Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

am I right to remove my son from reading scheme?

50 replies

jamiesmum2001 · 06/01/2011 16:54

Can anyone advise me whether I can withdraw my son from his primary schools reading scheme. He is not brilliant or exceptional (except to us!) but loves reading. He has been reading books since he was able to hold them,he is just 9 and has read all the Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnier, Famous Fives etc. At home, he will also read the paper and anything else he can, however the school will not budge on his place in the reading scheme. He has recently been given a book that took 62 pages to get from "a dog" to "a blue dog sat in a car". They say that because he won't discuss the book he doesn't understand what hes reading. He can discuss the plots, characters etc in home books ok.He was so upset at this that he has said he won't read anymore as there is no point.angry what do you think?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

pointythings · 06/01/2011 20:57

I don't know about the OP's school, but my DC's school mainly use ORT, but use other schemes by way of extension - I think the books I was referring to were called 'Blue Bananas' or something? (it was a long time ago...) I do remember that they got them from the school's main library, not the year group's stock of books. They had those, and then they had (very) abridged versions of the classics (Little Women, Black Beauty and so on) as well - my DCs had those in year 1 and 2.

Would you say it's pretty normal for a 9-yo to read and enjoy the sort of books the OP describes her DS reading?

FairyMum · 06/01/2011 21:21

The books my children get home from school can kill of a love of reading for life. I have alwasy chosen good exciting books for them to read and read for them and completely ignored the school-books because i thought it was detrimental to their reading. I never made an issue with the school about this. Just didn't make them read the books and had a secret pact to pretend they had read them.

Goblinchild · 06/01/2011 21:35

What was the title and author of the book?
I'm intrigued, and I'm wondering what else the book had to offer.

Heroine · 06/01/2011 21:43

I was a diffficult bugger, but if i had been given a book about a blue dog sitting in the car at 9 I would have had utter seething contempt for my teacher and would NOT have tried to explain a simple story - at least not without huffing and puffing and making up what I would have considered imaginative alternatives (but a teacher might have considered 'not understanding')

If they are getting it as wrong as it sounds you are very right to question you only get one chance at school and its awful if you spend it waiting for the class environment to catch up with your development

madwomanintheattic · 06/01/2011 21:45

i've never seen a book that's 62 pages long with that sort of text. i've got three primary school dc's and together they've been in 6 different primary or infant and junior schools, so i've seen a few different reading schemes in use. i've also volunteered with struggling readers.

your son's reading level at home seems entirely age-appropriate. i'm unclear whether the school believe that your ds has some sort of sn? i'm unable to make any sense of what you have written without some more background info - ie is this a new school? has he been cooperative about reading/ school as a whole before?

Heroine · 06/01/2011 21:47

unless is a complicated analogy of the progression of the conservative party from a party led by a bulldog figure with an awareness and understanding of his own depressive moods progressing to a party of the capitalist free-marketeer who supports fossil fuel transport systems and bows to the motorist lobby... that is... :)

maypole1 · 06/01/2011 22:20

Pointy thing -
It rodent really matter what age he is if he's pretending he cannot understand the books , the teacher would have no choice but to keep him on Janet and john books.

If he's acting like he cannot understand the books then what is she supposed to do.

Do you propose she move him to harden books even though she has no proof he can even understand
simple books.

I suggest the op just get her son to jolly well do as he is asked by the teacher if not then she needs to find out what going on

pozzled · 06/01/2011 22:40

"If he's acting like he cannot understand the books then what is she supposed to do.Do you propose she move him to harden books even though she has no proof he can even understand
simple books."

I am still really struggling to understand how a competent teacher could be as wrong as the OP suggests. Even if he's refusing to read and discuss these books, the average 9 year-old does a huge amount of reading in the classroom. Does he pretend not to understand written maths questions, or Science texts or instructions presented on the whiteboard? If his level of reading comprehension was at the 'blue dog sat in a car' level he would be struggling to cope and needing a high level of support in a year 4 class.

OP this is really puzzling me. I hope you can tell us more about how and when this problem arose.

cory · 06/01/2011 23:15

agree with pozzled

a 9yo who was unable to read at all would stick out like a sore thumb in your average classroom

even my ds who is in bottom sets and has had extra support through most of his school career was able to read instructions and proper books last year when he was 9

if the school really believes any given 9yo can only cope with one word sentences, then they should be looking into SN; that is simply not normal at all

mummytime · 07/01/2011 06:37

Sorry OP but do you really exist? No child of mine has still been on reading schemes at 9. No child of mine has read books like those you describe,they sound like very old fashioned look say book of the type I was supposed to learn to read from.
If this is real and you are in the UK I would go into school and ask for full details of exactly what they are teaching. Why they teach reading from such long but undemanding books. And what your sons reading age, spelling age and national curriculum levels are. I would be very concerned.

lovecheese · 07/01/2011 09:18

Bloody reading schemes, hate them (shudders).
My Dcs school, as I have mentioned in previous posts, has several levels and sub-levels after lime level (NC band 11), and there are children in year 6 who are still on banded books - yes, honestly, and I don't mean strugglers either. To give you another example my eldest was the first child in her year to complete the reading scheme - at the start of year five. At that age I strongly believe that they can kill a love of reading, for a child who is reading for pleasure at home, and is already achieving a high level 4 in reading. I really wiah the school would change their policy.

lovecheese · 07/01/2011 09:19

wish...

civil · 07/01/2011 10:07

What on earth is he reading that kind of reading book at aged 9?

