Dd and reading at school

[Bogiesaremyonlyfriend]

Dds school started a new reading scheme in September. It all looks good, they have a monthly test and go up, down or stay at the same level depending on their scores on the test. Dd has been told by her teacher that she can't do a test this month as she is already at level 8 and the scheme only goes up to 12 so she can't keep moving up as she will have nothing to read once the scheme ends. I'm absolutely furious at this! I'm very tempted to have a word with her teacher and ask if she can do the test, it isn't a given that she would move up but o think it is unfair not to give her the chance. Am I being precious or would you say something too??

She isnt keen on classics- little women, railway children etc were not at all interesting to her. She loves harry potter and all things magical and mystery, just finished a murder mystery (aimed at kids!) Which she loved, have got her the rest ofbthe series for christmas. Lord of the rings is a good idea! Bet she would like that. Also got her his dark materials trilogy. Also loved diary of a wimpy kid and is currently reading 'evolution revolution' and very interested.

My DD is in reception and on stage 10. She gets 2/3 books a week from anything from purple to white or lime. It seems to be hard for school to find books in the reading scheme that match the interests or understanding of the young reader who is ahead. We focus on what she's interested in at home. We read the school books and just keep reading as much and as varied material as we can. At the moment we're reading postman pat. Before that it was the worst witch.

Yeah, like others, pay lip service to the school. Just keep reading for fun. I honestly don't know the big thing on banding, yes DD's ahead but she will most likely average out by time time she's 7.

One of mine reached the highest AR level when she still had a few years of primary school left. The school just let her pick whichever books she wanted to read, with the teacher checking that the content was suitable for a child of her age.

DD liked it because it meant that she could choose books that interested her rather than ones that were at a particular level.

Reaching the end of the scheme doesn't mean that there will be nothing else to read! I think I would ask the teacher about what had been said, just in case there had been a misunderstanding somewhere.

I had a reading level of age 18 at the age of 10 I think? I was in a country school with less than 150 pupils and all that happened was that I went to the library of the higher classes to get books to read and when they ran out I was advised to get taken to the county library. In my day the tests were newly in and mandatory. 20 odd years later it hasn’t made much difference, just nod and smile at the school and encourage the love of reading. Seems like the tests are just a way to box off kids into certain categories and is a data mining exercise. She might love tests but it’s probably better to encourage the actual reading rather than proving she can do well in a test.

Also my 9 year old dd loves Bedtime Stories for Rebel Girls and Dara O Briain’s Secret Science and Beyond the Sky. My dd is not currently into writing, which I would love her to be, but maybe your dd might like the idea of a creative writing workshop kind of thing so that she can learn to create the types of stories she would like.