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Primary education

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

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Original poster

What is the average reading level by this point of reception?

65 replies

Adikia · 07/02/2014 11:28

I don't mean what is your child on as there are some very smart reception children about, just what is the level DD should aim for?

My son is G&T so don't want to compare them plus he's 10, so I can't really remember where he was by this part of term other than him having better stories in his books.

OP posts:

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Hoogally · 07/02/2014 11:35

Ds just moved to yellow level. It's been a bit of a slog some of his friends seem to have shot through the book bands.

MrsCakesPremonition · 07/02/2014 11:40

I really don't think there is any sort of average when they are so new to reading. I read with some Y1 children and they range from stage 1 to stage 8, so an average would be pretty meaningless.

Bitlost · 07/02/2014 11:44

I thought yellow was quite good at this stage. That's what I get my DD to read. She's a very late summer born.

givemeaclue · 07/02/2014 11:49

They should aim to be min of yellow by end of reception. The range in reception is large, in our case ranging from pink to gold by end of the year. Some of those who didn't make much progress in reception have made very rapid progress in year one. One of the children who finished reception on pink went up five levels by half term year one, just had taken longer to get started. Current range is year 1 is yellow to free reader.

ReallyTired · 07/02/2014 11:50

This is reallly a bit of a non sensical thread as the age of a reception child makes a bigger difference than basic intelligence or even standard of teaching. An august born child is at a massive disadvantage to a september born child. Academic differences due to maturity diminish over the years. Children tend to shoot through the reading bands once the concepts of blending and segmenting click. However there is more to reading than barking at print. Chidlren need to learn language and meanings of words.

Rather than comparing your daughter to other children prehaps its better to ask whether your daughter is making progress. Teaching methods have changed a lot since your eldest was in reception. Certainly my son had more interesting books as he was not restricted to decodable books.

What should your daughter aim for is very personal to her and is a question best answered by her teacher.

BucketsnSpades · 07/02/2014 11:55

My DS is August born, not sure what the colour codes all mean but he is reading basic words and blending sounds. He loves books because he loves stories and facts. We read together, we talk about stories, he adapts stories to include him and his sister, he acts the stories in our front room. I think there is more to reading than decoding the words.

MumbleJumbles · 07/02/2014 11:57

My reception year child is still on pink...still sounding out every blinkin' word . But DC is certainly not the only one left on pink, in fact I think half the class are still pink, half moved up to red. My yr2 child was still on pink at this stage in reception....is now gold in year 2 and one of the top of the class.

They'll all get there in the end, its not a race!

my2bundles · 07/02/2014 11:59

I dont think there is an average at this stage, Some school have only just started sending books home, some have been sending them since Sept. each school is different so you carnt really get an accurate view on a forum.

columngollum · 07/02/2014 12:00

Concentrate on reading the words in the books and forget about levels.

Levels are artificial designations to help teachers. They've got nothing to do with reading Goldilocks or Chicken Licken.

rainraingoAWAYNEVERCOMEBACK · 07/02/2014 12:05

My DD was one of oldest in reception, sept born, so nearly a year ahead. however progress was slow but steady, literally the last weeks of reception something clicked, over the summer she was reading signs and stuff on her own, its was so much fun! ( so just before 6 and now she is 6.6) now she is in year one and reading books on her own.

rainraingoAWAYNEVERCOMEBACK · 07/02/2014 12:06

( the books were the very basic ones, three words a page? right up to end of reception)

rainraingoAWAYNEVERCOMEBACK · 07/02/2014 12:08

Rather than comparing your daughter to other children prehaps its better to ask whether your daughter is making progress

There is nothing wrong with asking what others are doing to get a rough gage of progress Really. There is nothing wrong with casting round for information.

Showy · 07/02/2014 12:14

When dd was in reception there were dc who hadn't yet started on the scheme, ones at different levels (I remember green being the most common in the middle of the year) and 2 who were free readers (the youngest and oldest in the year respectively!).

