How often does your school expect you to listen to your child read? How do they encourage you / advise you of this?

[uhoh1973]

DC1 is 6 and in year 1. We read frequently (approx 5 times per week). The school gives us a reading diary but no guidance on how often they should read.
I volunteer to listen to some of the other children read and comment in their reading diary. I can see from their reading diaries that for some of them no one else is listening to them read. There seems to be a very strong correlation between frequency of reading and reading ability.
I am curious what guidance other schools give and how they encourage parents to listen to their children read. Many thanks.

Twenty-five years ago our DS small primary school did an evening presentation for parents, with staff demonstrating (very entertainingly) how home-reading SHOULD, and SHOULDN'T be done. They also ran one on Maths, and possibly ICT.

Yes - it's extra for the teachers to have to do after a day at work, but it probably paid-off in successful readers.

15 mins every night. New book daily. We have to comment and sign diary

As often as you can 5 mins a night is better than 30 mins once a week IMHO.

DS (Y2) and DD (YR). The expectation is that we will listen to them read every weekday, which we do. DS is constantly reading anyway so I don't think his teachers have qualms about his ability, but they still write a 'please read with your child!' note in his diary if we miss more than a couple of days.

We don't have to write comments in the book if there are none, just note what was read and sign.

We are told that if the reading record is signed three times weekly, the child will receive a sticker for their bookmark each week. We are luckily able to read more often, but at least they give a basic goal.

10+ minutes per day.

Parents of new Reception starters are told about it during the induction meeting. It is also in a prominent place on the school website, and leaflets are handed out at various intervals during the school year.

Every day even in Year 6. If you miss any days you get a teacher comment asking why. The diary has tips on what to comment and how to ask questions to make sure your child has understood.

Hmm I will look but I don't think there is any advice on frequency at our school. I have just had 4 weeks off for work and exams. In this period 2 kids no one has listened to them... 2 kids have been . listened to twice only..... it's pitiful. As I say some are nearly free readers and some can't recognise 'a' yet...

My 6yr olds school ask us to read every night for 15 mins, we do read however she finds the school reading books very boring so we tend to read our books at home which have more of a story line or they rhyme, because she finds the school books boring she often "forgets" to bring her school book and reading record home so tbh her reading record is almost bare

Literate parents can help their children gain skills. Whether they choose to or not is a sad fact of life.

I read in school as a parent. My own two DC are yr 4 and 1. Both are skilled readers.

I read with yr 5. I have one boy who has real difficulties perhaps a SpLD. But I can tell his parent is engaged as the record is signed and completed.

And another boy who possible has illiterate parents as I don't think he's been read to.
He doesn't follow plots or speech. Books and stories still seem unusual to him. But he can read albeit slowly. And he's not getting any practise at home either to help him improve.

Incidentally both boys are always delighted to see me and rush up with their book. They thoroughly enjoy their time with me proud but it's ten minutes a week.

I think our education system is letting them both down equally. They both need specialised input but there is none.

Ours only advises twice a week which I think is much too low, we do everyday and mostly more than once. As a child I was encouraged to read as much as I could. Some of the parents don't read at all with their children and the school is always sending notes home about reading at home. It's the same with PE kit, water bottles, wearing correct uniform etc, some just will not bother.

20 mins every day if you can. Or do what you can in yr1 but not if child too tired etc

I've been thinking about this . I read with my ds (4) every night and do other exercises with him that I print off as he is slightly behind with his reading .
My dsd goes to a private school and her book is always nearly signed by teachers and she hardly gets to read at home ( she does not live with us) so she is doing well because the teachers are able to give her the time to read with her , she was really struggling for her first year and a half there .
My kids go to state schools and 90% of the book is signed by me they very rarely get to read at school and I never get any feedback in the book as to how they have done just that they have read .
I know teachers are pushed and can't possibly give every child one on one as much as they would like to but I feel that I have to pick up the slack with reading as I'm worried that they won't be doing it at all otherwise .
I often wonder what happens if parents / guardians are not able to or can't read with their children .

Don't assume that the lack of teacher notes in reading diary means they don't read in school! It's depends on their policy.
Our school give us reading diaries for us to write notes in for the teacher to take into account / be aware of e.g. X read both books and needs a new one please, Z didn't do school book, but read these books a&b instead, Y enjoyed her reading book but wants to have a go at reading chapter books too. P read ok but struggled with these words... Etc etc
It is not our school policy to write notes to parents in reading logs unless there is a specific issue and then they would give you a call.
The reading logs are used different in different schools.
My children read to a teacher or TA most days if not all, but the log does not reflect this. This included 1:1 and guided reading groups.
Don't jump to assumptions

Reading, at least 4 times per week at home with a parent/carer. Guidance given at workshops organised by the school for parents at the beginning of the year. Parents advised to record in child's Learning Diary the book's name, number of pages read and short comments such as: "Johnny can read confidently the word caterpillar"... or, "Today Johnny used appropriate intonation for exclamation marks". Those hitting the '4 X reading/week target' were rewarded with a sticker or stamp in their learning diary. A nice written comment from the teacher was received by readers exceeding five times per week. DS's reading books were provided by the school and had suggestions on a sticky note glued for parents inside. Parents had to do less reading to their child as the level was going up, to the point of only listening their child's independent reading.

20 minutes a day with my Yr 1 child - there's a big sign outside their classroom telling us we HAVE to do this. He reads a mixture of his own books, school books and whatever else he finds interesting.

8yr in Yr 3 reads mostly to himself but out loud probably twice a week as well as at school once a week.

in our school at least three times per week, however my girls wouldn't even think about going to bed without a book so they read every day without fail.
they are all fluent readers (yr2 and yr4) and can read any book confidently so it's their wind down time and i only listen in sometimes not every night.
i also don't record every time in their reading record i just sign it on friday,saturday and sunday and just leave it for the week after.

Children are doing reading daily in my DS's class with TA's or reading volunteers. The class teacher also does reading + observations & assessments. The reading is usually logged on specific cards and have confidential notes and reading levels on them; therefore, reading volunteers are not allowed to handle or read them. There are separate folders provided by the school for the reading volunteers.

I read with Ds every day, and hecreads cwith a TA everyday - he is on red ORT and is 6 (he has a speech disorder which affects his reading)

Probably about 4 or 5 times a week (DD is in Yr2). It's difficult because although I have always read to her daily, she doesn't like reading to me much. Add that to the fact that she is often tired after school and wants to do her own thing and she has extra curricular activities as well.... It's hard to know what to do sometimes. I want to support her reading but at the same time, I don't want to force her to do it is she really doesn't want to.

Our school suggest we read as much as we can and seem happy with what I do with DD. I wouldn't be thrilled about a school telling me I HAD to do it X times a week, however. That sort of thinking makes lots of assumptions about parents that I don't think are helpful- what if parents don't speak English or don't feel confident about their own reading skills for example?

Ironically there is 1 child in the class who's 1st language is not english and her mum makes her read every night. She is now fluent in English (much better than her mother!) and one of the best readers!
I read some research by the DofE and it said that white british is the ethnic group that considers most strongly that education is the school's job. Other ethnic groups are more likely to see education as a cooperation between home and school.

Dd reads with teacher everyday now and with us about 4/5 times a week.

At previous school she read once a week/ fortnight with TA and there was no guidance.

The structure was welcomed and she has become a fantastic reader in year one.

Only1scoop, out of curiosity are these both state schools? How does the teacher have time to listen to all pupils every day? It sounds ideal if impractical.