Oh dear, somewhat predictably two-thirds of the Year 1 children who took the pilot Phonics Screening Check failed to reach the level decreed acceptable.
Cue Schools Minister Nick Gibb using the results to bang the drum for more, more, more systematic synthetic phonics to solve the problem.
But what if it is the test and not the children that is the problem!
There has been a sustained campaign from many early years experts against plans to introduce the Year 1 phonics test. The inclusion of made-up 'nonsense' words to check on children's ability to decode words was particularly denigrated, especially as this was found confusing by some of the most able readers.
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