To think this is not good enough?

[Feelingdisappointed2024]

My child is in Year 1 in a state primary and is given 1 reading book a week in a green book band. She is being told to read said book every night. It is SO boring so we've stopped doing it, and I've spent a small fortune on supplementing the school reading with other phonics books. Sometimes the reading book is repeated, and last term we had the same book for 3 weeks!

Am I being unreasonable to expect the school to provide more books, or is this just what everybody has to do in the state system? Is one reading book a week really recommended at this age? The local independent school gives the children a book a night!

The pace just seems so pedestrian and it's taking so long for her reading to progress. Is this normal or am I just being pushy.

Have you spoken to the teacher to ask them for more challenging books? They will likely oblige, but also, they will be accounting for the fact that if they ask every family to read a different book every night then they won’t do it. If you make the expectation an easy task, it’s more likely to get done - not all parents have this kind of time every night unfortunately.

It doesn’t have to be 100% on them. Take her to a library and choose some lovely books there to read at home.

Is this a state school by any chance? You haven't said?

Buy some books / visit the library / make it a bit more exciting yourself.

Kids often forget to change their books on their designated day (which isn't the same as being sent home with the same book every week)

Why can't you just get her some books to read yourself? As long as she's read the school one I don't see the problem. Reading other books will probably help her reading get better too

We get two books per week but I go to the library and select some at the same, lower and higher band and give DD the choice of which she wants to read - or not read.

Is this a read write inc book, by any chance? The idea is that the child reads the book every day, for practice and to gain fluency. If you were learning the piano you wouldn't stumble through each piece once and claim that you had 'done it' would you? You would go over it again and again, even if Mary had a little lamb was boring to hear the first time!

At the state primaries where I worked we changed the books everyday but it takes a while, so maybe they're short staffed. I’d definitely say something to CT but in a positive not complaining way. If no joy use library, also swapbooks with friends and get from charity shops. Definitely encourage DC if keen as much better to go at pace that suits her and not make her associate boredom with reading by repetitive uninteresting books.

Do they have a reading policy or could you ask the system and how regularly books are reviewed?
I used reading chest between R and yr 1 and it got her reading flying.
https://www.readingchest.co.uk/

It says in the first line of the OP that it's a state school.

I was being ironic!

It's not that scheme, it's Collins Big Cat, but I believe the thinking is the same. It's so very full though, and kills all fun. We now read the school book once or twice and get library books/spend money on purchasing our own to supplement

I agree with a previous poster that it is wise to repeat a book several times over the week that you have it. That doesn’t mean you can’t read other books. We always had several bedtime stories and had loads of books in the house, however if short of money you can get some out of the library. We did a mix of the school books, and then the kids trying to read other books as well as us reading to them - both picture books that they could look at while we were reading and chapter books that they would lay down and listen to whilst we read.

20 yrs ago but we had books changed twice a week.

I supplemented extensively from the library

Yes I've questioned, but this is the reading policy. The school achieves well under average for academic performance and reading in particular and I'm sure this is where it starts. The area is fairly affluent and a neighbouring school achieves very strong academic results with a similar catchment demographic

Does she definitely understand what she's reading? Teacher might be sending the same book back if the child doesn't seem to understand it yet.

Speak to school but don't buy extra books yourself, just go to the library.

I gave up with Oxford learning bs after Year 1. I know what kind of parent I sound like, but my eldest’s reading skills were/are genuinely beyond Biff and Chip that it was utterly pointless (he is autistic and delayed in other areas, he can inhale books with full comprehension though). Maybe because he’s ND and is currently buried in a Wimpy Kid book at break time they let it slide - as long as they’re reading something and comprehending the text/learning phonics and most importantly enjoying the experience of reading, that’s what matters.

If you're not reading it with her multiple times, then when the teacher reads with her - either that book or flashcards of the sound - to asses that she has learnt the sounds specific to that particular book, she won't be fluent. That's why she's getting the book for another week!

