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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask the school to send home no more blooming Biff and Chip books

177 replies

gaelicsheep · 08/03/2013 21:11

DS is now on Stage 9 of these bloody things and has gone on reading strike. I've asked to school to read them with him at school if they really must be read, as the darned things continue to be so tedious they are putting DS off reading. We will be reading other things at home with him from now on. He is perfectly capable of reading far more interesting and varied books than this drivel.

If you are a teacher, would you think IBU?

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Original poster
gaelicsheep · 08/03/2013 23:40

Oh god really, you think? But it's blatantly obvious he can read everything fluently in those books - the vocabulary is so so limited! Unfortunately they have stopped reading the Biff & Chip books with them at school, preferring to foist them entirely onto us poor parents instead.

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nosleeps · 08/03/2013 23:43

Shame on the school.
Send it back and ask for a 'real' book in its place.

Though these books do have a place in teaching reading, over-reliance on schemes kills reading and it becomes a ticking off exercise.
Good on you for trying to object.

Ghostsgowoooh · 08/03/2013 23:45

Yanbu
Biff and chip put ds off reading for life.

xigris · 08/03/2013 23:48

YNBU one tiny bit. They are awful. It's become a running joke with DS1's TA and me. She actually wrote in his reading record 'hurray! No more Biff and Chip books!' when he completed the torture course. Grin I'd rather read War and Peace again / have root canal than read another magic key adventure

CloudsAndTrees · 08/03/2013 23:51

It's obvious if the one teacher that needs to know has enough time to hear your ds read regularly one to one, but she probably doesn't. If she's not hearing him as often as she could or should, then she will probably just look at the comments you, the TA and parent helpers write in the book to know that he is reading. That's why it's worth your while writing it all in the book.

Maybe if reading your own books is working well, you could ask that he reads the Biff and Chip's during his reading time at school to show that he can do it.

The bottom line is that your ds just needs to learn to read, and the teacher needs to know about it. How you come to that stage is open for debate.

no sleeps has it spot on.

Original poster
gaelicsheep · 08/03/2013 23:55

I don't think they do individual reading at school at all any more. Initially he was being read with every day (although it could have been he was getting special help as he missed a year of school). Now they just do something called Guided Reading. I'm not sure I entirely understand what that is, but he gets very good comments about it. I don't know what the material is like of course.

I've no problems with writing in the diary, it's just the thought of still reading the odd Biff & Chip book to prove he can do it. My impression is that once they get to Stage 7 or so, the books just get longer but the vocabulary really doesn't change at all.

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Original poster
gaelicsheep · 09/03/2013 00:06

Oh God, now I'm thinking over the practicalities of this and wondering where I will source all the books from. I think what I really need is for DS to be able to skip up the levels to get onto the free readers quicker, rather than having another 50 or so of these things to get through first. I just really don't think it's necessary, his reading is way beyond what he's getting. Perhaps I might have to "reword" my note!

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Dromedary · 09/03/2013 00:15

You can easily source books from the library and cheap charity shops and jumble sales. Children can even order library books for free. To make any progress, children need to read far more books than they get from school, anyway.
Some (bad) teachers have the attitude that every child has to do everything on the list before they are allowed to move on. I knew someone with a gifted child who was a big problem at school because the work she was given was far too easy for her and she was not prepared to do it. She was playing up because she was bored. But the school, while threatening to expel her, refused to allow her to move onto more difficult work before she had completed all the easy work. Even when the parent obtained an educational psychiatrist's report saying that the child was bored because the work was too easy, and was highly gifted. Crazy.

Original poster
gaelicsheep · 09/03/2013 00:18

Oh I know there's the library, we use that loads. Charity shops around here, not so much. I suppose I'm thinking if I actually need to present an alternative "plan" then the read it yourself type books in the local library are really abysmal. And if I need to demonstrate that DS will learn every single sound and word that he would learn in Biff & Chip (and I'm sure he knows them already) then I'd need to find stuff the appropriate level, not just the random fiction we choose at the moment.

There are the e-books on Oxford Owl, but not enough of them and I don't like e-books for children as a rule.

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Original poster
gaelicsheep · 09/03/2013 00:19

Am I starting to overthink this do you reckon?

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Original poster
gaelicsheep · 09/03/2013 00:21

But then, no I don't really understand. If he's reading, he's reading surely. And if he can read a book and only need a bit of help occasionally, then that's fine. Yes? So we could just continue with the stuff he enjoys, and lots of non fiction too.

