The Year 1 phonics screening check is a short, one-to-one assessment where your child reads 40 words aloud to their teacher. It takes place in the week commencing Monday 8 June 2026. The check includes 20 real words and 20 pseudo-words (often called ‘alien words’). The pass mark is typically 32 out of 40. In 2024, 80% of Year 1 pupils met the expected standard. Children who don’t pass will resit in Year 2.
If your child is in Year 1 at a state primary school in England, this check is coming up in June. It isn’t something to panic about, but it is something to prepare for. The children who do well are the ones who have had consistent phonics practice in the weeks before it.
This guide explains everything: what the check involves, how it is scored, what your child will actually be asked to do, practical strategies you can use at home, and how to know if your child might need extra support.
What Is Phonics and Why Does It Matter?
Phonics is the method used across England to teach children to read. Rather than memorising whole words by sight, children learn the sounds that individual letters and letter combinations make, and then blend those sounds together from left to right to form words. This is called decoding.
For example, to read the word ‘ship’, a child recognises that ‘sh’ makes one sound, ‘i’ makes another, and ‘p’ makes another. They blend those three sounds together to read the word. This is the core skill the screening check is designed to assess.
If you didn’t learn phonics at school yourself, your child’s approach to reading might seem unfamiliar. Many parents tell us their children come home making sounds they don’t recognise. That’s completely normal. It’s the phonetic alphabet, and it’s how the national curriculum teaches reading.
Phonics gives your child the tools to decode written English independently. The screening check is there to make sure those tools are developing as expected.
What Is the Phonics Screening Check?
The phonics screening check is a statutory assessment for all Year 1 pupils in maintained schools, academies, and free schools in England. It is set and managed by the Standards and Testing Agency (STA), part of the Department for Education.
Its purpose is straightforward: to confirm that children have learned phonic decoding to an age-appropriate standard and to identify any children who need additional support.
Here is exactly what happens:
- Your child sits one-to-one with their class teacher in a quiet, familiar setting.
- They are asked to read 40 words aloud.
- The 40 words are split into two sections of 20.
- Section 1 contains 20 pseudo-words (alien words). Each appears next to a picture of an imaginary creature.
- Section 2 contains 20 real words, including four two-syllable words on the final page.
- The teacher records whether each word is read correctly and makes notes on any difficulties.
- There is no time limit. The check usually takes about 10 minutes.
- It is not a formal exam. It is designed to feel relaxed and mirrors what children do in daily phonics lessons.
Children are encouraged to ‘sound talk’ each word. This means breaking a word into its individual sounds and then blending them together. For the word ‘bat’, a child would say ‘b-a-t’ and then blend those sounds into the word.
If you’ve seen dots or lines under letters on your child’s school worksheets, those are ‘sound buttons’. Dots mark individual sounds. Lines mark digraphs or trigraphs (two or three letters that make a single sound, like ‘sh’ or ‘igh’). These help children see how to break a word apart before blending it back together.
When Is the Phonics Screening Check in 2026 and What Is the Pass Mark?
The 2026 date
State schools must administer the phonics screening check within one week from Monday, 8 June 2026 (8-12 June 2026). If a child is absent during this week, schools may use the following week to catch up.
Please make sure your child is in school during this period.
The pass mark
The pass mark (threshold) has been 32 out of 40 for the last four years. Historically, it has been set between 30 and 32 marks. The exact threshold for 2026 will be published by the Department for Education on Monday, 22 June 2026.
In 2024, 80% of Year 1 pupils met the expected standard nationally. By the end of Year 2, including resits, that figure rose to 89%.
How will you find out the results
Your child’s teacher will share their individual score with you in the second half of the summer term. School-level results are not published to the public, but schools use them internally to plan support.
If your child does not meet the standard, the school should explain what additional support they are putting in place. Your child will resit the check at the end of Year 2.
What Are Alien Words and Why Are They in the Phonics Check?
Alien words (also called pseudo-words or nonsense words) are made-up words that follow English phonics rules but have no meaning. Examples from previous years include words like ‘vap’, ‘terg’, ‘jound’, and ‘strom’.
They make up half of the check (20 out of 40 words) and they are there for an important reason.
In the check, every alien word appears next to a picture of an imaginary creature. Children are taught that when a word has a creature next to it, it’s not a real word. This stops them from trying to match it to a word they already know.
If your child hasn’t encountered alien words before, practising with made-up words at home is one of the most valuable things you can do before June.
What Are the Phonics Phases? Where Should Your Year 1 Child Be?
Phonics is taught in a structured sequence of phases. Each phase builds on the previous one, introducing more complex sounds and patterns. Understanding the phases helps you gauge whether your child is on track for the screening check.
- Phase 2: Single letter sounds. Children learn the sound each letter makes (s, a, t, p, i, n and more). This is the starting point for all phonics learning.
- Phase 3: Digraphs and trigraphs. Two letters that make one sound (sh, ch, ee, oo, ai) and three letters that make one sound (igh, air, ear). Children start reading and writing simple words using these combinations.
- Phase 5: Alternative pronunciations and spellings. Children learn that the same sound can be spelled in different ways (the ‘ai’ sound in rain, day, and cake) and that the same letters can make different sounds in different words. This is the phase most Year 1 children are working through.
- Phase 6: Spelling rules, prefixes, suffixes, and fluent reading. Children at this phase are becoming confident, independent readers.
