What does free reader actually mean?

[Millybingbong]

It is not necessarily a g&t question but it fits OK here.

What is meant by a free reader? DD goes off and reads by herself an hour or so a day but she hasn't read a longer chapter book from start to end. And clearly there are many words she has never seen.

Might be irrelevant now but my son was a free reader very early on in primary compared to his peers.
For him it meant he had read all the books they expected him to and could choose his own.
I don't know if the definition has changed now.
FWIW he is now nearly 15 , the youngest in his year and one of the brightest and classed as G&T. I don't know if the two are connected.

People seem to use it to mean the school doesn't get them to read anything that looks like part of a reading scheme. I've no real idea as mine were allowed to choose any book they wanted to take home as well as one given, and in Y3 still get chapter books that are part of some scheme as well, so I've never heard the phrase in real life.

It seems that it means different things to different people. In a lot of schools it seems to mean coming to the end of the scheme books, but different schools stop 'scheme' books at different levels. It seems to mean whatever each school wants it to mean!

In my dc's school it means they've got to the end of the school reading scheme and can choose any books they like from the school library.

Free reader = off scheme and has free choice

Same here - meant able to choose any books from the library rather than follow the reading scheme.

In our school, it is when a child is no longer on a reading scheme and chooses library books instead.

I was a free reader back in the day. It meant could go to the school library on my own and pick anything I wanted. I chose the Greek myths but was heavily pushed towards Tolkien. Although he can pick what he wants, it'll be those sorts of books they'll encourage, I imagine.

Depends completely on the school. Some schools use it to mean the child can freely choose any book from 'their level' on the reading scheme. Others mean when they have finished the reading scheme to end of KS1 level. Others mean when they have finished the reading scheme to end of KS2 level.