And I will try some of the stuff from oxford owl too. There are some nice looking books there at Stage 9/10 level, ORT too but much more challenging and varied than Biff and Chip. eg www.oxfordowl.co.uk/EBooks/Ocean_Adventure/index.html

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Iaintdunnuffink · 09/03/2013 00:28

My eldest son hated the Biff, Chip and Pin books. Luckily the school ran several different methods of teaching reading concurrently. The ORT ones were added into the colour banded books to be taken home so they were never the only books sent home. My youngest son goes to the same school and loves them! We have some at home and he loves reading them over and over in bed.

Dromedary · 09/03/2013 00:30

I think you're worrying too much about the teacher. I would just politely and confidently explain the situation and that you will be doing loads of other reading with him, and just get on with letting him read anything that a) he enjoys, b) is at the right level (aiming to stretch him slightly most of the time). You can always put some of that in the reading diary.
If the school makes a big fuss, then maybe just read the first page or so of the BIff and Chip with him, and sign it off in the reading diary, and then do your own stuff. This is meant to be about your son and helping him to progress, not about pandering to some system that does the opposite, by putting your son off reading at a crucial age. YOu don't need to be so sensitive about the school. They only things they should care about are a) that your child is progressing adequately, b) that what he does is not disruptive to other children. If they are just being petty, then ignore them and get on with your own thing. It is parents that make the most difference to how a child does at primary level, not the school, even if it's a good one.

Original poster
gaelicsheep · 09/03/2013 00:35

It's some of the earlier posts that have made me worried! It is difficult because I work f/t and can very rarely get to see his teacher face to face, so mostly have to communicate through the reading diary. I want to be firm about what I think without coming across as stroppy or difficult. It's quite hard! But thanks for your support (and all the others too) and I shall go forth and fly the flag to rescue reading from the clutches of the reading scheme!

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nosleeps · 09/03/2013 08:12

How old is your ds? What year in school?
BTW, guided reading is great if done properly, much, much more effective than simply hearing children read. It involves teaching, concepts.
My feeling on teaching reading is that a good, well engaging phonics programme supplemented by a phonologically decodable books - i.e. ones without words that don't sound as they look - with some scheme bks and lots and lots of high quality real books.
I think the "I'm on stage ..." thing is useful, well essential for the teacher, but unproductive for the child.
Just ask for real books, it shouldn't be too controversial.

Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 09/03/2013 08:24

If your on stage nine there should be more variety now. I had to request no more B&C as it was just getting too much and she just Couldbt bare to do them she would be in tears. We got given ORT books still but we had William and hamid who were fairly amusing and she much preferred. Just ask if there are alternatives at this stage as there's magpies and jackdaws and glow works etc a wider range of material than three characters.

nosleeps · 09/03/2013 08:44

Oops, teaching and practising

HANIEL · 09/03/2013 08:54

Ha Ha! Can't believe Biff and Chips books are still around. I used to read them in the 80s when I was learning how to read

Original poster
gaelicsheep · 09/03/2013 11:58

Nosleeps - he's 6.5, in Yr 2.

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Original poster
gaelicsheep · 09/03/2013 12:11

Oops, make that 6.7!

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coatonarack · 09/03/2013 17:37

I once got booted out of Mumsnet for writing a pastiche about Biff and Chip's dog, Floppy. Floppy had all sorts of adventures, going up and down and in and out. I've only just been allowed back in here!

LaQueen · 09/03/2013 17:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 09/03/2013 17:45

:o at x rated floppy

ChoudeBruxelles · 09/03/2013 17:49

Hate them - so did ds. I just use to send them back, say ds hadn't read them because he found it boring and we read x instead. He can now choose his own book from the band he's on now he's in year 2

MissAliceBand · 10/03/2013 00:45

I am not too keen on them understatement DD is only in reception so is level 5, and she's already gettin bored of them. Though I can at least ger her interested in Gran. She liked the one about Dolphin Rescue anyway.

She gets through 4 of the bloody things a week.

We dutifully read them, but we also get books from the library. Usborn readers she enjoys and we've recently discovered the Big Cat non fiction books, which she loves. We're currently reading about the differences between frogs and toads and she is really engaging with learning 'facs'

We write everything she reads in her reading diary. 97 books so far Confused

Reading schemes are just one of those things you have to do at school. I did Peter and Jane. My sisters did the Village with Three Corners and Puddle Lane.

Hell even in Latin we had Caecilius. I kind of miss Caecilius.