Is it worth questioning dd's book band or should I go and get a life?

[BabyGiraffes]

I'm quite new to the whole reading band competition nonsense (dd is in reception) and promised myself not to care what stage she is/isn't on. But... but... is there ever a justification to ask a teacher to move your child up a band? Is it seen as pushy? I think there is a difference between building her confidence and reducing her to tears because the books are so boring (we are talking ORT stage 1+ here, she's not g&t). Should I just calm down, ignore the books dd brings home and let her read other stuff at home (she can manage stage 2 and some 3 at home easily)? And how often would you expect teachers to move a child up a band? Are there set times in the term for this or does it happen whenever a child is ready (whatever that means)?

I think the way to approach it is to find a chance to chat to the teacher and ask her how it all works - if she thinks you are showing an interest and keen to get involved, that will go down much better than if it sounds like you are criticising her choices. So if you say "Can you explain about the book bands and how you decide when they move up?" she'll be fine about it, even if you then drop in "She seems to find these ones very boring". But if you say "DD is bored because you've got her on the wrong book band. Change it now" then you'll annoy her and come across as pushy.

With DS, he was in a group for reading, so they tended to move the whole group up a level at the same time. But I think it varies from one teacher to another!

My DS is also in reception and on stage 2 I think. I've no idea if he could read other stages, but his attitude towards reading very much depends upon how tired he is. What we tend to do is read at home using the set book for a few pages and then read something more interesting together as a reward.

The teacher may not have done a reading assesment recently. Just pop a note in their reading record book that x is keen and doing well so can you try the next level.

Thanks for good advice! I think I'll see how it goes and maybe approach the teacher after half term if she's not been moved up...
dd's reading also depends on how tired she is and whether the book interests her llareggub. A few times she completely lost the ability to read and I just noted down in her reading book that she was too tired.
Have to remind myself that most children get there in the end. Haven't yet met a teenager still on ORT...

If you say can my daughter have a different book you're pushy? If you say can my daughter have a glass of water? You're pushy? If you say can my daughter pull her knickers up please? You're pushy. I guess the way not to get thought of as pushy is to die early. This pushy stuff is just a made up way of teachers expressing their dislike of children having parents. It's ridiculous rubbish. Any teacher who mentions the word pushy should be sacked on the spot.

Just ask for a different book.

Just consider that if you do get her moved up a bit she'll just get books stuffed even more full of words that she can't read independently.

maizie moving from stage 1+ to stage 2 is not going to make a huge difference as she already reads those books at home. For better or worse, her school teaches a mixed approach to reading using key words (she already knows all those expected to be learnt in reception), picture clues (she is great at guessing! ), good guesses using initial letter sounds, and phonics. At home I am trying to focus more on phonics to give her a better foundation for decoding unfamiliar words rather than taking a wild guess...

learnandsay quite right, why should I be intimidated by a teacher

My DD1 is in Y1 and I recently did this. Just a note in the book bag saying she was finding them too easy and could she be moved up.
Teacher was more than happy to talk to me about it and explained that within each colour banding there are 'easy' and 'harder' books. She was happy to move her up to the easy next level ones to see how she got on.