What is the average ORT level in your year 3 class?

[HumphreyCobbler]

I was just wondering as I have been to a parents evening and queried the level my dd was on, only to be told that no child in the class is on a higher level than 9, so book band purple. It seemed low to me, but I have not taught a year 3 class for a while so wanted to check with other teachers.

TIA

sorry, that should read book band gold.

DD is in Year 3 and she's on brown (band 12) as are quite a few others. There's a very wide range of abilities in the class though.

thanks for your response. I tested my dd myself last night and she read brown band without issue. At home she is a voracious reader of everything. Stage 8 seems very low for her in particular and stage 9 extraordinary for the highest point in the class.

DS year 4 now but certainly I would have said the majority of the class were free-reading not still on ORT bands by the end of year 3 though I can't remember if that was true at the start of the year as well.

I did reading with other children in his class and there were certainly a goodly number way past level 9 at the start of the year.

At the start of y3 I'd have children all the way from ORT Stage 2 to free reading.

Thank you. That is what I would have expected too. The teacher seemed to imply that no child in year 3 would be on stage 12 or a free reader. This seems extraordinary.

I didn't think Y3s still read that kind of book

DD is in y1 and on white band...

Do they make them read every single book in each colour?

I don't know what to say. Should I insist that, as my dd can easily read the top level, they should move her up? I see no benefit for reading the scheme for the sake of it. Presumably her school think differently. I wonder why?

They must do IHeartKingThistle.

I used to teach year one and it wasn't uncommon to have free readers. There were a couple in nearly every class.

A quick rifle through book bags says one grey and one lime in yr3 here but given I had to do that to find out my own children's band, no idea about the rest of the class.

It's so weird. What can possibly be the benefit to the school of holding them back?

There are only a couple if children still on the reading scheme in our yr3.
Most now read normal chapter books like Mr Gum, Beastquest and Winnie the Witch. Ks2 are expected to be above the scheme level .

DS1 is in Y2 and is reading brown band KS2 for non-fiction and is a free-reader for fiction. There are a few other children in his year around about the same point so I'd be really surprised if lots of the Y3 class above aren't at or beyond that point.

I am in a yr3 class & they vary from free reading (over stage 11 - although still use banded books for guided reading which is stage 12 for the free readers) to stage 5.

I would be surprised at those levels for Yr3. it would be interesting to know what levels they got on average in the Yr2 SATS for reading. Obviously there is a lot more to reading the higher level texts than just reading the words but by Yr3 many children will have the maturity to do this surely.

Thank you everyone. You have confirmed what I thought, I just wanted to be sure as I have been out of the classroom for a while. DD reads a book a day, anything from Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, Beast Quest, Mr Gum etc etc.

I just don't see why they feel the need to do this.

In my dc's school they stay on the reading scheme until they leave, whilst also reading their own choices alongside. They majority of y6 get level 5 and above for reading in their sats so it doesn't seem to be holding them back.

dd was on level fourteen in year three. others may have been higheras she did not read a lot.

Given that gold is equivalent to NC level 2b then surely the children should be on at least gold unless they failed to meet the expected standard at the end of year 2? If a child achieved a level 3 in their KS1 SATS they should most definately be above gold, either free reading or onto KS2 banded books. Sounds very odd & worth pursuing further to find out if this is a whole school or single teacher policy.

DD achieved an outcome 6, which is roughly a level three. Teacher assessment.

My DD is also year 3, got level 3 in her sats, and has been a free reader since Reception.

She brings home books from the year 5 box at the moment, which she reads (properly comprehends, I've checked!) in about 45 minutes.

She's just read the Wimpy Kid series, and is part way through How to Train Your Dragon now. She also reads Mr Gum, loads of Enid Blyton, Holly Webb, Animal Ark, David Walliams, Roald Dahl and Tom Gates (just in case you need any book suggestions :o )

DS2 achieved outcome 6/high score in the national literacy tests and he had been reading above lime level (no idea what happens to the colours after lime) for most of year 2. Sorry not sure if that's very helpful to you!

DS2 whose reading only really took off towards the end of Y2, was a free reader by Christmas Y3 and from what I could see, most of the other children seemed to be taking chapter type books from their bags in the morning.