Where is your year one child on reading levels and maths skills now?

[MGMidget]

I just wondered as I have a year one child in a prep school but seems to be doing fine by their standards but when I read some posts on here I wonder if she is quite behind. Learning has been very disrupted for over a year now and it feels like they are repeating/revising lots because of children having different learning experiences during the lockdowns. Ours wasn't good very little 'live' teaching and what there was was more general chat with parents making business calls and drowning out/distracting the lessons or technical glitches resulting in lessons not going according to plan!

On return to school all the children seem to be given reception level reading books which were very basic. They have stepped it up now but I am wondering what others experiences have been.

[HSHorror]

By the start of y1 my dc was fluent and able to read lime band. (5.3yo),

A lot will depend on access to books.
My current reception child had no access to school books in lockdown so is behind where dc1 was.

There is a huge range. I think the aim was b7 turquoise by end of y1. And most became free readers some time in y2.

My reception child seems to be doing well at maths. Probably y1 level at least.

So much depends on age in year too

[CrabbyCat]

DS aged 6.3 is on purple bookband, he's on table 2 out of 4 so maybe slightly above average? He's at a state school.

I think it varies hugely by school though at the moment. Ours has been sending new books twice a week and reading twice a week in school (once in a group, once individually). They brought the kids back in fully as soon as allowed to last year and essentially made up missing ground.

DS has a friend also in year 1 where the school covered no new academic material between March and September last year, parents still only get 2 books a week and the kids aren't reading reading books in school with a teacher. The friend is still on yellow and his mum's sense is that is pretty typical. It does feel like there is a huge variation between schools and I can't see that gap disappearing quickly.

No idea how to judge maths skill, they follow white rose and they seem to be covering what the white rose Facebook group I joined over lockdown says they should - they are currently doing halves.

[bubblebubblebubbletrouble]

Dd2 is on purple book band & from what she's said one of the better readers, but she reads endlessly at home.
No idea on maths, apart from appararently she's not as good as her partner because he's a maths whizz, but she seems to be able to tell me quite confidently all about what she's been measuring/making tally charts, and can count in 2's, 5's & 10's which iirc is one of the milestones on the curriculum so assume all is fine.

[AdriannaP]

My Y1 DC is nearly 6 and reading level lime now. Think she is one of 4 or 5 in her class on that level. No idea on maths- how is that measured even. She used to get 2 books a week, but we also get library books. Now she gets one chapter book per week from school. We don’t always read it everything though.

[Freetodowhatiwant]

My kids attend a no homework school so I have no idea what ds is doing with reading and we don’t do any at home. We do read books but he wants me to read. If this was my first child I would worry however I worried with my first child as he was behind some of his peers for reading and probably didn’t really get reading until he was in year 3. Now he’s in year 4 and is a great reader. They all do it at different levels. I don’t think the time off school has helped our year 1s but I am sure they will catch up.

[Atla]

Exactly what @Freetodowhatiwant said ^^

Dd is in reception and definitely behind in comparison to ds2 at her age. However probably comparable to ds1 (no pandemic to blame but summer born) and he is now in P5 and a very fluent reader. It just clicks with different kids at different times.

[sherrystrull]

I teach year 1.

I'd say the posts so far are not very representative of the majority of children. They've had two years of majorly disrupted school and have little idea of what normal school is. The range is massive.

Could you share where your dc is in terms of attainment?

[Freetodowhatiwant]

Thanks @atla.
My eldest is a summer born boy too. It’s hard not to worry and compare, and I definitely did this with the my eldest, but it turned out ok in the end. For what it’s worth I don’t think ds2 can read yet and he’s a Christmas baby and this disruption due to the pandemic hasn’t helped. But like we both said we know they will get it eventually.

As @sherrystrull said they have had almost two years of disrupted school and the range is massive.

[Changeismyname]

DS is on Oxford level 5, which is apparently green band. I don’t think anyone is on a higher band than that (maybe there are one or two) and there are a few on band 5 with him. They only get a reading book to take home at the weekend, so they can be quarantined for the week when returned to school on the Monday.

[Fitforforty]

If you google the Oxford reading tree you can see the colour bands with expected progress per year. My reception child is on yellow but we did or attempted phonics and reading with her toddler sister in tow.

[ArianaDumbledore]

DS4 is on gold band for reading, no idea about maths.
His handwriting is behind but he seems to have turned a corner and at least no longer cries and rages about it.

There was no online provison during the first lockdown, school provided dome worksheets. He was home ed for the 1st term of Yr1, officially joined his new school in January but didn't physically attend until March. He became utterly resistant to even trying to write, full credit and thanks has been given to his new class teacher.

[Sleephead1]

My son is in year 2 now he was on stage 9 at the point we locked down last year. He then started year 2 on 9 and is now on 11 they all pick books from a selection at school for reading time in class and these are chapter books so assume they can all read pretty well. I wouldn't worry and would just encourage her to read, read her lots of stories and chat about them. It has been a strange time and they have all missed lots of school.

[APurpleSquirrel]

DD (6.8) is on band Gold officially, but gets given white, purple & turquoise on occasions if there aren't sufficient books available. They get two books twice a week & DD reads her own books at home too. I think there is another child in her class on same level.
For maths she has been moved into the Yr2's maths group (mixed yr class if YR, Y1 & Y2) for the past few weeks.
But technically if she had been born 2 days earlier she'd be in Yr2 now anyway.

