Confused about grades

[Mummynotmum]

Sorry, I'm sire there are millions of threads about this but I'm a bit confused about reception level reading grades. I've just been chatting to DS's teacher who says he's at reading level 1a. He is due to start in year 1 in sept. I thought level 1a was expected for year one pupils, not reception. Does that mean he's a year ahead of himself, or is she getting it wrong?

Does the school use ORT? Because there is an ORT level 1a, that is entirely unconnected to the NC levels (which aren't normally used in Reception anyway).

Yes they do.. Thanks for your response. So what would that mean as an ORT level?

well it could be ORT level 1 which would be very basic books or it could be that they are saying he is reading at a National Curriculum level 1a which would be about book band 6 or 7.

Which ORT level are they on?

Quite possible they're at a 1a at the end of reception-DD is on stage 6 ORT (orange ish book band). Some just 'get' it before others-they whizz through the book bands at different rates.

I have to admit with an a on the end would make me think it is NC 1a.

if you aren't sure what level books they are on then the difference would be something like a 12 page book with either a few words or a simple sentence on each page or a longer book of 24-32 pages with a few sentences of smaller print on each page.