Parent Hub | The Phonics Screening Check

Find information, tips and the best workbooks to prepare your children for the phonics screening check.

What you need to know

What is it?

A 40-word check of a child’s phonic skills and knowledge. It lasts around 5-10 minutes.

Which year group?

Year 1 (ages 5-6)

When is it?

June

What does it assess?

  • Sounding out and blending letters and sounds to read simple words.
  • Reading decodable one-syllable and two-syllable words
  • Reading non-regular or “alien” words


What is ‘phonics’? What is the check?

  • Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write.
  • It focuses on the different sounds in words, rather than needing to recognise whole words.
  • In England, we use Systematic Synthetic Phonics. This means children learn sounds in a particular order.
  • Children start by breaking down words into their sounds (for example, ‘c-a-t’ or ‘s-t-r-ee-t’) and then blend the sounds back together again.
  • The phonics screening check contains 40 words, which children will sound out. The check contain a mixture of real words and pseudo-words (made-up words).
  • All the pseudo-words are accompanied by a picture of an imaginary creature. This provides a context for the child (naming the type of imaginary creature) to ensure that they are not trying to match the pseudo-word to a real word that they already know.


Phonics Book Bag Readers

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Support your child’s reading journey with Scholastic Book Bag Readers, carefully crafted to build phonics knowledge and reading confidence.

These engaging readers are perfect for practising and applying decoding skills both in the classroom and at home. With over 100 inclusive fiction and non-fiction titles, complete with fun illustrations and photographs as well as guidance for parents, these books make learning to read enjoyable for the whole family.

Find out more



Phonics Starter Packs

See more Phonics Starter Packs

Look inside!

A Big Bug (Set 3)
A Big Bug
Title 3 (Set 5)
Up at Night
Title 4 (Set 12)
The World’s Worst Dancer

Read the Blog

How to Prepare for the Phonics Screening Check
5 Reasons to Try Phonics Book Bag Readers
6 Strategies to Improve Reading Comprehension


More phonics books

See more More phonics books
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