Advice please

[Doublemuvver]

Hello, my Y1 dd has been assessed with a reading age of 8+. However, the books she's sent home with are far too easy for her. She does read older books at home as well as newspapers. Shouldn't the school be providing level appropriate books? Or is it up to me? What experience has anyone had with this? Thanks.

I went to see my dd teacher every year as she was bored with the books they kept giving her and the work. Nobody listened. Yr3 6 months after I'd seen her the teacher came up to me in the playground and said 'just heard her read wow she reads very well' aaaggghhhhh dd didn't read early but boy there was no stopping her when she started. Now aged 11 she has reading age 16. Go and see her teacher and make sure there are appropriate books at home. Good luck.

I'd go and talk to them with an open mind & just ask what's happening with reading & how you should be supporting at home. DD was an early fluent reader, but was sent home with much easier books at one point because her teacher wanted her to focus on reading aloud well - so an easier book was appropriate to let her focus on expression, punctuation etc. Once we knew that then we could make sure dd was paying particular attention to speed, tone etc when reading to us.

However, at other times the problem has been that they didn't have appropriate books in the KS1 section of the school - a bit of gentle enquiry (coupled with the suggestion that dd could bring in books from home) made them realise that perhaps they could actually fetch some from the other side of the site!

Obviously its also great to make sure you have lots of suitable books for your dd to read at home - the bottom line with a keen reader is that actually school reading is likely to be a minimal part of their intake of books, so it isn't worth getting too het up about.

When we were in a similar position my dd used to take her own books into school from home. It took a while to settle down, but during year 1 she was allowed to go up to the junior school area to chose books too. She did make it quite clear to the teachers that she found the reception and year 1 books too easy - I think it helped that it came from her, not me.

DD1 takes her own books (Yr1). I agree that part of the problem once they are off reading scheme books but still young is often the school trying to ensure content is appropriate. often the younger years don't go to the school library to choose books and if they do then the school would have to ensure the content was right. I would ask perhaps if they would mind her taking in her own books. It renews their enthusiasm I think if they really are getting to choose what they read.

We were called into school after a day and a half of reception, it was a split site with the junior school being across the road. There were no books in school suitable for his reading level and I didn't think he had the social skills for reading with the juniors (which was given as an option). We agreed that I'd continue to raid the village library and read with him at home and they would work on the rest of his education.

He stood out as a reader most of the way through junior school, he's in Y9 now and although he has a huge vocabulary he doesn't stand out as he used to.

In Y1 DS1s reading age was 12 and comprehension age was 8+. the reading books he got home were too easy however the school said it was due to the fact that he still needed to cover some comprehension areas.

This continued throughout Y2. When he moved to junior school (completely different school) his reading and comprehension age was assessed 11+ for both and more than 1 whole NC level higher than when he left in the summer so clearly the infant school were not interested in stretching him at all.

Personally I would let her read whatever she wants at home, keep writing in the reading diary if she is finding the school books easy and see what happens over the next year.

Thanks for all the responses. I've had a quick chat with her teacher. As a free reader she is able to select what she wants from the school library and the teacher is going to talk to Y3 teachers too. We have parents evening soon so hopefully can get more info. I have a bit of a balancing act as my ds (they are twins) is not as advanced as his sister.
The points about punctuation and comprehension are good, her teacher says she does read to the class on a regular basis and at home she is full of expression in her reading. She is also good at asking if she doesn't know what a word means. But you are all right, I should be capitalising on her love of books and reading.