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Less than half of five-year-olds passed new phonics tests after their first full year of schooling last year.
Results published by the Education Ministry show 47 percent of the 4209 children who did the 40-week phonics check in term four last year were "at or above expectations".
But children in schools facing the most socio-economic barriers had a pass rate of just 25 percent.
The children were asked to read up to 40 words, including both real and made up words, and met "curriculum expectations for phonics knowledge and decoding" if they got 24 correct.
