What reading band is your Year 1 child on?

[user263758988]

For those of you whose school follow the Oxford Reading Tree, where is your Year 1, Term 1, child sitting?

I don't want to be THAT mum at the school gates or WhatsApp group, sometimes better to ask these on an anonymous forum without judgement 😊

Please don’t do this - they cost a bloody fortune!

Are bookband books suitable for 4 year olds? I remember my DSis bringing home books that were too old for her.

Year 1 teacher - most are somewhere between yellow-green. To be 'expected' about now, they should be in blue.
Interesting that the school are using ORT. It's quite an old scheme and not phonically decodable. Most schools have switched to a phonics based scheme now.

Our school use ORT and it seems to be decodable phonics based?

You’re kidding right? We don’t want to send books home at the moment because we don’t think we’ll get them back. Buy your own books. Why are school your only way of reading with your child?

My DD is on yellow. Thought she was going ok but massively worried after reading this thread.

Yellow is perfectly fine for this point in year 1. Please don’t worry. It’s a very common level to be on.
You’re always going to get competitive parenting on a thread like this.
I’m worried about the two children stuck on red and yellow in my Year 2 class. Keeping a close eye on the kids on blue and green. My higher attainers are turquoise or purple (and they are bright kids). Anyone on orange or above - no concerns at all.

This is concerning to me that schools don't let kids read ahead. my daughter is on turquoise band but is 3.5 so doesn't start reception until next September. she is pretty fluent when reading general library picture books bar the odd word. I've taught her all the phonics so she's going to be bored starting with cvc words next year

DD is now 24 but I can vividly remember her reading 'mysteriously' in a library book aged 5. Glad she's not in year 1 now reading CVC words.

I would not hide a book, but I do wish if the books aren't going to be at the right level for the child that they just send the sharing book until they are. DS reads home books and library books.

Blimey! DS has just started high school. Reading has always been his thing.

He reached a point in preschool where he disliked going because they wouldn't teach him to read so I suggested he ask his teacher if she'd help. He asked her to help him and she talked to the reception teacher and started teaching a small group of kids to read.
He was a free reader by the end of y1. We'd have had a very unhappy boy if he couldn't read at his pace.

If your child enjoys reading, read with them. You will soon find out what they're able to manage. Do the Julia Donaldson's, or read Roald Dahl with them.

It's about more than just being able to read the words. Are they able to understand the context? Can they retrieve information from the text? Do they understand the vocabulary used? Can they infer? Or predict what will happen next?

It doesn't matter whether they are "above" or "behind". Lots of children excel or struggle at reading, phonics and comprehension. It generally evens out as they get older. Or if not, they'll be flagged for a dyslexia screening or Irlens etc.

Schools are constrained to what OFSTED want, if you are concerned then please do make an appointment with your child's teacher, or the head. But as with most school staff, they just want the best for and out of your child.

Why aren't children allowed to go ahead? That's crazy.

Yep. My daughter is in reception and learned to read around Christmas last year (3.5). She’s no where near as far ahead as some kids in this thread but she is reading level 4-6 songbirds books (don’t know what colour they are as each scheme seems to be different?!) The first half term was all picture books as ‘we haven’t taught enough sounds to read any words yet’. Got her first reading book with words this week and the 6 pages each have a maximum of 5 words on which say ‘Sit, Tim.’ ‘Tim is in a pit.’ Read the entire thing with no effort in under a minute. She’s supposed to do this 3x this week 🙄 and yes, before anyone asks, she can answer questions about the story, knows what the words mean, has access to hundreds of proper books, I read to her, we have a library card etc etc. No, she won’t be put in a phonics group once they’ve assessed her. Like plenty of posters above, all prior attainment will be ignored and the whole class taught as one with everyone having books at the same level. I have no idea why ofsted think this is a good idea.

Just for balance DD is bringing home level 4. No one has suggested she’s not where she needs to be or is significantly adrift of the rest of her class.

Should have said. DD is in Y1

My dd is also on level 4 and I had parents evening recently and they said she was where she should be. My son was a worse reader at this age and is now exceeding expectations in everything so I am not worried she is behind. Just in case anyone is reading this thinking their child is very behind.

Band 8 but she's autistic and struggles with all other subjects x
Reading is the only thing that seems to come naturally to her x

Op the reading scheme is good when they are starting out but remember the school is chained to it.

I've had 2 dc with very different reading styles, one was done with the scheme by begin of year 3.
I let her read any factual books but just signed off the story books because by that point she was devouring novels.
I didn't want her to waste her time on biff and chip when she was into lemony snicket etc.
Second child didn't get phonics and failed the test.
She needed more interesting books on lower levels than the school scheme could give so I joined reading chest. Reading chest is absolutely amazing and I could choose from numerous testing schemes including Oxford to find books that would interest her.
I then had to go off piste entirely and teach her to read myself ditching phonics which was a barrier to her.
Now she's into novels as well but at a very slow pace... So again if rather she read the novels and not waste time on stage 14 books age 11!!

I wish school could be far more transparent with parents that the scheme is something they are forced to do and parents should step in where they can. We think school is expert and soley bespoke helping our dc mb
The reality is our dc is a link in a chain to other dc and one can't move without the other no matter what our dc need

@Nuffaluff

Being able to read doesn't equal bright.. I've got one dc in track for at least 7 9s in gcse and whose read heavy books for her age.
She was always an amazing reader.

Second child couldn't read not because she's not bright she's extremely bright, but she was held back for years with the forcing of phonics.
When I taught her myself she flew up the book bands.
This is why you get children who are bright, frustrated, with low self esteem leaving school with poor reading skills having been written off.
It's no wonder our prisons are filled with illiterate people.
Phonics is a barrier.

Green going into Orange.

I wouldn't worry too much about what level they're on and just focus getting them to enjoy reading and having a love of books. So lots of visiting the library and letting them choose whatever they like and reading stories with them at bedtime.

Phonics can be a barrier for the minority, however the research says that it has the best success rate across a population.

Support your child at home with regular library visits and read with them and they'll be fine.

My dd was reading from the library in year 1, she had skipped reception as we were overseas, she is autistic and read before she can talk, but if a quirky one! They tested her on entry to the school and made her a free reader straight away, a couple of other girls were also free readers

They were all on individual reading plans, small village school, mixed age classrooms I should add. She didn't do this militant phonics rubbish because she like her sister me reads whole words - her younger sister was made to start this rubbish phonics system and struggled until 7 when we moved and I home schooled for a bit and taught her my way - she then got it. Phonics schemes don't work for everyone. As we are all educated to degree level I think I'm able to conclusively say not getting phonics is no hindrance!

Orange