Reception child reading at Year 2 level - what to expect from school

[ProcrastinatorsAnonymous]

DS in Reception at good state primary is reading well above his expected level - on around Oxford level 8 / Purple - which I think is more like Year 2? He's in the top phonics set, but the books he brings home are still way below the level he's capable of and aren't stretching him. I realise he is 1 of 30 in a class, but what is reasonable for us to expect from the school in terms of meeting his needs and stretching him? We obviously read with him and to him loads at home, but I'm hoping school can also do more... I would be interested to hear what happens in this situation at other schools...? Thanks!

I don’t think he will be at all unusual in school with this level of reading. Honestly it’s the absolute easiest thing for you to support at this age and will get easier once he’s a free reader. How is he on the high-frequency words and spellings? What books are you reading to him and what is he reading to himself? I have five children and each year has a few early readers.

What steps would you like the school to take? He’s one in a class of c30 with possibly a TA or share of one (until they are made redundant due to the budget cuts).

What books is he enjoying at the moment?

i read chapter books for fun when I started school

my first school report said ‘HerrenaHarridan can read and write her name legibly’
when she compared with her friends she discovered they all said the same thing!

Despite easily being able to prove comprehension they refused to let me off the reading scheme until other kids started aging out of it.

i have a pathological hatred for the oxford reading tree as a result

I still don’t understand why they would t just let me free read from the start.

@Parker231 In an ideal world, I would hope that an adult at school would listen to him read at his level a couple of times a week and maybe do some stretch spelling activities. But I realise they simply might not have the resources to do that, so I’m trying to find info on what other schools do to gauge what might be a reasonable expectation.

My DS3 was like this with reading. There are lots of books you can give him to read, classics tend to have a high reading age but are age appropriate. Try E Nesbit or C S Lewis for example.

As a matter of interest his writing never caught up with his reading and I wish I’d concentrated on it more.

Up until this spring I was a governor of a primary school - highly rated - central London - no one got 1:1 reading time as there are no resources - most of the TA’s have left or been made redundant.

One of mine could read fluently before he started Reception (August b'day, so just turned 4). School was fantastic. They took him off the reading scheme immediately and he had a mixture of books from the school library and books from home (disclaimer: I have the equivalent of a huge library at home). Perhaps even more importantly, they also worked with him on the things that he found harder than the 'academic' things - for him, this was the social side of school. His school immediately recognised this and supported him in developing these other skills, which he found much harder than reading/writing/Maths/comprehension/logic. They were absolutely fantastic - we had daily conversations about how things were going. The same child is now 21 and is still an obsessive reader.

My others were less keen and had less attention

I don't know if I should have included a second disclaimer, namely that my DC were at independent schools with small classes (a teacher and TA for 8 children).

My eldest finished the reading scheme midway through reception and moved on to the accelerated reader programme. I didn’t really expect school to do anything; the books she came home with were frequently below her actual level, but it wasn’t an issue as she was racing through them and just reading what she wanted at home anyway.
She’s 9 now with a reading age of 15 apparently so it didn’t cause her any issues having easy reading material in reception. It really doesn’t matter. As long as your child is reading books they enjoy at home, they’ll continue to progress.

Reception teacher here. I would be delighted if your DS was in my class. Please make sure your child's teacher actually knows what level books they are reading at home? Do they have a reading assessment they use at school? We use a reading assessment to book band the children and you keep going and going until they make errors etc so we would clearly be able to pitch an accurate reading level for a child. I've had many children excel at reading and the biggest area of weakness is normally comprehension (especially inference style questions). We for sure at my school would be pushing them/letting them join in with Y1/2 phonics etc. I have a class of 31 reception currently. I wouldn't be able to 'spare' one to one with a TA as they have to focus on the children that aren't reading at home/struggling etc but for sure I would be reading with DS as part of a group and then keeping him behind after for a little extra boost. One thing I would suggest is make sure your DS reads a wide genre of books at home fiction, non fiction, poetry, comics etc. Enjoy and happy reading!

I think the more able readers in DS's class did guided reading in small groups.

