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!

Just to add to this. Our yr 2 teacher also suggested that perhaps DD didn’t understand the meaning of the words despite being such a great reader. The issue was in fact that DD did not like the teacher (neither did the parents or the Head!) and when the teacher aggressively demanded better explanations of vocabulary meaning, DD would freeze and say “I don’t know” hoping that the teacher would leave her alone.

Not saying that’s the case with you of course Lucy, but OP it’s worth getting ready for a teacher to claim your child doesn’t know stuff - when actually the issue may be that your child is not thriving/comfortable at school. Hopefully you have found a better school than we did! Schools are very very reluctant to put your child’s real ability level on their records in lower years. What they want is their records to show that children arrived knowing nothing and left knowing loads. Children who arrive with a high level and leave knowing little more make Ofsted ask questions the school doesn’t want to answer.

Speaking as a teacher.A lot of children can read above the level and are good at decodng(breaking down the sounds to form words) However their comprehension needs to be worked on too! Understanding what they have read. You need both. Google 'The simple view of reading!' You will get some ideas as well.

i find it irritating when people muddle “reading” and “comprehension” they are different skills and should be considered as such.

DS was similar, he started reception as just turned 4 summer born and could read fluently. I put it down to first lock down when I was doing home schooling with DD who was then in year 1. I think he must have absorbed all her phonics work while he was a 3 year old pottering around the kitchen!

He's now in year 2 and I had a conversation with his teacher last week as she was aware he is still bringing home reading scheme books that he finds very simple, and she was concerned I wouldn't be happy with that. School would prefer for him to just carry on with them and really, that's ok with me. He reads them in the car on the way home from school on the day he gets them, sticks them in his book bag and we don't think about them until when we return them the next week.

Then at home he just gets on with reading whatever he likes. He tends to prefer non-fiction books anyway, he's a fact monster!! So he spends his time reading Horrible Histories, science books and atlases etc.

As others have said, I wouldn't push it too much, just let him read for pleasure at home. Concentrate on any weaker areas and make sure he's progressing in them.

If you’re short of ideas on chapter books for 4-7 year olds (I was when my now year 2 son was back in Reception), here are some that mine have enjoyed. Every time someone recommends a book for this age group, I jot it down on a growing list. The list is now double this length, but these are the ones they’ve read and enjoyed so far:

1. Rabbit and Bear series
2. Squishy McFluff series
3. Polly and the Puffin series
4. Claude series
5. Dixie O’Day series
6. Jasper and Scruff
7. (Narwhal and Jelly)
8. Hotel Flamingo series
9. Unipiggle series

10. Jonny Duddle’s Jolley Roger series 11. The Kitty series 12. Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam series 13. Mango and Bambang series 14. Teacup House 15. The Tindims 16. Hubble Bubble 17. Marshmallow Pie 18. Freddie’s Amazing Bakery 19. Rainbow Magic Fairy series 20. The Boy Who Grew Dragons series 21. The Enchanted Wood series 22. The Wishing Chair series 23. Dick King Smith’s Sophie series 24. Mummy Fairy and Me series 25. The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me 26. Esio Trot 27. Fluff the Farting Fish 28. Choosing Crumble 29. Aristotle 30. My Naughty Little Sister 31. Mouse and Mole 32. Frog and Toad 33. Amazing Esme 34. Stick and Fetch 35. The Magic Potions Shop series 36. Gobbolino 37. The Cat and the King 38. The Naughtiest Unicorn 39. Willow Valley 40. Billy and the Mini Monsters 41. Toto the Ninja Cat 42. Kevin (Biscuit Bandit; Great Escape; The Legend of Kevin) 43. Lucy’s Secret Reindeer 44. Michael Morpurgo’s The Snowman 45. Dragon Masters series 46. Captain Cat and the Treasure Map / Great Pirate Race 47. The Witch’s Dog 48. The Worst Witch series 49. Oliver Moon series 50. Isadora Moon series 51. Swashbuckle Lil 52. Mr Pattacake 53. Kingdom of Wrenly series 54. Dr Dolittle 55. Mrs Pepperpot 56. The Penguin who wanted to know 57. Wigglesbottom Primary series 58. Magic Tree house 59. The new Enchanted Wood book 60. Zoey and Sassafras series 61. Dragon Storm series 62. Dinosaur Cove series 63. A boy and a bear in a boat 64. The Never Girls 65. Sam Silver Undercover Pirate series 66. Nell and the Cave Bear 67. Horrid Henry 68. Big Sky mountain 69. Marvin and the Robot series 70. The Last Firehawk series 71. Mirabelle series 72. -storey Treehouse series 73. Beast Quest series 74. Sea Quest series 75. Secret explorers 76. Frogspell series

That’s amazing, thank you!

