No reading books until Year 2...

[LingDiLong]

Anyone come across this before? It's a new policy at my children's school; no children have a reading book before Year 2. Apparently all reading is done 'in house'. I was so flummoxed when the teacher told me this at parents evening I didn't even think to ask why. Part of me thinks it's not the end of the world as I have plenty of reading material here. The other part of me thinks it's madness! My children have always responded really positively to school reading books when they've sometimes been reluctant to read other stuff at home.

I am happy with the school otherwise. My DD is in reception and has learned to read whilst there so they definitely read at school.

I think that sounds fine. My DD rattles through her school book in about 2 mins as they have already read it in class so it isn't much use.

Thanks Jimmy, it's certainly not a problem now when it's all a novelty and she wants to read, I just worry about this time next year when I'll be trying to get her to read longer texts and stuff.

I would rather keep the dull school books for school and read for pleasure at home tbh!

Maybe they have decided to have a phonics based reader system only and don't have enough phonics based readers to have for class use and for sending home?

Maybe parents have been complaining about the home reading system that was in use before?

There will have been some reasoning behind it - you could ask them why. Schools don't generally make decisions like this without doing some work behind the scenes to come to that kind of decision. Its not a system I have come across myself, so would definitely think there must have been some form of consultation thing go on among themselves and Governors at the very least.

I'd be interested in the thinking behind it though and what affects it has on reading levels.

In the meantime I would just let your DD enjoy her own books at home - and books from the library. They're far more exciting than many school readers anyway!

Do you still have a reading record book for parents to write comments on what their child is reading at home?

Is your school in a very MC area where parents are 99.9% likely to do reading at home with their children?

Personally I think it's a bit bonkers and I would want to know a lot more about it and how they plan to teach reading in-house - are they limiting to one scheme, are they making a child read all 100 books at L2 before they can move onto L3 and so on. I get written updates on DD's reading twice a week in Y1, I would expect the same even if I didn't see the reading books.

I agree with elf - in theory this should be ok, freeing up children to read for pleasure with their parents at home. But let's be honest - many parents will fail to do that.

I'd like to know too Hulababy. I don't think the way they teach reading has changed, it's a Welsh school so it's pretty uncomplicated - once you learn the alphabet you pretty much have the whole phonic range already. So far she's been the quickest to learn to read out of my three kids so the school are certainly getting something right.

elf, no reading records as far as I know and not remotely MC area but the parents here are very much interested and involved so, yes, very likely to read at home. However, it's a Welsh school and most homes are English-speaking so I think early reading books in Welsh are really important. The library does have some but it's not a great selection. Ah well, it's not a problem now anyway. If it becomes a problem I'll deal with it then.

If its a welsh school with a lot of English parents then that is slightly different. I suppose they are worried that the children will mispronouce the words. I think it would be next to impossible for a non welsh speaker to help a child practice reading in welsh.

It must be very TA intensive to hear every child read though.