Embedded Files
Year 1 Phonics check
Year 1 Phonics check
To be administered in
Weeks 4-6 of Term 3, 2026
Digital Assessment Library
Digital Assessment Library
There is now a range of assessment tools that you can engage with in a variety of ways, from a broad to narrow focus.
Upcoming Professional Learning: 30th July 2026
CHA DAL Professional Learning Flyer.pdfMathematics VLPs Learning Sequences and Assessment
The VLPs use an intentional sequence so that students have knowledge and skills for each new content area.
For a summary overview of all the VLP mathematics sequences, refer to our mathematics level overview.
Each sequence contains an assessment task. These will inform teaching curriculum planning and programming. The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority has developed skills assessments. These include around 25-30 questions. Teachers can find them in the Digital Assessment Library.
In F-2 there is an optional Mathematical Observation Record (MOR). This supports teachers to record their observations about what students say, write, make or do around key knowledge.
eNGLISH vlpS ASSESSMENTS
eNGLISH vlpS ASSESSMENTS
English Learning sequences and assessment
The VLPs use an intentional sequence so that students have knowledge and skills for each new content area.
For a summary of all the VLP English sequences, refer to the English level overview.
For levels F-2, VLPs form a 2-hour literacy block, including:
Phonics Plus: Systematic synthetic phonics, spelling, handwriting and fluency.
Literacy skills: Short lessons on grammar, punctuation and syntax.
Text study: Responding to and creating texts with fiction and non-fiction texts.
For levels 3-6, VLPs include literacy skills and text study.
Each sequence includes both formative and summative assessment. These will inform teaching curriculum planning and programming.
In levels F-1 there is an optional English Observation Record (EOR). This supports teachers to record their observations about what students say, write, make or do with key knowledge.
yEAR 1 pHONICS cHECK
yEAR 1 pHONICS cHECK
Assessment period
In 2026, the Year 1 Phonics Check is mandated for all Year 1 students in Victorian government schools.
The Year 1 Phonics Check is administered in weeks 4-6 of Term 3 (3 August - 21 August 2026).
The optional Reassessment is also available during weeks 4-6 of Term 3 (3 August - 21 August 2026).
From week 4, Term 3, the Year 1 Phonics Check and Reassessment can be accessed via login on the Insight Assessment Platform (Insight).
Professional learning
Webinars to support understanding and completion of the Year 1 Phonics Check are now available for on-demand viewing on the Literacy provider page:
Webinar 1: Year 1 Phonics Check overview
Webinar 2: How to administer the Year 1 Phonics Check
Webinar 3: Analyse and respond to the Year 1 Phonics Check data
To register for our upcoming webinars that will include content on the Phonics Check Reassessment, visit: Literacy at the Department of Education.
Resources
The resources below support the use of the Year 1 Phonics Check and Reassessment. They will be available for download on the Insight platform by week 2, Term 3.
The real and non-words in the assessment are reviewed and changed each year.
Student resources
To complete the Year 1 Phonics Check or Reassessment, teachers must download a copy of the student resources from Insight (login required). This will contain:
a practice sheet containing practice words for students to read before completing the assessment
the 40 words that students read aloud to complete the assessment.
It is recommended to print one copy of the student resources per class.
Teacher resources
The following resources support teachers to administer the Year 1 Phonics Check and Reassessment on Insight (login required):
administration guide with instructions for teachers
scoring guidance
answer sheet.
Please note, the above resources are also available on the teacher interface on Insight during the assessment period.
Foundation Assessment- Literacy
Foundation Assessment- Literacy
If you would like support regarding the Foundation Assessment- Literacy (FA-L) please contact us.
The FA-L is available for optional use on the Insight Assessment Platform (login required) throughout 2026.
The FA-L can be administered at 3 points across the school year in Term 1, Term 2 and Term 4.
Guidelines recommend using the FA-L in Term 2, weeks 5 to 10 and again in Term 4, weeks 1 to 6 to monitor student growth. Benefits of this approach include:
supporting screening of at-risk students
enabling monitoring of student growth across the school year
allowing evaluation of implementation, instruction and impact over time.
The Term 1 administration (weeks 1 to 6) provides early benchmarking data and helps identify students who may be at risk of falling behind when they first start school. It was used as evidence to identify Prep students eligible for the Koorie Literacy and Numeracy Program in Term 1, 2026.
FA-L subtests should be administered in one sitting, or on the same day.
About the Assessment
A system-wide Foundation Assessment - Literacy (FA-L) is available for optional use by schools with their Prep students from 2026 on the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s (VCAA) Insight Assessment Platform (login required). There are 3 assessment windows each year: Term 1, Term 2 and Term 4.
The FA-L will assess the ‘Big 6’ components of reading at Foundation level, which is aligned with Victoria's approach to teaching reading.
The FA-L is made up of 2 tools:
Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS)
CUBED-3 Narrative Language Measures (NLM).
The FA-L is administered to one student at a time and takes about 15 minutes per student to administer and score.
DIBELS
DIBELS
This assessment includes 4 subtests. Each subtest is a standardised, timed test (1 minute per subtest):
Letter Naming Fluency (LNF): The student is shown a page of 100 uppercase and lowercase letters arranged in random order. They are asked to name as many letters as they can in 1 minute.
Phonemic Segmentation Fluency (PSF): The teacher says real words to the student. The student is asked to say the individual sounds (phonemes) in each word.
Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF): The student is shown a page of made-up or ‘non-words’. They are asked to say either the individual letter sounds or the whole non-word. These non-words are designed to test a student’s ability to use phonics knowledge to decode unfamiliar words.
Word Reading Fluency (WRF): The student is shown a page of real words and asked to read each whole word aloud.
NLM
NLM
This assessment includes a listening test. The student listens to a short story, then retells it in their own words and answers questions about it.
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