[Findahouse21]

Dd has just moved schools, her previous school stopped sending books home. We ddi subscribe to the reading chest for a short time but then just got some non reading scheme books to keep instead.

She's just been moved up to purple band in Reading. No idea in maths but assuming quite ahead of where she needs to be as she just 'gets' maths. She can tell the time and count in 2, 5 and 10 among others.

However given lockdown and moving schools there are aspects of school life that she struggles hugely with and as such I would be happy if her academic progress plateaued while her emotional resilliance and social skills moved on a bit

[ineedaholidayandwine]

Mine is 4 (Aug born) and in reception, she's on Oxford book band 4, light blue. Maths she's exceeding, i think that comes naturally to her, reading we did with her every day during home schooling and bought a lot of the books she'd have had in school to help her keep up.
Writing needs more work at keeping sizing and spacing right

[Mincepiesallyearround]

Mine is 6yrs old in year one and on stage 10 which looking at the chart is the white band. But he’s always been a strong reader. No clue about the maths, they’ve been doing money recently. They get two books once a week, one reading scheme and one story book they can choose. I think the teacher listens to them read once a week. They’re a v non homework school but recently seem to have been having some tests, eg spelling, perhaps to see who is going to need more help to catch up going into year two?

[CryMeALiver]

This thread won’t be representative because there’ll be a lot of parents coming on here to say that their DC are on a high book band because we secretly all love to show off (mine is on gold for what it’s worth, state primary, but he’s at the top end of the class). From the weekly “what we’re learning this week” school emails and streamed spellings I’d say there’s a massive range in Yr1, probably even more so post lockdown. Some kids are doing phase 3 phonics still, some are more or less free reading. I’m assuming it evens out a bit by the time they’re in KS2.

[Spectrumofhumanlife]

DC2 is in year 1 and is on lime reading band. She’s 6 in July. She’s behind where DC1 was at the same stage but still doing well.
She reads a lot at home and spent a lot of time reading while schools were closed which helped.

[ForgedInFire]

Mine is 6y3m and on yellow band and her teacher said her reading age is the same as her actual age so I would have thought that was bang on average. This thread so far has taught me otherwise and now I feel like we are severely behind. I know we could do more reading at home but we have had a difficult time during the pandemic so just hoping to catch up a bit now

[Waveafterwaveslowlydrifting]

I teach year 1.

Usually we aim to get as many children as possible to orange band by the end of year 1. This year we are still hoping to do this but accept that we might have a few more green readers than orange.

My son is in year 2 and is on lime. He's very lazy with reading at home. I'd like him to get to white by the end of y2 but it will probably be gold.

[Nicpem1982]

Dd is 6.8 and has been recently moved onto the accelerated reading programme but she reads lots at home she gets 2 books a week from school.

Maths she's exceeding.

Spelling is imo bad but her teacher isn't concerned as she's at a normal level with it

[ThisMustBeMyDream]

I find the levels so confusing. Lots of different schemes maybe? I don't know.

Anyway, my yr1 summer born DS is on book band 6 on the biff, chip and kipper variety! He is the only one in his class on this level. The rest are lower. He is in with the yr 2 main class for phonics, and again is the only one from his class. So essentially, he is top of the class for his reading/phonics (his teacher is very upfront with me and tells me this). I could easily push him up the bands though, he is definitely a natural reader. However his brother really struggles now, and despite ending yr 1 on book band 6, like his brother, now in yr3 is still only on book band 9. He took a big nose dive in ability when in yr2. So you never can tell I guess! Mind you, I would never have described his brother as a natural reader. I had to work so hard to get that from him - he does have adhd and autism, which is probably why...

Maths, no idea other than he is top of the leader board on numbots and seems to grasp concepts quickly. His brother is greater depth though, and is very mathematically advanced, so to me he seems average with his ability.

He is definitely an able child. I suspect that in a school full of able kids, he'd seem quite average though..

Not sure my post is of any help tbh!!

[EcoCustard]

Ds6 is in year 1 and is very behind in reading and is on book band red with books bought home from school. He is reading quite well with books at home so not panicking too much yet. Not sure about classmates as I don’t really discuss levels and progress as it gets competitive. He was behind in reception and struggled with reading from day one. He is doing well in other subjects such as science, pe and has made significant progress with maths. School seem to be pushing them hard this term and he is very tired so we haven’t been doing much catch up at home more focused on games, bike rides, football, drawing as pushing too much causes tears and tantrums. A little concerned reading this at how behind he is reading wise but not sure other than reading every night what else to do. Dc2 is in reception and is on yellow and reads much better, it just seems to come easier to her as did homeschooling and school in general.

[Mincepiesallyearround]

EcoCustard, I think reading every night is enough if you can manage it. Mine is so tired by bedtime I sometimes end up reading the sodding reading scheme book to him! I had a chat with our deputy head some months ago who said all children learn to read well in the end (bar dyslexia or something else) they just take different times to get there.

I find the levels and colours confusing too. Our school doesn’t refer to colour bands at all and all I know from the back of the book is that it’s called stage whatever. Looking it up I can see they correspond to colours.

[Duplobuplo]

I have no idea what band my DD is on but she's reading things like how to train your dragon and has just started harry potter. We are more concerned that she reads with expression.

Maths is harder to judge. She knows timetables up to 7s but we don't do much at home with her