In Reception, children typically cover Phases 2 and 3. By Year 1, they should be moving through Phase 5.
If your child is in Year 1 and still predominantly in Phase 3, they’re a little behind where you’d hope they should be. That doesn’t mean it’s too late. But it does mean some focused, consistent support between now and June could make a significant difference.
7 Practical Ways to Help Your Child Prepare for the Phonics Screening Check
You don’t need to be a phonics expert. You don’t need special training. These seven strategies are drawn directly from teacher advice and can be done at home in just a few minutes a day.
1. Read together every day
This is the single most impactful thing you can do. When your child reads their school book to you, encourage them to sound out unfamiliar words rather than guessing from the pictures. Try to avoid an over-reliance on the pictures. They’re great for clues, but you want your child to really focus on using their sounds.
If a word is too hard, read it with them. Point to each letter, say the sound together, and blend it. Then talk about what the word means. Reading should always feel supported, never punishing.
2. Use flashcards daily
Flashcards are one of the simplest and most effective phonics tools. Start with sounds your child already knows well to build confidence and speed. Then gradually introduce sounds they find harder. Even five minutes a day of flashcard practice makes a measurable difference over the course of a term. The goal is fast, automatic recall, because once a child can recognise sounds instantly, blending becomes much easier.
3. Practise with alien words
Since half the check is alien words, this is directly relevant preparation. Make up silly words together and practise sounding them out. Try words like ‘blim’, ‘terg’, ‘snop’, or ‘fleep’. Tell your child they’re creature names and have fun with it.
At Ant Learning, we prepare children for the format of the check before June so the first time they encounter alien words isn’t on the day of the check itself. You can start doing the same at home today.
4. Encourage sounding out, not guessing
Some parents worry when their child sounds out every word slowly. But sounding out is exactly what the check is testing.
Children are expected to break words into individual sounds and then blend them together. Over time, they will read many words without needing to sound out. But at this stage, sounding out means they’re using their phonics correctly. Don’t discourage it.
5. Ask their teacher about the right reading level
Tenisha Jones, an assistant headteacher, shared a useful benchmark: your child should be reading their school book at about 80-90% fluency. That means they can read most words comfortably and only need to stop and sound out occasionally.
If your child is struggling with every single word and pausing for long periods, the book may be a stage too hard. Don’t be discouraged. Talk to their teacher and ask for a book at the right level. The point of reading is to enjoy and understand the story, not to struggle through every word.
7. Keep it short, keep it fun, keep it going
Five to ten minutes of daily practice produces better results than an hour at the weekend. Little and often is the key.
Play phonics games. Spot words on road signs and cereal boxes. Sing sound songs in the car. Make up silly sentences using words that start with the same sound.
Praise every attempt. Celebrate effort, not just accuracy. A confident, encouraged child will always do better than an anxious one.
Signs Your Child May Need Extra Support Before the Phonics Check
Some children pick up phonics quickly. Others need more time, more repetition, and more individual attention than the school day allows. In a class of 30, that’s simply a reality.
- You may want to consider additional support if:
- Your child can’t recognise common single-letter sounds when shown a flashcard
- They guess words from pictures instead of using their sounds
- They can say individual sounds but struggle to blend them into a whole word
- They find it hard to read simple three-letter words like ‘cat’, ‘dog’, or ‘sun’
- They are in Year 1 but still predominantly in Phase 3
- Reading time feels stressful and they resist practising
If your child is struggling with reading, don’t wait until they are in Year 2 before doing something about it. You don’t want to knock your child’s confidence. You want to get them the help as early as possible, and you don’t want to delay their progress in other subjects as well.
Many parents find phonics challenging to teach at home because they didn’t learn it themselves. That’s one of the most common things we hear. It’s completely understandable, and it’s one of the key reasons families come to us for structured, expert-led support.
How Ant Learning Can Help Your Child Prepare for the Phonics Check
At Ant Learning, we have taught over 300 children to read. We know how phonics works, where children get stuck, and exactly how to move them forward.
Our summer term programme runs from Saturday 18 April to Saturday 11 July 2026. That gives your child 12 weeks of structured phonics support, including 6 weeks of preparation before the screening check on 8 June.
What your child receives:
- Weekly live, step-by-step phonics awareness lessons delivered by qualified and trained tutors
- Phonics workbooks incorporating phonemic awareness and synthetic phonics methods
- Phonics games that make repetitive practice feel like play, both in sessions and at home
- Colourful, decodable reading story books for practice and enjoyment
- Structured support activities during the week between lessons
- End-of-term assessment and report so you can see measurable progress
- Direct access to your child’s tutor after each lesson for personalised feedback
- Up to 2-hour sessions per week at our centres, or up to 1 hour 35 minutes online
We specifically prepare children for the format of the screening check. They practise reading both real words and alien words. They learn to use sound buttons. They build confidence with two-syllable words. By June, your child will know exactly what to expect and feel confident walking into the check.
What we achieve with children in 12 weeks is what’s typically covered in a whole year at school. That’s the result of small groups, expert tutors, and a structured programme refined with hundreds of families.
Available at our Dartford centre, our Southgate (North London) centre, and online (available nationwide). Saturdays during term time.
Ready to give your child the best possible preparation for June?
Book a free taster session with a free assessment: antlearning.co.uk/taster. We’ll assess exactly where your child is, show you what they need, and give you a clear plan forward.