My DS is year 1 and an accomplished reader.

Unfortunately we don’t have any nearby libraries left and I therefore buy him way too many books - most of which are still too difficult and put away for the future (because I’m loath to buy something that might be too easy/inappropriate).

It’s difficult if you don’t have a library nearby. I’d definitely recommend using charity shops, as well as Facebook marketplace, Ebay etc to keep costs down. I buy far too many books, but I also max out our library cards and that definitely saves money.

My DD was similarly advanced as a reader when she started school. To be honest, it wasn’t much of a problem in Reception, as she quite enjoyed the short phonics sessions anyway, and her experienced teacher found little ways to challenge her without drawing attention to her too much. Also, the free play nature of reception meant that she could develop all the other important skills. She didn’t often read to an adult because they needed to concentrate on those that were behind, but her teacher would check in with her occasionally and challenge her comprehension/inference skills, and she didn’t hold her back in terms of book bands either: she was on ORT Brown (the level above Lime: Y3 level, I think) by May of reception. This was seven years ago though, and I think the phonics teaching might be a bit more restrictive these days.

We did occasionally have to ‘pull’ a book that was too emotionally charged for her actual age/maturity, but once we realised this was a risk, we were careful to check the books. We made a great deal of use out of the local libraries too, with library cards in two local authority areas, to maximise the opportunity.

I think you probably are expecting a little too much in terms of differentiation at school, but the great thing is that reading can easily be extended at home. You are probably not realising the little things the teacher is doing with your DS as well: we gradually realised from conversations with DD that her teacher was encouraging her to think of alternative words/phrases, challenging her spelling, punctuation and subject knowledge in various ways, mostly through day-to-day conversations in the classroom. Phonics sessions and 1:1 reading with a teacher are only a small part of the experience.

As for those saying that your DS isn’t so unusual, I’d be inclined to disagree. My DD was definitely a significant outlier throughout KS1. I wish she’d had a couple of similar children in her class of 30, but she didn’t – it’s just the luck of the draw. She still loved primary school though.

Above all, remember how lucky you are: your DS has such an advantage as he can acquire knowledge that the non-readers are missing out on, and he will have a confidence that won’t easily be dented. Keep encouraging him at home, and be thankful that he’s enjoying school.

To the original poster, if you want to give your child more “readers” as opposed to chapter books, the Oxford Alien Adventures series is great. Also, The Reading Chest is a great subscription service that sends reading books out to you on loan by post each month, especially good in the early stages of learning to read, when your child might still benefit from decodable readers (if he’s on purple already, though, you could probably jump straight to short illustrated chapter books at this point). The Usborne Young Reading series might also suit him.

@ReadingTips - What an amazing list. Thank you SO much!

@LetItGoToRuin - Thank you - that's really helpful. I'm a bit worried that he'll get bored or it will kill his love of reading, but hopefully we can keep things interesting and fun at home.

@Pigriver , reading is a life skill that brings both independent access to knowledge and pleasure. There is no downside in learning to read young. My DD (largely self taught) loved reading and once she could read from age 3 did so for pleasure all the time and is still one of her favourite things to do on her own.

op- school just gave my DD books at the correct level and extended her grammar and had her keep a log of new vocabulary. You should also read books to your child that they can enjoy but not read by themselves to extend their comprehension and vocabulary further.

My DD1 was like this. Her teacher asked to send her to a different year for phonics but wasn't allowed to. Instead the TA took the her and three others for more advanced phonics and writing a couple of times a week, it was still far too easy for her and one of the other kids though. Then covid came along and we home-schooled her at her level in English and maths and she excelled. She's in junior school now and being stretched in English by reading whatever she wants and putting more into her written work but maths is too easy.

Don’t forget that the purpose of learning to read is erm reading! So remember that he is living in a world surrounded by print, at school there will be far more opportunities for reading than are between the covers of a purple level reading book, so your child will be seeing and reading instructions, captions, labels, information texts, maths problems, written information on screens etc etc. and the same at home and in the general environment, encourage them to read shopping lists, recipes,tv listings, comics, poems, the back of the cornflake packet, information books, letters from Granny, directions ……the list is endless. Once children are exposed and comfortable with the power of reading the world is their oyster.

But please also remember that your child is a little child, who will I hope also enjoy being read to and that that experience and the cultural legacy of listening to traditional and non traditional stories, the enrichment of their vocabulary and understanding of how stories , poetry and information texts work is something they will carry for the rest of their life.