Maths and reading
Individual schools will set the dates for these during May 2023. There are no set dates so check with your child’s school. There are five tests for pupils to sit: two reading papers and two maths papers, plus an optional English grammar, spelling and punctuation paper (SPAG).
Phonics
The phonics screening check takes place in the week commencing 12 June 2023. The phonics screening checks two areas:
(i) how well the school scheme teaches children to decode using phonics
(ii) whether every child has a good knowledge of the 85 GPCs (grapheme-phoneme correspondences). This is the relationship between phoneme (unit of sound) and its graphemes (or symbols).
What: English grammar, punctuation and spelling, papers 1 and 2
When: Tuesday 9 May 2023
What: Reading
When: Wednesday 10 May 2023
What: Mathematics papers 1 and 2
When: Thursday 11 May 2023
What: Mathematics paper 3
When: Friday 12 May 2023
The check is made up of 25 questions and will be carried out in the three weeks from Monday 5 June 2023.