If your Y1 child is at a private school, what book band are they on?

[applypie]

curious to see how far privately educated childred are actually ahead already after only a year of school.

[MigratingCoconuts]

why would you imagine they would be ahead?

Why would bookband level be linked to academic progress?

[WoodBetweenTheWorlds]

My dd finished lime band in reception and was off the reading scheme by the time she started year 1. She goes to a state school. Maybe she'd have been reading war and peace if she had gone through the private system.

All children are different, and progress at different rates. All schools are different, and move children through the book bands at different rates. There is more to academic progress than reading levels. Consequently, the answers to your question will prove nothing.

[sittinginthesun]

I have friends at both private and state schools - no difference between reading/academic ability, and we're Year 3. Those most advanced are actually state school, but I don't think this has anything to do with stae/private, it is just the child...

[2BoysTooLoud]

I see why the op might be asking. If you pay money for school there is probably an expectation they should be doing better in all aspects of education from an early age. I imagine (amongst many other reasons) that this is a major reason kids are sent to private school.

[EdithWeston]

Many prep schools say that children work 2 years ahead of the NC.

I'm not sure reading level at Y1 is necessarily the best way of gauging the veracity of such a claim.

[AbigailS]

"Many prep schools say that children work 2 years ahead of the NC."

[Elibean]

I also have friends with kids in both sectors. IME they tend to be much the same where reading is concerned (depends a lot on the kid, and to a lesser extent the encouragement and practice they get) but the privately educated kids are expected to have better handwriting and spelling a bit faster.

Then again, look wider: dd1 (state primary) read earlier than her privately educated cousins - they are in a French system, where writing comes before reading. They wrote first, dd read first. Then it all panned out (now Y3).

[icancancan]

9

[MigratingCoconuts]

At such a young age, any performance at school has to be linked with developmental stage. Reading certainly is.

Many prep schools say that children work 2 years ahead of the NC

I imagine they probably do...its a great sales pitch.

[mrswoodentop]

The thing with an independent is that often they are stretching sideways ,so it's not that reading spelling etc are advanced it's that they are doing other things as well eg a language ,chess,in year 1the top maths table would be doing tables,my ds was expected to know all his tables through to 12 by the end of year 2.
My ds is in year 5 and I would say that it is only now in the main steam curricular subjects that a gap is opening,not that that's important really I am not paying for better academics but for a broader school experience
I would say he is working about 12 months ahead now ,his maths textbook is a year 6 onwards but again it's about other things,he has different subject teachers and does geography,history,etc as separate subjects .He does a double lesson of a foreign language and another on the structure and history of language ,again he is being stretched sideways etc

[MysticShed]

Our prep told us the DC were working at a year ahead. We have just moved to an outstanding state....my year 3 DD is actually behind in some areas. She has covered many of the topics they are doing this year ni her new school but they've not actually gone IN if you see what I mean.

My DD was also epected to know all her tables and some of the maths generally was beyond her...it was simply too much academics too soon for her...but maybe ours was justa bad prep as there were others in her year who have left due to struggling.

[alittlebitshy]

No idea what she was reading back in year 1. I seem to recall that it was during year 1 that she really got the reading independently bug and shot off and gobbled up books which continues now (year 4) BUT I don't think that would have been any different in a state school.

However i do remember conversations with a friend whose child was at a quite large state school, who was very frustrated that her ds was not being allowed to change his reading book more than once a wee. he was finishing it fast - the teachers were very sympathetic but did not have the physical resources for everyone to be able to take home multiple books a week. That was where being in a school with more resources helped - there was no limit.

By the end of year 2 dd was choosing her own reading books and now in year 4 (at a different school - incidentally a selective prep) is choosing a variety of books - some at/below her level (comforting) some above (challenging).But I see that as part of who she is, not the schooling.

In terms of other work, yes they are working somewhere up to a year ahead of their age but imo reading is such a personal thing and the motivation/interest of the child is a big factor too.

[WoodBetweenTheWorlds]

I don't really get what is meant by "a year ahead" in any case. The work is differentiated in dd's state school so that the children are working at the level that is appropriate for them. Surely private schools also differentiate according to ability?

[LIZS]

There will be a huge range , just as in any state school classroom . Not familiar with the colour bands but when I listened to reading with dd's year 1 class several years ago it ranged from ORT stage 2/3 in the early days up to stage 9/10 and some free readers by end of year.

[Catslikehats]

I would agree with woodentop re stretching sideways.

DS and DD (yr1 & 2) are both turquoise but it is the "extras" that are what stretches them: They both learn a language, swim twice a week, have tennis coaching, music lessons, the after school clubs are amazing, they are both a whiz on the computers because there is one per child etc.

[LynetteScavo]

As far as I can tell by comparing what my DC do at school, with what my friends DC do at their private school.....it's exactly the same. (Not that I I was bothered or insecure about the whole thing of course )

Except they never have more than 20 in the class, and get to run around in beautiful grounds at lunchtime. I have concluded that is what you are paying for.

[bluelaguna]

I know a teacher at a private school in Y1.

The reading levels range from ORT level 1+ to free reader. This thread isn't going to enable you to make a judgement of private vs state and additionally, private school vary and state schools vary. Both hugely.

If you need to make a decision between private or state, consider the schools themselves, not the sectors.

[alittlebitshy]

woodbetweentheworlds Hmm - yes there are different levels but at selective schools remember that those levels are nowhere near as vast as in non selective schools. There are none of the children who struggle - and the separating out -eg in Maths -(we had a parents info evening last week so I am recalling what we were told) is as much to do with the speed at which they work. None of the children are "bad" at maths, but some work a lot faster than others. Thus i guess those working faster move onto the next step up before the slower ones.

Not explaining it very well. And not intending to turn a reading thread into a different kind of thread.

[OriginalPoster]

Sorry am not supposed to sully this private thread with my underclass state school child's experience, but my 8 y old has a reading age of 15. Such a pity that he will never reach his potential as I will not be sending him private even if we win the lottery.

HTH

[ginandtonicandcrisps]

What a silly question to ask. A much better question would be if a school can best cater for the child, regardless of what reading age they are at year 1.

[WoodBetweenTheWorlds]

alittlebitshy, I think this just confirms my suspicion that they're not really ahead at all - they're probably just working at the same sort of level as the top groups in a state school.

I think it's misleading for a school with a non-average intake to make a selling point of being ahead of "average" kids.

[mrswoodentop]

Just to give some idea the class reader for year 5 this term is Journey to the River Sea,Eva Ibbotson.

We live in the country ,school is selective but there is a wide range of ability

[merrymonsters]

I find that the children who leave our state school for private are the ones who aren't doing very well. Only one really bright child has left. The rest are struggling for average (or in one case right at the bottom of the class) and that's why the parents want them to have smaller classes. The private sector must have plenty of these not particularly bright kids.

[WoodBetweenTheWorlds]

Whereas at my dd's state school, there is no such thing as a "class reader". The children do guided reading in small groups, with texts chosen according to the ability of those in the group.

[mrswoodentop]

Woodbetween they do that as well ,the reader though is used as a basis for discussion ,further extension etc.This book is set in the amazon so there is lots to explore further etc