How do we measure your child’s reading ability?

Phonics - we continually assess children against the Sounds-Write phonics programme and then children complete the year 1 phonics test.

Star Reading Test – each half term children have their reading ability checked using the Accelerated Reader Star Test. This gives each child a ZPD range for their reading ability allowing them to choose appropriate books matched to their ability.

Reading Comprehension – children will answer test style questions, which will give an indication as to how they are performing against national curriculum age related expectations. These questions are used in guided reading and English lesson and will also be used as a whole test at different points throughout the school year.

Reading accuracy – when your child reads to an adult, we will check how many words are being read correctly. A ‘rule of five’ is applied, as a child needs to read 95% of the words correctly to understand meaning. The ‘rule of five’ is to read approximately 100 words and count for mistakes. If there are more than five mistakes made (uncorrected mistakes – a child can correct an error and it is not counted as a mistake) then the book is too hard. Equally is your child reads with no mistakes then the book is too easy.

All of the information above pieces together to let us know how well your child is reading. If there is an area where you child may be struggling, then an intervention (extra support) would be put in place to ensure that your child can catch up.