Sonar Tracker

Overview

This article explains how to enter your Phonics Screening Check results into Sonar Tracker.

Statutory assessment data should only be manually entered into one system. From that system, it should be electronically exported and imported into other systems as required. If your school enters statutory data into a third-party MIS and you use stand-alone Sonar Tracker, go to Sonar Tracker: How do I import Statutory Data into Sonar Tracker from a CTF? for further information. To determine which version of Sonar Tracker you are using, see Sonar Tracker: Which version of Sonar Tracker am I using?

Prerequisites

• You must have Account Owner, Account Admin, or Full Edit permissions to enter or edit statutory assessment data in Sonar Tracker (to change a user's permissions, see Portal: How do I change a staff member’s role for a product?).

Demonstration

The following interactive guide shows you how to enter statutory assessment data in Sonar Tracker. Select the relevant data that you want to enter when prompted to see a step-by-step demonstration:

Instructions

To enter your Statutory Phonics scores into Sonar Tracker:

1. Select Assessments.
2. From the Statutory Assessments pane, select Phonics Screening Check:
   
3. When prompted, select the Year Group (either Year 1 or Year 2) and optionally, a corresponding Class within that Year Group for which you wish to enter test results:
   
4. Select Open Assessment, the Phonics Screening Check input page opens for the selected pupils. If pupils are in Year 1, only the Y1 columns are displayed. For pupils in Year 2, both Y1 and Y2 columns are shown:
   
5. Select Edit Assessment. 

6. From Edit Assessment:

   

   1. Optionally, change the Assessment Date if it is different to the one shown (by default this is today's date). Any information that you enter / edit will be assigned to the selected date.

      You can only enter a date within the academic year the pupil sat the assessment. If you change a result later, for example, during a remark in Autumn 1 of the following academic year, only the academic year of the original assessment date can be entered. Sonar Tracker does this to stop results from being recorded against the wrong academic year.

   2. Select Start Editing.

7. Enter each pupil's screening check test score in the Y1 Phonics Mark. After you have entered the test score, the Y1 Phonics Outcome code will be generated accordingly. If you need to enter other codes, select the cell and select the appropriate code. For those pupils who have taken the check in Year 2, complete Y2 Phonics Mark. After you have entered the test score, the Y2 Phonics Outcome code will be generated accordingly. If you need to enter other codes, select the cell and select the appropriate code.

   

   1. Enter the pupil's assessment in Y1 Phonics Mark (or Y2 Phonics Mark), between 0 and 40:

      

      The outcome is generated automatically in the Y1 Phonics Outcome (or Y2 Phonics Outcome as appropriate). 

   2. Where the pupil does not have a mark, select the Y1 Phonics Outcome (or Y2 Phonics Outcome as appropriate) cell and enter the appropriate code from those available:
      • A - Absent.
      • D - Disapplied.
      • L - Left.
      • Q - Maladministration.
      • Wa - Met expected phonic decoding standard.
      • Wt - Did not meet expected phonic decoding standard.
8. Repeat Step 7 for each pupil.

Tips

When entering your Y1 Phonics Mark or Y2 Phonics Mark using a keyboard, press the down arrow button to speed up the process of entering a score for each pupil. When the down arrow is selected, you navigate to the next pupil's Phonics Mark to enter it. 

If you enter an invalid test score, a red message is displayed explaining that the value is incorrect:

Select the Information key to view the meanings of the different values you can enter (where codes, rather than scores are used):

See more information about the codes used in Statutory Assessments here - Sonar Tracker: What do the codes for recording Key Stage Data mean?

Outcome

The Phonics results are updated and saved. Where a score is entered, the corresponding outcome is automatically generated. 

Reporting Phonics outcomes

This data will show in the Statutory Dashboard in the Analysis tab. 

Statutory data appears in the Statutory Dashboard a few minutes after you have entered or imported it.

Related information

Go to the Assessment and Reporting Arrangements (phonics screening check) for more information about these assessments.

If you are a full Sonar Tracker subscriber, to understand how you can report on your statutory data using Sonar Tracker, see Sonar Tracker: How can I report on Statutory / End of Key Stage Assessments in Sonar?

Updated 17 July 2026 15:09