School providing e-books and no paper books for Reception

[Mummyoply]

My DS is in reception year and the school provide his reading books via an app and ask that children read them on an electronic device, iPad, phone or e-reader.

I have been purchasing the books, if the library don't have them (which they usually don't). This is too costly and also causes a delay, as by the time we get the book my DS has been moved on to another.

I guess my AIBU is, AIBU to refuse to allow him to read on a device and just provide books of the same level (from the library) so he can read a real book? I have emailed the school and message his teacher directly but had no response from either. I've even drawn a blank from the PTA.

Many schools have been using books that have been around for many years and which don’t correspond with the current phonics scheme. How many schools use Biff and Chip books but these won’t follow the phonics scheme

Quite surprised at the amount of posters saying it’s more cost effective, what’s the problem. Please can four year olds learn to read by holding a real book? Go to a shelf, pick and choose it, turn the actual pages, have the delight of bringing it home in their book bag? Am I being naive / non-inclusive / a dinosaur for saying this?

Staff costs can make up to 85-90% of school budget, then they have to fund everything else with the balance. With increase in utility costs it is going to be even tougher

Later on a mix of ebooks and paperbacks is OK. My youngest battled through lockdowns reading ebooks - very difficult to trace finger under words for example!

Some older books arent suitable because they retain strong "look and say" principles - constant repetition of key words rather than anything decodable. Reading champions in particular are terrible for this, their red, yellow and pink books are incredibly boring and basically drill a child in a handful of high frequency words per book.

Most of the modern phonics schemes (big cat phonics, phonics bug, songbirds etc) are fairly consistent and interchangeable.

My instant reaction to this would also be very negative.

DD and I love books : it's not just about the content, it's the feeling of sitting down holding a book and turning the pages. It also seems very unhelpful for schools to be encouraging screen use at this age.

But, reflecting on it more, at DD's school they give reading books that are very comfortably within the child's capability. DD is given two books a week and whizzes through them. It takes her literally five minutes to read each book so even if she read them twice it's only 20 minutes a week at most on screen. Not great, but not quite as terrible as I first thought.

Regarding comments that the old books that school libraries still have don't conform to the new phonics scheme, I actually think it's a good thing that schools are still using these. The English language does not conform well to phonics and the children seeing books from old reading schemes might help equip them with some of the reading skills you need in addition to phonics to actually learn to read independently.

@worriedmum2022

We had this and all signed a petition as nobody wanted their children increasing screentime

We used the attached to support our argument as the DfE do not encourage screentime but promote actual
Books

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/1050849/ReadinggframeworkTeachinggthefoundationssofliteracyy-Julyy2021Jann22_update.pdf

Offstead apparently don't really think it's ideal

Amazing! Thank you so much for this

The English language does not conform well to phonics and the children seeing books from old reading schemes might help equip them with some of the reading skills you need in addition to phonics to actually learn to read independently.

Can anyone find @mrz and get her to explain why this is wrong

[quote toomuchlaundry]This is one phonics scheme, obviously includes costs of other resources and teacher training but does also detail the cost of a set of books to give you an idea of costs @Mummyoply

admin.ruthmiskin.com/media/uploads/website/rwi_btp_package.pdf[/quote]
Thank you

1. The english language is largely phonetic, when you actually understand phonetics properly, eg there are 44 phonemes, not just the 26 single letter graphemes of the alphabet. Many alternative spellings follow clear rules.

1. Children who have a good grasp of phonics don't need to guess words by looking at pictures for context. Phonics doesn't prevent children pronouncing words correctly by considering textual context.

1. Fluency is not attained by the memorizing of whole words by visual appearance etc, but by the blending process becoming incredibly rapid and happening in your head at a glance. When you teach a child to read phonetically you literally see this happen around yellow/blue level, you can hear them almost sounding out v fast as they say a word.

(In the absence of MRZ, the phonics guru of mumsnet).

OP I think this is shocking. If providing children with actual books to read during their first years at school isn’t a priority then god help us all.

