Book band colour adjustment

[Paddingtonthebear]

Our school uses different reading schemes. My DD has come home with some ORT Level 9 and Level 10 books which have “Band white” and “band gold” printed on them but school have put purple stickers on them and describe them as purple band.

Is this usual with ORT? Are some of them considered a lower band that the national book bands? She has also been given two Rigby star books that are purple and gold banded.

Lots of schools have tweaked the book banding system to suit their needs for a variety of issues - ours are trying to find an alternative to gold at the moment because the kids keep muddling those up with orange with the stickers we use. It really doesn't matter.

Oh right. It thought schools were supposed to follow the national book banding system

So it’s a bit pointless really, if schools are rebanding some of their books then what our school would consider one level is completely different to what another school would consider.

Sorry I don’t mean they are using different colour stickers I mean they are saying they think an ORT stage 9 book isn’t white as it says on the book (or gold) but purple which is a whole level below

No, it's probably because like most schools they use a range of reading materials and not just ORT. All different books will have colours, but not the same. So they'll put a purple sticker on all the books of the same level. Then a blue sticker on all the books at another level and so on

There isn't any expectation for schools to use a particular system. We don't use books banding at all. The system relates to whole language criteria so doesn't fit with current teaching methods.
Publishers used there own system prior to the book banding system being devised so there is often a mismatch.

Yes, a child might be lime in one school and white in another. At another they might be in-house red stripey band. It doesn't matter except to competitive parents. Bands only last until Y2 or so but they're just the first stage. Reading and comprehension carry right through primary, without bands.

It's the same in other stuff. Gym badges and swimming levels don't seem to be completely standard between different clubs either - the "tasks" are the same on paper but they're implemented differently. It doesn't much matter, the point is that it gives a framework for the key skills to be taught in a progressive structure, and by the end they can basically all read/swim/do some funky gym moves.