You don't need an official document to give your child useful practice for the Phonics Screening Check — you need a sheet that matches the real format closely enough to be realistic. Here's exactly what that looks like, and how to build one yourself in a few minutes.
What a good practice paper actually needs
- 40 words in two sets of 20. This matches the real structure and gives you a natural halfway break, just like the actual check.
- Roughly half real words, half pseudo-words. Mixing them, rather than grouping all the invented ones together, is closer to how the real check is laid out.
- A simple marker next to each pseudo-word. A small picture or symbol tells your child in advance "this one isn't real," exactly as the friendly-creature symbol does in the real check.
- Words that match your child's current level. Simple 3-letter words alongside a few digraphs and blends, not a random difficulty spread.
Timed or untimed? Use untimed
It's tempting to add a stopwatch to make practice feel more "real," but the actual check has no time limit — your child's own teacher gives them as long as they need. Practising against the clock at home teaches a skill the real check doesn't reward, and it adds pressure that can make reading feel worse, not better.
Skip the stopwatch
If a practice paper you find online is marketed as "timed," treat that as a preference of the person who made it, not a feature of the real check. Sit with your child at a relaxed pace and let them take as long as they want on each word.
Official vs homemade practice materials
GOV.UK does publish sample and exemplar materials for the check, which are useful for seeing the exact style and layout the real thing uses — worth a look once, mainly so you and your child know roughly what the page will look like on the day. Beyond that, though, a homemade sheet built from your child's actual current reading level is usually more useful than a generic downloadable paper, simply because it targets what your specific child needs practice on rather than a broad, one-size-fits-all difficulty spread.
How to build your own sheet in five minutes
- Pull 20 real words from your child's current reading book or word list. Words they've seen before are fine — the real check does include some familiar-looking words too.
- Add 20 pseudo-words that follow the same patterns. Use our pseudo-words practice list as a ready-made source rather than inventing these from scratch.
- Mark each pseudo-word with a small symbol. A star, a tiny creature doodle — anything consistent, so your child always knows which ones aren't real before they start reading.
- Read through together at a relaxed pace, no clock. Note down anything that trips them up so the next sheet can target it specifically.
| Practice sheet element | Suggested count |
|---|---|
| Real words | 20 |
| Pseudo-words | 20 |
| Simple 3-letter words (e.g. cat, dog) | 6-8 |
| Words with digraphs/blends (e.g. ship, plant) | remaining balance |
How often to actually use a practice sheet
Little and often beats one long session. A short 10-word sheet two or three times a week, in the weeks leading up to June, tends to build real confidence without the whole thing starting to feel like exam prep. Save the full 40-word version for an occasional dry run — once every couple of weeks is plenty — rather than the default daily activity, since the point is comfortable familiarity with the format, not repeated testing.
If your child needs targeted sound practice rather than a full sheet, the phoneme map lets them hear and repeat any of the 43 sounds the check draws on. For the full lead-up plan around these practice sessions, see how to prepare for the Phonics Screening Check, and for the format this is all based on, our Phonics Screening Check parent's guide.