simpson, i think she has it for carpet time. she sat on the long spikey side the first day she had it and complained it was too spikey poor love. she did not turn it over to sit on the slightly bobbly side, not so bright at times!
the august thing is confusing me as to how bright she is. if she was september reception, then it would be impressive and possibly 2 years ahead in some things, but if august y1 and she is doing y2 stuff, only one year ahead in school years, but what chronologically? then again they have got her books from the juniors, but is that more due to the school rigid system or that she is really that far ahead? the last book she read was white band and she only had difficulty with 1 word, olympic, but also neede to sound out a couple of surnames which she managed to get right the next time with a pause. it as an early chapter book, but we were able to read it in one sitting as the chapters were quite short, unlike say flat stanley when we read one chapter and have quite a few words to tackle. (slightly too hard I think) the hodge heg seems about right (lime) and there are a few words to sound out and learn the meaning of.
she was reading white band books when she was 4, at the end of reception. all done with me, not school. (red at school) I wrote down what she could do as she turned 5 to remind myself, which is just as well as I can not rermember now. 
she learnt an enormous amount of maths over the summer holiday. the best I could work out was that she was able to do the stuff in level 2(without having the extra explanation to hand, only the attainment targets.) (level 3 is big jump though and it is easy to see why that may take 2 years to do in the juniors!)
imagine how different from his peers he would be if in y1! he will get a better fit of work being the youngest in the year, even if it is not particulary good, it will be better than the top group of y1's work.
3b stuff.... here
in writing (i know you want to know about reading but using writing as an example) for the c level they have to complete 3 out of a group of 4 boxes plus another one out of 2 further boxes to get a low level 2c and more boxes highlighted for a b and nearly all plus some in the next level for an a. I assume there is something similar for reading but I have not found it yet. I wonder what happens if say they have nearly everything highlighted but are missing a statement here or there in the must have boxes? or maybe the teacher just did not have the evidence that he could do some of it.
joyn, that is a big gap. he is cerrtainly well ahead. I can see your dilema over whether to get him tested, but if he is getting higher work at the moment maybe it is not so crucial. a lot advice is given about expanding sideways around here. for school topics that would be going into more detail, but that may involve going higher up the curriculum anyway. it is such a tricky issue. it i s also not that easy just to get them to "learn and instrument" (in a flat with highly strung neighbours and on a limited budget?) and we spend far too long on physio and ot and just plain messing arround and being 5. she probably is not that in need of learning that things are difficult as physical things are difficult anyway.
sorry, i am waffling now and it is past my bed time and having sent everyone else off to sleep...