Very few of the children at my dds school were reading that level of book at the end of year 1.

Is there a problem that you haven't shared with us?

Jux · 07/01/2011 10:23

I used to just lie in dd's reading record, so she didn't have to read the crap from school, but I would tell her what the book was about in case she was asked. Meanwhile she happily read and talked about much harder books at home.

I lied, because after seeing her teacher and asking why she was reading this (some rubbish Pip and Kipper book) at school, but this (Alice in Wonderland and a whole load of other similar books) at home (I had brought a large selection with me and fanned them out on the table in front of us); the teacher told me dd didn't understand the Pip & Kipper. After that, I decided I didn't need to worry about the school vis a vis reading.

We moved very soon after and dd went to a different school where her teacher immediately put dd on 'free reading' and we had no problems after that.

Mspontipine · 07/01/2011 10:53

Chip

DreamTeamGirl · 07/01/2011 10:55

I feel a bit about parents colluding with their children to lie to the school about reading
Its not as if the books take long to look at and homework ISNT always fun, but doing that kind of says

'oh its ok, school doesnt matter and we can lie to them'
Shows a lack of respect for the teachers and encourages that in the child

JMO tho

Heroine · 07/01/2011 11:51

I have to say though that equally damaging is the idea that all teachers, employers, politicians etc are automatically the most 'right' person in the room - I have spent a good deal of my life unlearning that idea after coming across poor managers, lazy racist classist and bullying teachers, badly managed companies and some seriously corrupt academics. I don't think you should encourage a lack of respect, but there is nothing wrong in saying that adults can make mistakes or that you can help manage situations where you have more awareness than someone else.

Blind acceptance of teachers is what caused me to underperform - I thought that by learning faster than the class I was a problem, difficult etc and so I slowed down to the teacher's pace and got bored out of my mind - ignoring the teacher in the end anyway. If I had been supported to view the teacher as one input into my learning, that I could augment and work with in different ways |I think I would have got more out of school rather than leaving angry bored, frustrated and resentful about not being recognised as having ability.

DanceInTheDark · 07/01/2011 11:59

If your child won't talk to the teacher about the book what do you suggest they do?

Reading isn't just about reading the words. It's also about understanding what is written and the way it's written etc

cat64 · 07/01/2011 13:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

mrz · 07/01/2011 17:29

pointythings Thu 06-Jan-11 20:57:20
Would you say it's pretty normal for a 9-yo to read and enjoy the sort of books the OP describes her DS reading?

I don't think the sort of book the OP describes exists to be honest. Level 3 reading scheme books only have 32 -48 pages and have a much higher interest/content level than blue dogs in cars ...
so I would really like to know the title of the book and which scheme it's part of as it seems so strange. [puzzled]

pointythings · 07/01/2011 19:10

Sorry, Mrz, didn't explain myself well again...

The OP says that her DS enjoys Narnia, Harry Potter and so on when reading at home - those were the books I was referring to in my original question.

I know very little about reading schemes but would agree with you that the 32-48 page scheme books you describe are much more interesting than what the OP describes as the school providing for her DS. I remember both my DCs reading this kind of thing and really enjoying it, there was a really good one about a mum and son knitting a spaghetti suit for a very fussy customer - hilarious!

I'm by now a little since the OP hasn't reappeared to clarify or anything - I'd still very much like to know why the DC's reading hasn't been raised as an issue before since he is in Yr5?

Joining you in confusion.

lovecheese · 07/01/2011 19:18

pointythings, "The Great spaghetti suit" ? ORT treetops, great story, I agree. mrz, where would a red book 6 wide range reader book come in levels?

pointythings · 07/01/2011 19:21

lovecheese,

That's the one! My younger DD had it at the end of Reception and it was the only one she wanted to read over and over again...

Jux · 07/01/2011 19:45

DreamTeamGirl, I would never have done that if dd's teacher hadn't been so determined to keep dd reading so far below her level. (Months after we moved we were back in our old town and bumped into a couple of families whose kids were at that school. Over coffee and chit chat I discovered that huge number of things that teacher had told me were blatant lies so I have no qualms about my response to her at all.)

As I said, it wasn't an issue in her new school where she had a teacher who wasn't insane and deluded.

Am wondering if OP wasn't winding us up.

mrz · 07/01/2011 19:49

I think Narnia and Harry Potter are probably average for a 9 year old who enjoys reading.
lovecheese I would have to check as it is an old scheme not showing on current book lists and I can't remember the order of the colours in the scheme.

Flip

1 2