At the end of year one, when they are five or six, all children at state schools in England must take a test called the phonics screening check. The check measures their ability to use synthetic phonics – an approach to teaching reading – to blend sounds together to read words. If they don’t pass, children take the test again in the next school year.
However, recent research from think tank the Education Policy Institute suggests that there is no evidence that the phonics screening check leads to improvements in reading later in a child’s school journey.
In addition, the report found no evidence that the check has narrowed attainment gaps in reading – such as the difference in results between children from richer and poorer backgrounds – by the end of primary school.