Does your son bring home a reading record that you have to fill in and sign? If so, get some of purple/gold/turquoise ORT books from the library and use those instead - write what you are doing in the reading record and ask if your child can be moved to a more challenging stage as you can see he can cope with the books you have at home.

Yes.

It's impossible for a lone teacher of 30 children to be able to provide the same.

In an ideal world, I would hope that an adult at school would listen to him read at his level a couple of times a week and maybe do some stretch spelling activities.

How much time do you think staff have? A few times a week?! Even those struggling the most may only get to read to an adult 1:1 once a week.
30 children x 10 mins = 5 hours which is pretty much a full day listening to back to back readers.
My son, who is a good reader but not amazing (a year ahead - lime+ by end of year 1) is listened to in a group once every few weeks....he's at an outstanding school and went to school only recognising the letters in his 3 letter name. I'm a teacher and don't believe in teaching reading before school as them being so far ahead is of no real help as it just means they are bored.

Dd was independently reading faraway tree type books at the end of reception but only on yellow band. Teachers were adamant she had to work through the phonics for each level before moving her on and also so they can do the phonics screening in yr1. She’s in yr2 now and moved on a little but is still following the expected levels, not stretched and quite bored. We read a lot of other books instead, she loves writing stories as well. Her teacher does push her with spellings though, she is way ahead there. It’s tricky, her brother is a year above and way behind in reading but her sister is in yr1 and experiencing the same.

Could not agree more with this. Comprehension is the key. Ask questions and really talk about the content of the books, because those mental and verbal reasoning skills are so valuable going forward.

They wouldn't do that
It isnt considered current good practice

Enjoy

www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-reading-framework-teaching-the-foundations-of-literacy

Your expectations are ridiculous. They do not have the time to 'stretch' and tutor your child. Read with him at home. Let him enjoy learning and playing with his friends.

Just let him read and enjoy books.
Once they can read well, it honestly doesn’t matter which kids read early/late. You’d never meet another adult and say ‘ooooh you’re reading that newspaper/Facebook post brilliantly, I bet you were on purple level books in nursery’

Honestly let him read whatever at home and take him to the library (which you probably do) he is still so young don't stress and let the school do the teaching. My 3 were like this the oldest was ready the Harry Potter books at age 8 (I hated them 😳). Now my older 2 are at uni and youngest just started A levels. Just enjoy your child as it goes in a blink of an eye then the real worry starts 😉

DS was reading fluently by the time he started school at 4 years and 1 month. The deputy head heard him read, and said she’d not met a child who could read like him in her 25 years of teaching. I have a video of him I took at 2.5 years old of him breaking words into sections and working them out. He had (and still has) an excellent memory and I think he saw words like pictures.

He’s 8 now and while still a ‘clever’ child and in all the top groups, he’s a very lazy reader. His teacher said last week at parents’ evening that he rushes reading, and doesn’t always take in the detail. His writing is OK, as he tends to write as little as he can get away with. He loves fact books and encyclopaedias as opposed to fiction.

They all level out in the end.

DD is in year 1, was reading early reader chapter books before starting school, and hasn't been stretched at all. She is in the top guided reading group for her year but that's well below her level. I don't actually mind the reading books being easy, but they also restrict what she's allowed to get out the school library to picture books rather than chapter books based on her book band which is annoying.

Other than that, we do our own thing at home using mostly library books. I buy the CGP reading comprehension books and we do those once a week to tick off covering school style comprehension questions.

I'm an eyfs teacher, I'd say the same as others about comprehension and expression etc. But I'd add that I would focus on helping your child become a fluent reader and beyond year 2 level phonics books this comes from "real" books. Go to Waterstones and pick a range of books and encourage reading for pleasure. Does your child choose to read? Or do they see it as a job?

Unfortunately we don't have much time to read with children due to budget not allowing extra staff. We have reading volunteers a couple of times a w

A week but mainly years 3 upward.
R-2 have 'daily' readers who need extra support and everyone else gets to read once a week. Would love to be able to do more reading.
Book levels at my school are set via a phonics test.

Sorry I pressed send too early on my last post.