The Easter holidays are over and there is one thing on lots of our minds, not ‘did I really eat 10 whole chocolate eggs in 2 weeks?’, more ‘how can we prepare our Year 1 pupils for the Phonics Screening Check?’. It is something we get asked a lot at Roade English Hub so I have compiled a list of my top tips to give your pupils the best success.

• Phonics at Every Chance you get!

Continue with the high quality daily phonics, following your SSP then add an additional, shorter afternoon session to expose to sounds not yet taught and really focus on the gaps. Use every opportuntiy throughout the day to practise reading unfamiliar words by saying the sounds and blending a word.

• Complete a Practice PSC

Not only does it help the children to know what to expect, help staff to familiarise themselves with the administration process but it also helps us to understand who is on track and spot any trending gaps (we can probably predict that it will be consonant blends, split digraphs and those longer words at the end!)

• Interventions

From the practice PSC, you have discovered who needs that extra little support, now it is time to really target where their individual gaps are. I personally really enjoy this 1-1 time with the children where you see the joy on their faces when they make visible progress in just 5-10minutes. During this time, the focus is on modelling, modelling, modelling. It isn’t a time to assess children, but a time to show them and get them to copy you.

• What a load of Nonsense!

Alien/nonsense/pseudo words- whatever you call them in your school- expose children to them and have fun with it. In any way you wish, show children at least 3 of these words a day and remind them that they are not ‘real’ words- they are just fun to say the sounds and blend to make a silly word! We even know of schools that have stuck these on the bathroom mirrors for children to read while washing their hands.

• PASSWORD!

Stick a password on the classroom door. The challenge is that children are not allowed passed unless they have said the sounds and read the word. Use your knowledge of trends in your class to inform which passwords to use. Many pupils struggling with 3 consonant blends? We have a free document with 12 words using all of the possible 3-consonant blends that could appear on the PSC. That’s 72 passwords already created for you!

Finally, remember that the Roade English Hub team and I are always here to support, if you have any questions or need advice on how to support individuals, groups or entire cohorts, just ask- we are always happy to help!