RWI Set 6 Blue in Reception- what will happen in Y1?

[Foxesandsquirrels]

A child that is currently in Reception, is on Read Write Inc Set ,6 so Blue book. I believe that's roughly equivalent to stage 7/8 in the Oxford Reading Tree. They attend RWI sets with the Y1/2 classes. It's very clear they'll finish the scheme quite soon and I'm wondering what'll happen to them once that's the case? It's so early to finish it. Their writing and spelling is also very much at that level. Where do they go? They'll be bored stiff in Y1 and most of the Y2 is so behind they'll be doing RWI still at least until end of Autumn term. They can't go into Y3 surely. How do you stretch a child like this? There is no Y1 or Y2 class that'll be a suitable level for them come Autumn term. It would have to be Y3.

It will depend on the school and you’d be best off asking the school. When I’ve taught strong readers in Y1, I’ve been happy for them to choose their own book whether that is a chapter book or a higher phase book and we’ve had a focus on comprehension and using a dictionary to understand the meaning of new words. My school doesn’t do RWI though.

I'm a visiting dyslexia teacher at the school. Never really seen a child like this before so I was curious what happens.

At DD school they become "free readers" whenever they finish the reading scheme regardless of if that is y1 or y6. They are still expected to read with an adult and answer comprehension questions on their chosen book.

Skipping years is not advised because they will be so behind in other areas of development, physical, emotional etc.

So I don't mean skip years altogether, just go to English with that particular year. RWI isn't just phonics so I'm confused how this child free reading would work. Who would even supervise him. This isn't a school filled with high achieving and early readers, genuinely most are very behind. There are Y3s still on the scheme.

I had this. I basically got pulled from lessons in year 2 and did separate work to everyone else. took my level 6 maths sat in year 2, read whatever I liked in the library (I remember turning over the second lord of the rings book by my bed before sleeping because the Nazgûl on the front of it scared me). The teacher worked really hard to keep me entertained. Then hit year 3 and the teacher (fairly, imo) didn’t want to basically create a new teaching plan for one child so I skipped years. They didn’t even wait until the end of the year so I went up mid year and predictably had absolutely zero friends for the rest of it.

I don’t think anyone checked my reading or comprehension again though once it was clear I could read anything with zero issues. It felt more like I was a show pony trotted out for the school, which I loved at the time but my poor mum dealing with me growing up when I believed I was super special.

like most gifted kids I burnt out in my teens and stopped going to school, but luckily was still bright enough to get a*s in my GCSEs and decent a-levels despite no revision and bad depression. I’m really lucky my mum never stopped fighting for me and kept dragging me through things and always holding space for me, so I’ve eventually pulled myself together and now earn really well in a complicated data analysis field which plays to my strengths and is always a challenge.

Wow. It sounds very much like this little kid. Glad your mum helped you. I do think this sort of this, such an extreme case, should be treated the same as it does when it's the opposite end of the scale. It's Sen .

There must be some year 2 children finish the scheme? If there are some current year 1's they will still be ks1 next year, so what do they do? The curriculum is now not about advancing forward in years but depth, but it could just be free reading time and free writing on a range of topics in that time, although checking they are still developing

I work on a big school with 120 children per year. Each year we have 5-10 children who complete RWI during reception. So being at blue at this stage is advanced but not exceptional.

Most schools run guided reading groups for those off the programme. Many Year 2s will have completed grey group and will be in the guided reading groups. Your child will most likely join (one of) these groups. They develop fluency and comprehension. The whole point of RWI is to stream so children aren't bored/confused.

I asked my dad's school this as she has now surpassed RWI (she can easily read chapter books and loves a Horrible Histories book before bed), for her they are putting her in a higher ability class in year 2 where they have children that should be in year 3 (her school splits, so she goes to a different school in year 3), they will have what is equivalent to year 3 classes, so instead of phonics it moves to grammar and proper English classes.
I'd ask the school, they've been great with my little girl and nicely encouraged her rather than holding her back.

Dd's school, not dad's school. Silly autocorrect!

Thats the point of RWI, its not year group specific, so children are in the right group for them regardless of age/class, then once they are off RWI its onto normal chapter books.

My DD is also on blue in reception year, and her phonics classes are mostly with year 2 kids.

I am a teacher who visits schools and one of the schools I go to has a boy like this although he’s year 3 now. His reading level was years higher than his chronological age. However, his comprehension wasn’t so although he could read any book infront of him, he couldn’t actually comprehend a lot of it. So maybe they would work on comprehension once the child has completed the phonics scheme

Yh he's actually reading and comprehending beyond this level. The only reason he's still in blue is due to his writing which is actually quite good but I suspect they're stalling moving him up as there's just no where for him to go aside from Y3. There are no in-between groups. All the kids who will be in Y2 in autumn term will still be working on RWI. This is a school in a very deprived area and most kids are unfortunately behind. I had a short session with him, not because he's dyslexic but because I was working with a child in his class and his teacher asked me to help as this child had completely different work and she had no TA that day.
He's exceptional overall, spelling, maths, reading. It was actually quite intriguing to watch.

RWI grey is still left to go after blue.

It is exceptional but not beyond a teacher’s ability to be able to challenge them within their peer cohort.

I really wish people would just read the whole thread.

My Yr1 daughter is ahead with her reading. Her decoding and comprehension were assessed as being similar to a Yr8 student (with the obvious caveat that she only has the life experience of a 6 year old and couldn't get much out of a book aimed at teens). She has been placed on the Accelerated Reader scheme and is allowed to choose books from the junior library - she's currently ploughing through the Narnia books. Her school has been great and I don't get the impression it has been vastly difficult for them.

I did read the whole thread. What are you objecting to me saying?

The school shouldn’t be holding him back from choosing more advanced reading books because of writing. I’m saying he can be challenged. One of the problems with RWI is that people end up not seeing the wood for the trees and try to follow it when it is not sensible to.

Out of interest, is your daughters school quite high achieving?

There are no current year ones off or nearly off the scheme? Is it a very small school?

I've already explained this. All the kids who will be in Y2 in Autumn 2023 will still be on RWI. There are no current Y1s past stage 4.

So a whole cohort working below year 1 ARE....?!

Yup. As I've already said upthread.

I asked if it was a small school, to judge my advice. Without an answer, I don't know how worried you should be, but if it's one form entry or bigger, then it is extremely concerning that a whole year group are this far behind. The chances that a group of 30 children are all incapable of reaching age related expectations due to learning difficulties or low ability is very low. It can't be put down to "deprived area" or "high needs cohort." Either the assessments are wrong, or the teaching is poor.

Sorry I actually don't know if I've understood you correctly. The highest Y1 group that'll be Y2 in Sept is currently on RWI orange. That's only slightly behind really. There's hope some will be on yellow soon so not too far behind. This particular child is in reception where almost all of their peers are on green or purple. My point is, there's no one this child can just latch onto and do his free reading with if that's the alternative. Who will supervise him. RWI is in smallish groups and isnt a quiet activity.

It's a 2 form entry school. There is an extremely high amount of SEN in a lot of the classes tbh, alongside it being a very deprived area. I don't think their teaching is bad, the behaviour of the kids definitely is. The fact this child is achieving so highly in a school like this makes me even more impressed/concerned.