The letter or report line that comes home after the Phonics Screening Check is often just a sentence or two — which makes it easy to misread. Here's what each phrase actually means, and what it does (and doesn't) trigger next.
What the letter actually says
Schools word this differently, but almost all of them use one of two set phrases, because these are the terms the Department for Education asks schools to report against. Everything else on the letter — dates, context, next steps — is usually just padding around one of these two lines.
| Phrase on the letter | What it means | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Met the expected standard | Your child scored at or above the year's threshold | Nothing further — the check is complete |
| Working towards the expected standard | Your child's score was below the year's threshold | Extra phonics support at school through Year 2, then a resit the following June |
| No score reported / check not administered | Your child was absent, or the school applied an access arrangement | The check is usually taken later that term, or the following year |
Where the actual score appears
Some schools include the raw score (out of 40); most just report the outcome. If you want the number, or a list of the specific words your child missed, you can ask — teachers can usually tell you within a minute or two, since they administered the check themselves. For what the number itself means, see our guide to the Phonics Screening Check pass mark, including what a borderline score in the high 20s or low 30s tends to mean.
If the letter says "met the expected standard"
There's nothing to do. Your child won't take the check again, and it won't reappear on any future report. It's worth remembering this measures decoding specifically — sounding out and blending — not reading comprehension or fluency, so it's one useful data point among many, not the full picture of how your child reads.
If the letter says "working towards the expected standard"
This triggers two things automatically at school: your child's teacher notes which specific sounds or patterns need work, and builds them into normal phonics teaching through Year 2 — there's no separate class or intervention label attached. Then, in June of Year 2, your child retakes the check under the same one-on-one, untimed format. For exactly what changes the second time round, see our guide to the Year 2 resit, and for the fuller picture on what "working towards" does and doesn't mean, see what happens if a child doesn't meet the standard.
It's worth asking for specifics
"Working towards" on its own doesn't tell you much. Ask the teacher which words or sound patterns were missed — it's almost always a short, specific list (a couple of vowel teams, maybe one less common digraph) rather than a broad reading problem, and knowing the exact gap makes home practice far more useful.
Why schools avoid the word "pass"
It can feel oddly formal, but the neutral wording is deliberate. The check measures one narrow skill — decoding through phonics — at one point in time, not overall reading ability, intelligence, or how a child will do in the rest of school. "Working towards" keeps the language honest about what's actually being reported: a snapshot of a skill still being taught, not a final judgement. Wording also varies a little between schools — some write "met the required standard," others fold it into a single sentence inside a longer report rather than giving it its own line — so if your child's letter reads differently to the examples above, look past the exact phrase to the underlying meaning: did they meet the standard, or not.
What to do at home either way
- Keep reading practice short and unpressured. Ten minutes of relaxed daily reading does more than an anxious hour once a week, regardless of the result.
- Ask for the missed-word list if the result was "working towards." It turns vague worry into a specific, fixable practice target.
- Don't mention "pass" or "fail" to your child. The check itself is designed to feel like ordinary reading practice — the language you use at home should match that.
For the full picture of what the check covers and how it's structured, see our Phonics Screening Check parent's guide.