School not sending physical books home for phonics learning

[LoftyPlumFox]

I might just be massively behind the times but... my daughter has just started Reception and we are expected to read online books with her to practice phonics. We don't have a tablet at home so this would have to be on a laptop. Am I being unreasonable to expect a physical book to be sent home so we can read it together on the sofa rather than on a laptop screen?? Or is this the norm at primary schools these days?

Schools can’t afford books. Go to charity shops and find the Oxford Reading Tree books based on Phonics. Read other books with her.

The education system are hell bent on ushering in the post literate society. Orwell worried about books bring banned. Huxley knew the greater threat was not having to ban them because nobody would want to read one.

I hate it. They say that we should reduce screen time, but schools do everything online where possible.

We already have a little set, I just hoped we'd get a bit more variety with one being sent home each week with school. The school are talking about what a massive investment they've made into these E-books so I'm not sure money is the issue here...

Books aren't banned, but they are expensive, and get lost and damaged.
Try your local library or charity shops, as pp suggested @LoftyPlumFox.
If you have a printer could you print some pages out?

Also just to add we do read all the time with her. She loves books and is so keen on phonics and learning to read. It's very sweet and I love that she is so enthusiastic. Think I am probably a bit nostalgic about my own time at school and getting a book in my book bag each week. They are called book bags after all!

E-books will be cheaper than actual books. School might have invested in new phonics scheme and this was cheaper option. Also some families don’t always look after/return school books

Unfortunately, money IS the issue. E-books can't get lost, eaten, torn up or just not returned week after week. You'd be surprised how much money schools spend on replacing physical books. (Or, more likely, how book selections dwindle, cos schools can't afford to replace them.)

Fair points. Was just a bit surprised with the letter that came home today. We should probably just invest in a tablet as she will most likely need one anyway as the years go by for homework etc.

I think it lovely that you and her love books and reading. However the problem with sending books home is so many don’t come back!!! Or not till weeks later and e book means every student can get the a book about the phonemes learnt that week without chasing parents/ kids to return a book

Yeah this is sad. OK I hadn't thought about these points. We'll get a tablet and I'll buy some more of own early readers so the tablet isn't the only way she can practice!

It’s so depressing OP I know but as a PP said, schools can’t afford books. The online Phonics book subscriptions are way cheaper than buying enough copies of each reading book, especially when you factor in the sheer number that just aren’t returned. It’s such a shame but there’s just no money.

I am not a fan, but I completely understand the school. Just go to the library and get her all the other books. If it's just the school books on a tablet or laptop, it's not a big deal, it's only a small fraction of what they read.

to add: second hand books for children cost absolutely nothing, on Amazon, Vinted or your local market place, You don't even need the library to fill the house with physical books.

It means that by all children can move on at their own pace, rather than having to wait for a book change or skip one because it's unavailable.

It also means that books can't get lost at home.

Honestly the school's job is to provide the reading material in any format. If you want to have time cuddled up on the sofa reading, just join the library!

Fun fact, it's a legal requirement for prisons to have libraries but not schools.

My son has brought home a phonics book and library book each week since reception. Now he's in year 1 he also brings an additional book (a phonics 'sharing' book that's above his reading level that we're supposed to read together). I'd have been quite surprised if he hadn't had any physical books, but I guess from the other replies in this thread it's normal.

He gets maths homework through an app though.

I suppose it's harder to lose the books within the prison than sending them home 😂

I didn't say they were banned 🙄

I suppose that's because they never imagined a time when a school wouldn't have books.

But prisons might need a nudge to have them available

This is definitely not what is happening at my kid’s school or any of our local schools in London, I wouldn’t be happy either. With an actual book the kids can also pick it up in their own time and flock through etc so this seems really limiting to me. Are you sure it’s not just an initial stage before they start to bring books home?

Some schools don’t have any books. Also, it takes such a lot of manpower changing them, then parents complain anyway.

I d just tell the teacher that you don’t have a tablet or a laptop and that you are happy to get books from the library or read your own books.

I hate it. Lots of online groups about it. Unplug being the main one. All this information about screens being bad for children. Yet we are issuing school iPads as young as 6 (Scotland) and now books are being removed.

as others have said, it’s not a cost issue, it’s a cost allocation issue. Teachers don’t make the rules though. It’s a larger government issue.

it’s not possible for everyone, but some of us have formed a separate group and have been working (disclosure checked and with permission of school) to make the library wonderful again.

how many parents buy these books that the council cannot afford and then bin, resell, donate.

it will no doubt be a forever project but it is going well and lots of local businesses have got onboard. It took us a year, volunteers, to sort out the mountains of books, and database the, (with an app ironically). It was staggering how many lost books we found, and how many could be fixed.

we now have 12 local larger businesses who sponsor each month and buy x copies of y.

Do you have a local library? It's really good to choose books together as she get into reading.

Yep. Covid hit when my daughter was in primary 1 (Scotland) and we haven’t seen a physical reading book since. She’s 11 now and a great reader. Let your child choose their own books. School books are utter rubbish anyway. Biff and Chip walk up the hill and all that nonsense, boring as shit.