Any (Irish) primary teachers about? I've a very unimportant question

[Barmbraic]

Ds is 8, in second class. I'm curious about the ORT levels, now that we're doing his reading online and I can see the comparison books on the website. He's on the purple band, which I think is perfectly middle of the road for his class, right? Older dc is slightly dyslexic so although I don't remember what band she was on (I only know ds's because I had to select the option his teacher told me) but he's a more fluent reader. He likes reading and we have no concerns so I'm just curious really.

To be honest with you, I wouldn’t worry about bands and levels. The phrase that stood out for me in your post was “he likes reading”. That’s THE most important thing. Please don’t get hung up on levels and don’t ever discuss what level your child is on with other parents. When a parent comments to me that a book is “too easy” for their child I often wonder what exactly they’re looking for. When I was young my dad commented that he was surprised I was reading Famous Five books while my friend was reading Secret Seven books... I always opted for Famous Five books because the Secret Seven ones were too short and I’d have finished them too quickly. Dad was focussed on the numbers, unfortunately, not the actual reading in the books! ( AND he was a teacher...
So, revel in the fact that your son likes reading and is a fluent reader. And the very best thing you can do for him is give him access to plenty of books that he’ll enjoy reading himself. By the end of Second class, the objective is that the majority of the children are independent readers. Encourage your son, let him see you reading books yourself and let reading be a lovely positive experience, where levels and bands do not matter. (Speaking as a Irish primary teacher of over thirty years experience! Go neirí leat!)

Thanks Procrastination. I love the idea that the secret seven is harder than the famous five 😅 (or are they, I wasn't an enid Blyton fan?!)

You are right, his enjoyment of reading is the most important thing but I was just curious about the levels now that I'm aware of them.

I'll second what Procrastination said. I think that levels are great when you have reluctant readers to give them books at their level to read. That way they don't get turned off reading by having too difficult material that frustrates them. But if your son likes reading, you're on a winner with him.
Purple is level 8 and is perfect at this stage of second class. By the time he gets to level 11, he'll be classed as reading independently and he sounds like he's well on his way. Just keep him reading anything.

I remember as a kid reading Secret Seven books and being intimidated by the Famous Five books. I thought they were 'too advanced' for me