It's fine to be supplementing with other books for enjoyment but if you're not choosing books focussed on the same sound then she's not learning what she needs to from it for that stage of phonics.

It's the same as doing maths. You wouldn't do one worksheet on addition, then refuse to do any more because you'd 'done' it and it was boring. Learning needs repetition.

Seriously, do the books at least once a day, really focus on them, she'll move up through the bands quicker and you'll get onto proper books sooner.

I blinking hate the reading books to death practice which seems to be in vogue at the moment. We only read the book again if the child has enjoyed it and wants to. It seems as though everyone has forgotten that reading for pleasure is key to educational success! So I pay lip service to the school reading scheme, and supplement ourselves. Surprise, surprise, the DC i currently have at this stage is flying along with his reading. School seem weirdly irritated by it 🙄

Nothing wrong with supplementing with other books. Surely you read to your child and shared books before she went to school? Isn't she picking up on words or letters that she sees in those?
You can get books free from the library or cheaply in charity shops.

Many schools have had to change their phonics scheme in the last two years due to the government releasing a list of state sanctioned ones you had to choose from. You then had to make sure all of your reading books had ‘fidelity’ to the scheme you chose. Most of these schemes have cost thousands to implement and buy new books, and many schools don’t have the money to purchase the same number of books they had before. I know several schools who were criticised heavily (and went into a
category) for-amongst other phonics related things-using old books.

Ask the teacher, but if that’s the case, blame the government, blame Ofsted and blame the companies who have made a shit load of money from this forced change to phonics.

Have they got more books?

My kids had their reading books changed daily if they’d finished the previous one. They got 2 books for half term and were allowed 5 books for longer holidays. They went to a school that had lots of reading schemes and lots of books and not everyone wanted books changed so often.

We had the same at DS state school in Reception, one book a week.
My DD (16 months older) was at an Independent pre prep, as she has a health condition, and got a book a day, (same series)
We asked for Ds to be able to change his book more often, offered to sigh them in and out etc and yet were told repeatedly no, DS would be keen to read 'his' book in the evening after DD read hers, but got frustrated as it was the same each day, and he felt he was missing out.
We moved him into DD school and his reading flew ahead, by 9 he was reading at average age 12, with no major input from home, just 10 to 15 minutes of supervised reading at home and bedtime stories.. I realise we were lucky to be in that position but it illustrates that more reading does speed up understanding.

The thing is it is not easy to supplement as the (rather boring Biff and Chip books do follow a step by step phonics programme.

Ours only gives one per week but even with that they lose so many to people not bringing them back, imagine how many it would be if they sent more. I too have spent a fortune on phonics book at home so we can read a different book everyday and keep up the pace. I don’t think DS would be the confident reader he is now if I didn’t keep buying them. He’s in year one and can pretty much read anything now and it isn’t because of the one book a week he gets from school. Also library is good for picking more up. The more the better in my opinion as I prefer to know he’s actually reading it rather than knowing the words from memory so I try to leave a big gap between reading the same book twice. I would try your library if you’re fed up of spending on it. I also buy second hand from eBay mostly, that helps.

Schools have been doing this forever and it's bloody annoying. When I was a dc I used to reread my boring reading scheme every night before cracking on with the famous five/secret seven. This stopped when my mum took my books into the school to show the teacher what I was reading. I was then given special permission to go into the junior library to choose my books.

My dc1, different school, same issue. I was told they needed to be sure he understood what he was reading before he changed the book. In his case it changed when they tested all the dc aged 7 and discovered he had a reading age of 13.5. He couldn't score higher.

My advice is talk to the school, show then the books, if they don't listen fill in the home/school book every night saying what they've read and keep supplementing the school books from the library and own collection. Explain to your dc that school books are only a small number of books available to them, and ensure that they have access to books they enjoy.

If other local schools are better go on the wait list? If you are staying put I’d crack on and read lots of your own/library/reading chest plus book from school. Jump through the hoops - fill in reading record daily. Put comments in.
Just a mum of an older teen not a teacher but my experience was the strong and early readers were the ones that did well academically and passed 11+.