Phonics expected standard back to pre-pandemic levels

The statistics covering the attainment of year 1 and year 2 pupils who took the phonics screening check in summer 2026 have been published.

The proportion of pupils reaching the government’s expected standard in their year 1 phonics screening test has returned to pre-pandemic levels for the first time. Achievement rates fell to 75 per cent in 2022-23, but have been rising slowly since.

Headlines as follows:

• 82% of pupils met the expected standard in the phonics screening check in year 1, up from 80% in 2025
• 89% of pupils met the expected standard by the end of year 2, unchanged from 2025
• Disadvantaged pupils performed less well than other pupils and the gap has remained similar to 2025 (17 percentage points). 68% of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standard in year 1, up from 67% in 2025.

There are significant gaps regionally, with the data showing that London is the highest performing region, where 84% of pupils met the expected standard in year 1; The South West was second with 83% and the lowest performing regions were the North East and North West with 80%.