Nursery World - Number of children passing phonics check rises again

More than four in five children have passed this year's phonics screening check at the end of Year 1.

The number of five- and six-year-olds passing the test has risen every year since it was introduced in 2012.

However, a breakdown of results for the phonics check reveals that some groups of children do not do as well as others, with children from poorer backgrounds, those with special educational needs and summer-borns doing less well than their peers.

To pass the check children must correctly pronounce 40 words, some of which are made up.

This year 81 per cent of pupils passed the check, a rise of 4 percentage points on the 2015 results when 77 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard. The pass rate in 2012 was 58 per cent.

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