Teachers: 'Flawed' phonics test
As six-year-olds across England prepared to take the Government's controversial new reading test, three teaching unions raised fresh concerns that the check is "flawed" and could do more damage than good.
The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check explained
- The Year One Phonics Screening Check is taken by pupils at the end of their first year of formal schooling (Year 1)
- The check is based on phonics, a system which focuses on sounds rather than recognising whole words
- Pupils are asked to sound out or decode a series of words, some of which are made up, to test their reading skills
- This includes non-words like "voo", "terg", "bim", "thazz", "spron", "geck", "blan" and "fape".
More top news
-
Joe Biden vows to fight racial inequality with economic agenda
The Democratic presidential candidate may also have shown his cards on his choice of running mate.
-
Trump reverts to promoting unproven drug as coronavirus treatment
The US president also shared a post on Twitter accusing Dr Anthony Fauci of misleading the public over hydroxychloroquine.
-
What the papers say – July 29
Fears over an impending second wave of coronavirus dominates Wednesday’s front pages.