The Phonics Screening Check

Please note: This guidance applies to Phonics Screening checks taken in the Summer term. For information on Phonics Screening checks taken in the Autumn term due to the impact of Covid-19, please see this article: The Autumn Phonics screening check

Setting up the Assessment

Adding the Template

To add the Phonics Check assessment, go to Students > Assessments > DfE Assessments.

If the template has already been added, you'll see it under the academic year drop-down menu.

If it hasn't yet been added, click the green Load Assessment Template button in the top-right of the page.

Select the Phonics Screening Check, then click Load Template.

Click +Add in the Phonics Screening Check section select the right student group and date.

In the slide over, select the main year group that is doing the Phonics Screening Check. This is usually Year 1. Don't worry, you can add additional students from other years later on.

Add the assessment date, and choose whether the assessment is for SEN students only, then click Setup Assessments.

Adding students retaking from last year (year 2) and additional students if needed

To add additional students (such as students who failed the assessment last year), click the check. 

Then select Manage Assessment. 

Click +Add in the Students section on the next page.

Select individual students or whole groups by clicking, then click Add Students.

They will then appear in the Student list and in the marksheet.

Inputting Marks

To input marks into the Phonics Screening Check, return to the DfE assessments page and again select the check. Click it and click Input Marks in the slide over.

Add in the mark to the Check Mark column on the right. Schools are not required to submit outcomes to their LA unless a student was, for example, absent when the test was administered.

Should we fill in the outcomes?

Only input a value in the left-hand column if the student did not take the test. In this case, input A, D, L or Q in the left-hand column, and leave the right-hand column blank.

The DfE will release thresholds for passing grades on Monday 20th June. The marksheet will then be automatically updated by the end of the day to show Wa or Wt.

Which mark should we use?

Guidance for the codes to use, taken from page 17 of the DfE's Administering the phonics screening check guide.

Once the outcomes have appeared, you can report the screening check outcome to parents. Just click the tick boxes next to the students to report, click the Bulk actions button and select the right option.

You can also add students to interventions in the same way. Once you have ascertained which students did not meet the expected standard, we recommend creating an intervention for these students to help you support them towards the expected standard.

What's next?

• To send off the results, follow this article: Exporting DfE assessment results via CTF
• To share the results with guardians, follow this article: Downloading End of Year Reports and sending them to guardians

Remember when exporting your CTF:

• leave the Year group field blank if you want all the students that took the test to be included.
• select Year 1 if you want to, for example, export your year 1 and year 2 Phonics Screening Check data separately.
• tick the Only export the most recent assessment results box to only output the summer Phonics scores, not the Autumn ones from earlier in the year.