It’s creating barriers for the most vulnerable, who on earth could think that reading a book via phone screen is something small children should be doing regularly with a parent at home. It’s so bad for eye health too. There may well be reasons why schools have chosen to do this but it doesn’t mean it’s the right decision or that they should be beyond reproach.

@OfstedOffred Not mrsz, but . . . English does conform to the structure of phonics. It's simply a series of codes that you need to be able to crack. The issue comes with the complexity of the code. All words are decodable, but you need to know and understand the code. How else do you approach new or complicated longer words other than by using your knowledge of phonics?

@Morethanwordsonapage

Quite surprised at the amount of posters saying it’s more cost effective, what’s the problem. Please can four year olds learn to read by holding a real book? Go to a shelf, pick and choose it, turn the actual pages, have the delight of bringing it home in their book bag? Am I being naive / non-inclusive / a dinosaur for saying this?

No you're not.

But if you have a choice of no books or e-books what would you rather?

@myyellowcar It's really not shocking. Using ebooks in this way will be a tiny part of how children access reading material. They will have a reading corner - with real books, topic books - again, real books, and print in the environment - real life things such as calendars, greetings cards, diaries. There will be plenty of opportunities for them to access books, ebooks are simply another tool.

[quote Nix32]@Bitofachinwag They're unsuitable because current thinking is that children should only be reading books that include the sounds they have been taught.

Different schemes teach the sounds in a different order, which means they appear in books in a certain order. They're not necessarily compatible with other schemes.

And yes, schools have a lot less money. Our budgets are in crisis and have been for some time.[/quote]
That makes sense. And I know it's not the fault of individual schools.
But I think the funding system is wrong. There are millions of children learning to read the English language. DfE (or whoever makes these decisions) could easily make their own reading scheme and distribute it to all state schools. This would be so much cheaper.

@Morethanwordsonapage They will be doing that as well. Ebooks are a tiny part of learning to read.

It's 2022 OP!
It's all about it's all about technology!

Some schools round us do this, and shout loudly about what amazingly tech-rich experiences they give the DC

That's really quite bizarre. Effectively they're claiming credit for the fact that parents have got screens (or been made to buy them) when that is nothing to do with the school's efforts at all.

@Bitofachinwag yes they could do that....but then they/big name publishers wouldn't make literally thousands of pounds selling programme access/resources. It's big money. My school alone have spent around 5k and that was a cheap budget.

A child learning how to read from a screen isn’t going to develop the concentration and motor skills they need to revise for and pass exams. It just won’t happen. Make a complaint but you should probably start searching for a new school.

I would love our school to bring this in. First readers even the best aren't joyous to read they are learning texts, stick them on a kindle, do it after school, get nice books from the library with lively pictures and a great story to share at bedtime. Books in the lower years are constantly ripped, pages lost, drawn on, spilt over, you get a new set and by the end of term they are wrecked and not through people being naughty just repeatedly using thin sets of books. Plus you need so many books to keep all the children moving on effectively. It schemes allows such a wider choice, access to more levels, tracking of how many times its been read and by who etc. Just much more effective all round. You can still have all the lovely books you want outside of this.

Don't talk rubbish Ozanj, what do you think we do with a children who have a vi and need all texts enlarged, we use screen readers for everything, it makes no difference to their ability to study for exams, concentration or motor skills.

tracking of how many times its been read
Do you mean that the teacher / the company that makes the e-books would be able check how many times a named child has read a specific book? That's really invasive and controlling.

"Some schools round us do this, and shout loudly about what amazingly tech-rich experiences they give the DC

That's really quite bizarre. Effectively they're claiming credit for the fact that parents have got screens (or been made to buy them) when that is nothing to do with the school's efforts at all."

To be fair to them, the academy chain provides all pupils with devices if they need them, but that's what puts me off. The pupils spend large parts of the day on screens/using tech at school and are expected to then continue their homework etc on screens at home too. I'm far happier with a low-tech school with paper resources as it means that their screen hours per day are pretty low even if they veg In front of the TV at home. And, they don't ever do reading books either in school or to send home. No written log either as all progress is captured via the apps. Great for data, not so good for kids imo.