"DS was able to guess some of the words from the pictures"

[drspouse]

Comment back on DS reading record.
He is massively struggling with GPCs that school say he knows but all the books he comes home with have maybe 1 or 2 of the things he can't do plus loads of much harder words (e.g. adventure, science).
I decided not to bother reading school books with him and have got one of the ORT book packs.
I will tell them I'm doing this but given that we forbid him from guessing what do I say to this comment?
He's in Y2 and on band 5, he can decode but struggles with any alternative spellings or split digraphs.

What reading scheme are they?

I think the OP said he just scraped a pass though happy. I suspect that’s entirely consistent with a child who has no major underlying issue with blending single syllable words but who has some significant gaps in code knowledge when it comes to digraphs and alternative spellings.

Interesting.
I can read things without all the letters, you know the ones you see where it says if you can read this .......
Anyhow I can always read them even when virtually every word has a letter of more missing.
I can also do only connect where all the vowels are missing.
Some people can read like this so obviously I ( and many others) do not only read using phonics or we would not be able to do this.

OP, if you are such an expert then forget what school is doing, and teach him yourself.
It is impossible to read purely by applying synthetic phonics. There are myriad words that are not phnically plausible, other strategies have to be employed alongside phonics, including whole word recognition of common exception words. There is a massive difference between a child making a plausible attempt at a whole word, and one that just randomly guesses because they have no idea.
Unfortunately, your demeanour towards others who dare to disagree with your opinion, and believe me it is only an opinion, has a negative impact on your credibility. I think you should seriously consider home tutoring your child because clearly no school isn't ever going to come up to your impossibly unrealistic standards.

"It is impossible to read purely by applying synthetic phonics " no you need phonics and oral comprehension
"There are myriad words that are not phnically plausible" such as? I'm afraid you're wrong. Written words are visual representations of spoken words and as such are phonetical or they wouldn't be words.

There are myriad words that are not phnically plausible, other strategies have to be employed alongside phonics, including whole word recognition of common exception words.

For the millionth time, the terms common exception words/tricky words/red words are NOT synonyms for phonically implausible and were never intended to be. At all. Ever.

Repeating this misinformation is irresponsible and shows a huge lack of phonics knowledge.

It certainly sounds that way Rafa

Soontobe60, her views are not merely opinion but are those of the statutory national curriculum, and since all state schools are legally obliged to stick to it then I’d say she has a point.

no school isn't ever going to come up to your impossibly unrealistic standards.

Many schools which are serious about teaching reading, and invested at the appropriate time in good phonics reading schemes, meet the OP''s expectation that reading is taught in line with the statutory national curriculum very well...

Unfortunately, there are some schools which have said 'well, what we've always done has worked fine, we don't really understand about all these alternative graphemes thing so we'll teach very basic phonics then get on with doing what we have always done. There are some children who just don't get reading, there's no point in worrying too much about them'.

"because clearly no school isn't ever going to come up to your impossibly unrealistic standards." The OPs "impossibly unrealistic standards" are the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum so if the school is t coming up the standards they are breaking the law.

In a way I think it shows how well the check does it’s job, mrz.

What reading scheme are they?
I'm not sure but they are Australian mainly.
Some of them have a story on a fold out panel with pictures on the front, and then the same pictures on the back with no words (I think to retell the story).
Not sure that gives much of a clue!

Rafals that sounds like DS.
He is firm on all the sounds he learned in Reception, has some grasp of a few learned in Y1. If it's a word he knows all the sounds in, he can now often read without actually sounding each part.
But after that he's just floundering.

Are the PM readers Australian?

I think PM originated in New Zealand but are used widely in Australia obviously based on Reading Recovery and require the reader to guess

I'll wait till we get another one and check. We got a Traditional Tales today.

eBay or similar can be a good cheap source of different phonics sets if you are reasonably patient and have a list of things you are looking out for.

If posters here gave you some series to look out for, then you could gradually build your collection relatively cheaply?

School I used to work in - small, rural, poorly funded - used ebay, freecycle and Book people very heavily to build up their phonics book stock - and were therefore able to get a LOT of books for the original money given for this purpose and get rid of all their non-phonic book stock.

That would be good can't.
We got the Read At Home set from eBay but I'm not sure what else would be at the same level (5/blue)

OP have a look at the Toe by Toe reading manual it could be useful to you.

Also, I know it sounds trivial but have you had his eyes checked? A lot of children with undiagnosed eye problems have trouble with or dislike reading because they see the words moving or jumping and so they have trouble processing and get frustrated.

One other piece of advice would be to back off for a few days or so and buy some books that are based on his favorite things/hobbies to try to foster a more positive relationship with reading

He did OK in his eye test in Reception; we had a total break over Christmas and he was happy doing the Read At Home pack book the last couple of days. We always take it gradually and he's very pleased when he works out a new word.

Look at oxford owl online

Lots of free books

It may not be helpful, but looking at the Reading Chest website:

such as here

You can filter books from different schemes by book band, and then look inside them. If what you see matches what you think your DS could cope with, then you could add that book scheme to your 'wish list'. If not, you could either change the band or look at another scheme.

Their packages aren't cheap but a good value way of getting lots of different books for a month or two until you can find which schemes work well for you?

(Apologies if you have already said you've used Reading Chest)

We did try Reading Chest but he doesn't really read fast enough! I'd forgotten about Oxford Owl, thanks - he liked it when we tried before.

Just to echo the views of experts like mrz and Feenie, you are absolutely right to be focusing on the phonics drspouse. And you are right to be feeling frustrated by the school. They should not be praising or encouraging guessing.

I would continue with your strategy of teaching him the phonics knowledge that he needs at home. You don't necessarily need lots of expensive phonics books, if you know what GPCs he is secure in, you can make up your own sentences. Get a cheap whiteboard (Or laminated plain paper) and write a 'secret message' every night which he can see in the morning. It can be silly ('Can a kangaroo paint a red balloon?') Or tell him something about the day ('Today we will visit Gran and we might have tea at her house') but obviously think carefully about making the words decodable with his current knowledge, or exception words that he is already familiar with. Make it exciting for him to read the message each morning. And/or secret notes and messages around the house, or get Nan or an Uncle to send letters through the post (with your input about the words that he can read or is practising).

I would also make a point of collecting and displaying 'word families' for the particular sounds you are focusing on, so if you are doing 'ea' list words like eat, team, read, bead etc. Maybe write them on cards, spread them out on the carpet and ask him to bring you a certain word. Make up a sentence together and then swap out some of the words.

I would also recommend checking out the Sound Foundations website. here I have used Dancing Bears A very successfully with Year 2 children. It starts at a basic level -CVC words- but if your DS is a bit.reluctant to read, it might well do him.good to start at a lower level and be successful with it to boost his confidence.