How common is jumping several reading levels at once?

[SuperScribbler]

DS is coming to the end of Y1 and has made good steady progress in his reading throughout the year. Last week we had a parent's consultation and his class teacher was telling how impressed she was with him and that he was doing well for his age. So far, so good. But at that meeting we informed her that DS would be leaving the school at the end of the term because we were unexpectedly moving overseas (DH is in the armed forces). We therefore requested the school to forward the relevant paperwork to the new school - including DS's assessments.

To set the scene further DS is in a small private school rated excellent by the ISI, but will be moving to a state funded British School in Europe that has an outstanding ofsted.

This week DS comes home with a book 4 levels higher than the one he was previously on and it is now bugging me slightly. It's definitely not a mistake because it's clearly noted by the teacher in his reading diary. How likely is it that his progress would have made such a huge leap? Or has this got something to do with his current school trying to make themselves look good to the new school? Or have they been slack in assessing DS's reading and are now rectifying it so the new school doesn't judge them?

Not really sure why this is bothering me so much, but it feels like a red flag to me. I know it doesn't matter really as we are moving on, but I'd like to know what's going on.

well I have survived them so far but she hasn't read many and she has a biggish set of them. I am not sure how many I will stand (and I have another DD to do them at some point too!)

I will hold off buying them for as long as possible! She has got a couple out of the library as a friend of hers loves them and she was copying, but that was a while ago now.....

they are quite sweet really, in small doses. a bit twee in the same way as princess poppy but harmless (and preferable to many of the school books)

Haven't had the pleasure of princess poppy, can you tell I have an older boy as well as DD? . They seemed harmless from what I remember but don't really have that richness or depth that you get from the good stuff. Mind you DS has made his way through a lot of dross as well as good stuff, everything in balance .

oh well you haven't missed much with princess poppy - my daughters loved them though, hubby went on strike and refused to read them ever again!

I agree, the proper books are much much better. a lot of the modern young reader stuff is actually, dare I say it, quite dumbed down almost BUT it does have a place if it gets them reading and they are easy enough for them to read before they are able to move on to the harder books. That sort of level didn't exist when I was a child so the jump was much greater.

Yes, funny how things change. My Mum gave me some of my old reading books. They are SO long, pages and pages! I guess I didn't read one all in one go, but it shows something about children's expected concentration levels I think !

I teach a musical instrument and I am a great believer in getting kids playing Mozart etc as soon as they are able (about 7/8/9 depending when they start), as it feeds back on so many levels, and is so much richer than the tutor books full of simple dross. It's the same principle with books I think.

yes i have one of the old reading books - when they were colours and ended in Bronze, silver and gold. they were hardbacked long things with small font yet we just accepted them as what we read didn't we.

Thats the sort of book they still go straight into in some countries, it does make you feel a bit like they have reduced expectations in some ways, if you only ever give them short books then long ones seem daunting and dull potentially, if given longer ones in the first place they would just get used to it wouldn't they like we did?

dd went from barely able to read single syllable words to fluid reading in a matter of weeks. It's not unusual for kids to jump in ability quite significantly.

She finished junior infants not able to read and by 2 months into senior infants was reading at 2 years above her age, and has remained that far ahead since.

dgs 6 favourite 'free reading' is Mr Majeika [sp]

I don't think there is anything wrong with accessible, 'fun' books, and I don't think it;s the case that today's able young readers can't handle the classics. We do have to realise that those books were of their time and might not appeal because of their subject matter - think sexist gender roles, language that feels pretentious to modern readers. And there is an enormous body of very very good children's reading out there - I would not, for instance, call the How to Train Your Dragon dumbed down in any way given the vocabulary used. Then there's the Septimus Heap series, Garth Nix's days of the week (and his Abhorsen series for older readers). As someone who has read both the classics of yesteryear and the new stuff, I have to say I prefer much of the new stuff. It proves that children's books can be accessible and exciting as well as having depth and complexity.

Yes pointythings, I think you have a good point there. I think DS is too young to be getting onto a lot of those excellent new(er) books, but he'll be there soon, and looking forward to him exploring all sorts.