Is this a poor approach to reading from school and am I making it worse?

[lecce]

Ds is in reception and I am a little concerned about how the school seems to be approaching reading.

Things I am happy with:

• He only knew a few letters by sight when he started and now knows all - upper and lower case.

-He knew all sounds of basic letters before starting but now knows all letter 'names' and sounds.

• He is clearly learning to read - had done nothing in this area before school.

Things that worry me:
-There is only one comment in his reading book from school - written by the TA about 5 weeks ago. How does the teacher know anything about his progress?

-They send home words for him to learn. These are not decodable (at his level) and they are only supposed to be sent a new set when the previous one has been mastered. The first 3 sets ds loved but now we have 7 sets and he just finds them confusing. I have several times commented in his book that he finds them confusing and prefers decoding but the school continue to send more. He has not mastered the last 3 sets yet subsequent ones (and certificates congratulating him on learning words he hasn't learnt )have been sent.

-Books sent home seem to be completely random. I wouldn't have a clue what level he is on and most are not decodable (last one had guinea pig - what a waste of time). This has led to a lot of frustration on his part as he tends to try and use the pictures and I try and stop him and conflict ensues. He only gets one a week and I have commented that he is frustrated because he clearly enjoys the phonics sessions they do in class abd wants to be able to use them, but no one ever responds to my comments and similar books come home the next week.

I now more or less ignore what comes home from school and use other stuff. He abolutlely loves Starfall (though we've nearly exhausted it now) and I've got some Usbourne phonics books which he also likes because they have a bit of a plot. However, neither of these are completely the right level and I have been saying stuff like, "The 'a' and the 'r' make 'ar' in this word," and if I do that he will blend it fine. I have also told him about 'magic' and 'silent' 'Es' and, if I tell him which it is he can decode the word from there. However, I am a little worried that what I am doing is 'wrong' and will be counter-productive for him later. I am also a bit worried about basically ignoring the stuff school send home as I don't want to appear arrogant or unsuportive.

Thanks for reading.

My dd's OFSTED "outstanding" verrrry middle class school is using " Letters and Sounds" in the classroom and sending completely undecodable books home. Lately Her TA has praised dd in her Reading Record book for using " initial sounds and picture clues" to work out the new words.

I'm furious but don't have enough courage time to confront them.
I've invested in some good phonics reading schemes and started working with her at home.

On a side note, I grew up in a different country and learnt my mother tongue purely through synthetic phonics approach. It served me very well when I was learning English and other languages.

It sounds from more than a few posts on here as if some schools are saying "we'll do phonics in school, but what shall we do with these old ORT etc. books? The children can take them home." Do they realise that parents might be getting a little confused and frustrated? It would surely make more sense for schools - if they don't have any more phonics readers - to send nothing home but "real" books from the library, for the parents to read to the children, to help keep the goal in sight, as it were. The more time parents have to spend with their children on stupid undecodeable books, the less time they have to read books to them that are going to remind them why they're learning!

I know it's easy for me to say, given that I'm not in the UK system (and schools where I am aren't renowned for good teacher/parent communication) but surely it would be good for schools to get feedback on this.