What's a normal Reception reading level?

[SwissSarah]

My daughter is in Reception (October birthday) and is reading at Level 16. I know this is beyond her peers but how much so? The teachers aren't really giving me any clues about other children (which is fair enough!) and I don't want to ask other parents in case it looks like I'm showing off. Does her reading level mean she is gifted or bright? Would appreciate hearing what levels Reception children are at please. Thank you

Just, give your DD some credit there too! Judging by how bloody hard some of the yr 1s I volunteer with are still finding it, I doubt most 3-4 yr olds could learn to read just like that, however much their parents decide to teach them.

I do accept she could well have had an aptitude for reading. However, without any input from an adult she would not have learnt to read. So, to that extent, I did teach her to read.

It could be the methods they use at school are not suited to all children. I did not use synthetic phonics as I just thought learning letter sounds while making shapes had little to do with actually reading.
I did spend some time thinking how best to teach her, and it is a little too long and involved to explain in a post.

I don't think early reading is a sign of giftedness though it probably means a child is bright.

My daughter was an early reader. She never really did the reading schemes, just went straight to real books. My son really struggled in reception - couldn't even decode 'dog' or 'man' although he started to take off in year 1. They're now year 8 and year 6 and both are equally bright (passed 11plus etc, no difference in reading age at year 6 despite early differences), but neither is 'gifted'!