly in spelling.

How does the Year 1 phonics test work?
The test is carried out one-to-one between teacher and pupil. The child must read out each word to their teacher. The 40 words contain 20 real words and 20 pseudo words (alien or nonsense words). The test cannot be administered by a teaching assistant or higher-level teaching assistant.
How do I prepare my child for phonics screening?
You can help your child prepare for their Phonics Screening Check by going over the phonics they’ve learned in Reception and Year 1. Read new books and stories with them where they will be introduced to new words that they’ll have to sound out, and review the phonics sounds and rules.
How do you test for phonics?

One way to assess these skills is by asking questions like “How many sounds do you hear in the word bake?” Another is to segment the sounds in a word and ask students to tell you the word. Then give the student a word and ask them to segment out the sounds like you were doing.
How is phonics taught at KS1?
The national curriculum for KS1 phonics is based around a systematic synthetic phonics approach. Synthetic means to blend sounds together to make words and systematic means graphemes (the shape letters form on a page) are introduced gradually in a logical sequence.
When was the Year 1 phonics screening test introduced?
In September 2011, the Government announced that a new, statutory phonics screening check for all children in Year 1 would be introduced during the current academic year. The Year 1 phonics screening check was piloted in approximately 300 schools in June 2011.
What happens if my child failed phonics screening?
If a child does not achieve the required passing grade during the phonics screening test, they will be given extra support over the course of the next school year to improve their abilities at reading and decoding words. At the end of year 2, they will then be able to retake the screening test.
What is the pass mark for phonics screening 2021?
32 out of 40
The pass mark for the 2021 Phonics Screening Check is 32 out of 40, meaning children need to correctly read out loud to their teacher at least 32 of the 40 words.
What is the pass mark for Year 1 phonics 2022?
32
The 2022 phonics screening check threshold mark is 32. Teachers should check each pupil’s mark against the threshold to establish whether they have achieved the expected standard.
What are phonics activities?
Top 12 Phonics Activities for Kids in 2021
- Play. Children learn through play, so try incorporating phonics activities at home that involve playing.
- Sing.
- Read.
- Flip the Pancake.
- Play Dough Letters.
- Word Roller.
- Magazine/Newspaper Scavenger Hunt.
- Popsicle Stick Questions.
What is the easiest phonemic awareness task?
Start with Syllables
The easiest level of phonological awareness is word play, or the syllable level. Remember, is the first time that students will focus on the sounds in a word versus the word meaning.
What are the 42 phonics sounds?
The letter order is as follows:
- s, a, t, i, p, n.
- ck, e, h, r, m, d.
- g, o, u, l, f, d.
- ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or.
- z, w, ng, v, oo, oo.
- y, x, ch, sh, th, th.
- qu, ou, oi, ue, er, ar.
What are the 44 phonic sounds?
Set 1: s, a, t, p. Set 2: i, n, m, d. Set 3: g, o, c, k. Set 4: ck, e, u, r. Set 5: h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss.
What percentage of children pass the phonics screening?
In 2019, 82% of pupils in Year 1 met the expected standard in the phonics screening check, compared to just 58% when the check was introduced in 2012. For disadvantaged pupils, this has gone from 45% in 2012 to 71% in 2019.
What percentage of children pass the phonics test?
The average pass rate for the Local Authority in 2019 was 85%. *The pass mark was 32 out of 40. *Out of the 55 children that passed, 48 children passed with a score of 90% or above.
What percentage of children pass phonics screening?
What is the year 1 phonics test pass mark?
30-32 marks
The ‘pass’ threshold for past phonics screening tests is typically 30-32 marks (out of 40), most children will meet this standard.
What is the pass mark for year 1 phonics 2022?
What happens if my child misses phonics screening?
What happens if a child fails the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check? Any pupils who have not reached the required standard at the end of Year 1 should receive extra support from their school to help them improve their phonic decoding skills. They will then have the opportunity to retake the screening check in Year 2.
What is a phonics game?
Phonic games help make the process fun and in turn help kids retain what they are learning and stay motivated. Phonics instruction refers to the process of helping children learn the relationships between letters and the sounds they make.
What are some examples of phonics?
Teaching children to blend the sounds of letters together helps them decode unfamiliar or unknown words by sounding them out. For example, when a child is taught the sounds for the letters t, p, a and s, they can start to build up the words: “tap”, “taps”, “pat”, “pats” and “sat”.
What are the 5 phonemic awareness skills?
5 Important levels of phonemic awareness
- Phoneme segmentation.
- Phoneme blending and splitting.
- Phoneme Rhyming and Alliteration.
- Phoneme Comparing and Contrasting.
- Phoneme manipulation.
What’s the difference between phonics and phonemic awareness?
Phonics focuses on how sounds look in writing, while phonemic awareness is understanding that each word is comprised of a series of sounds. Consequently, most phonics instruction is written, and most phonemic awareness lessons are oral.
What order should I teach phonics?
How to teach Phonics: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Step 1 – Letter Sounds. Most phonics programmes start by teaching children to see a letter and then say the sound it represents.
- Step 2 – Blending.
- Step 3 – Digraphs.
- Step 4 – Alternative graphemes.
- Step 5 – Fluency and Accuracy.
What is the tricky word?
Tricky words are words that early readers will struggle with. This might be because they have unusual spellings, contain new sounds and graphemes or don’t follow ordinary phonemic rules. Many tricky words are ones that we use often, so it’s important to teach kids how to spell and pronounce them.