What they concentrated on was encouraging a love of reading and individual progress.

MumbleJumbles · 07/02/2014 12:16

you're right rain there isn't any harm, I find it very interesting.... I'm interested because somebody upthread (givemeaclue) said that in reception year it can range from pink through to gold - my DC in yr2 has just reached gold and is literally top 5 in the class (there are a few kids on white above). I thought this was great, so am surprised / interested to learn that some reception kids reach gold in their first 9 months of school reading!!!! Not saying I don't believe it, am just mightily impressed!

brettgirl2 · 07/02/2014 12:20

according to reading chest green is the middle for year 1, unless the scheme at that school was different. How do people know what book band other kids are on anyway? I reckon red.

MumbleJumbles · 07/02/2014 12:28

I was of the understanding that, according to national curriculum levels, its:
pink and red in reception
yellow / blue / green / orange in yr 1
turquoise / purple / gold / white in yr 2.

So if you have a reception child reading green, then they're doing brilliantly!

lottieandmia · 07/02/2014 12:28

Thee is no point stressing about reading levels in reception. By the time they start year 3 they have all levelled out pretty much and it is not an indicator of intelligence or how well they're going to do later.

MumbleJumbles · 07/02/2014 12:29

brettgirl2 one of my DC knows the reading band colour of nearly every child in the class. We're not a competitive family at all, so no idea how this has come about!

noramum · 07/02/2014 12:32

Gold is a very high level at .reception and while I know a couple of children reading at this level it is unusual. I think most in DD's class ended on yellow or blue but there were still lots on red.

I agree the focus should be that progress is made not what level the child is. Our school had their own level system and in a way I was glad that I couldn't compare DD with her friends attending other schools.

givemeaclue · 07/02/2014 12:48

Mumble, was just saying what the range was in dd's school, no idea how normal or otherwise that is. I have two children in year one, one is lime the other is gold. We do not in our family ever comment on book levels, we only praise effort and encourage a love of reading. If one says 'I went up a book level' we reply ' it's great you enjoy reading..' And do not comment on the level. With 2 children at the same educational stage it is key to us to avoid competition/ feeling like a race. My niece was way ahead of her peers reading at school, ultimately of course they all caught up and ended up the same level. She found this hard as wasn't ' special' any more. I think it's important to keep reminding children that wherever they are now, they will all finish infants able to read. They can all enjoy books and that is what counts.

Op I would aim for yellow by end reception.

GoodnessIsThatTheTime · 07/02/2014 13:39

I'm interested to know how others are doing as my child is in a low achieving area. So what is "good" for our school, might not be good nationally/elsewhere. She is top set, but that could well equate to middling elsewhere (and I'm sure it would be!).

thegreylady · 07/02/2014 13:43

Dgs will be 5 next week and has just moved to orange. His brother wasn't there till Year1

thegreylady · 07/02/2014 13:46

The older one is now in Y2 and has ptogressed to 'free reading' having finished white just before Christmas. His spelling though...

allyfe · 07/02/2014 13:50

I honestly just don't get the reading levels/colours. My DD had two ORT books that were stage 3, which is blue, but which had a lime and some other colour on the little colour tab bit. It is those I really just don't get. I also thought that the YR aims from the NC were levels 1, 2 & 3 (ideally).

For OP, I can tell you that my DD is considered one of the more confident readers on Blue. It is very normal for children to be on Pink, or Red or Blue. There are also children on level 4 and higher.

As other people have said, I have known of children who go very slowly in YR but then who fly later on. When it comes down to it, my hope for my DD is that she is enjoying it (at the moment that is less apparent, she loved it for a while but now has lost a little interest and motivation). I would love for her to be enjoying it and speeding through levels, but I was a very slow at reading until I was in junior school, and then really discovered books in secondary school, and then did an English degree, so I know it can take time :)

RonaldMcDonald · 07/02/2014 13:52

all mine entered reception not reading and by year 2 could read confidently

spend 10 mins a night and the school will normally highlight a problem

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