Guide · children
Back to school: the eye test that catches what the school check misses
The school check is a sight screen: can the child read the chart. It isn’t an eye test, and the children it misses are exactly the ones who struggle at the board.
What the school check is
A quick look at whether each eye reads the letters at distance. Useful for catching short sight. That’s all it does.
What it misses
Long sight — the child reads the chart fine, by effort, and has headaches and won’t read at home. A lazy eye in the early stages, when it’s still treatable. The prescription — the screen says “sees fine” or “doesn’t”; it doesn’t measure anything. Eye health. The two eyes working together, which is what reading for twenty minutes needs.
Why September
A new year, a new classroom, a board further away. If a child’s going to struggle, it shows in the first term. A test in September means the glasses — if they’re needed — are on before the habits of not reading set in. And it’s free under sixteen.
What the test is
Half an hour. Pictures and matching cards for children who can’t read letters; the prescription measured objectively, without any answers; the squint check; the eye health check. What we check →
The short version
- The school check screens sight; it doesn’t test eyes
- It misses long sight, lazy eye and the prescription itself
- September, before the habits set in
- Free under 16, half an hour, no letters needed