Phonics instruction is an evidence-based approach for teaching reading and writing in the early years of schooling. Students attending hospital schools experience significant interruptions to their education, which can be especially apparent in early literacy. The Yalingbu Yirramboi - Royal Children’s Hospital School (YYRCHS) literacy team developed a whole-school phonics screening tool designed for the unique context of hospital education. Previously, literacy teaching at YYRCHS was primarily based on teacher judgement and goals provided by base schools. While valuable, this approach sometimes made it difficult to identify precise learning needs and did not fully utilise the unique opportunity we have to work in a 1-to-1 setting. Therefore, our literacy team created a phonics screening tool informed by evidence-based practices, including systematic synthetic phonics and phonemic awareness. The screening tool is used with students from Foundation to Year 2 shortly after admission, although it has also proven useful for older students with identified literacy gaps. The assessment process was intentionally designed to feel low-stakes and engaging, recognising that students in hospital settings can experience anxiety around their learning. Using the assessment, teachers can quickly identify students’ strengths and areas requiring targeted teaching. This has enabled more consistent and structured literacy support across the team, while still allowing teachers to tailor lessons to students’ interests. The tool supports teachers to create targeted Individual Education Plan (IEP) goals and facilitates effective communication with students’ base schools. Early outcomes have included increased consistency in implementing phonics assessment and instruction from an early stage in a student’s admission and an ability to provide more targeted literacy instruction. Students can see and celebrate their own progress, which positively impacts wellbeing while maintaining their identity as learners during treatment. Additionally, as a team, we have had more professional conversations and opportunities to share knowledge and insights as we implement the new tool. Our presentation will outline how a consistent approach to phonics assessment can be implemented and inform targeted literacy teaching within a hospital school. Audience members will gain practical ideas for creating and conducting meaningful literacy assessments in a relaxed and engaging manner and insights into how targeted phonics teaching can improve student motivation and success by focusing on specific and essential skills.