Y2 reading level

[donotenter]

DD is level 8 (purple), I've looked at the Oxford Reading Tree website and understand she's towards the lower end of year 2 level. A friend's DC, also Y2, in another school is apparently a free reader.

To those who's DCs are a free reader can you tell me whether they've gone all the way up to level 20 (Y6 level) or lower?

I'm sure it depends on the school, but curious to know if it's common to be a free reader in Y2. Thanks.

'Free reader' isn't a great way to describe where a child is or isn't with reading.

Are they enjoying reading and making progress? Are they around or above 'expected' as according to the KS1 SATs (and if not, is the reason for this known and being adjusted for, or being investigated?). What has their teacher said about their reading skills and comprehension?

Some children pick up reading very quickly, some take longer. It's not a race, honestly.

Our school wouldn't allow any of the kids to go on their ability.

From yr2 could only go up a band every half term if they could manage it. Even the best readers.

So now come Yr3 DS comes home with his book that's well below his level. They still don't have any of the class including those 'exceeding' as free readers. I think it will be next year, those at the top will hit that point in the Autumn term.

I wouldn't worry too much about the banding for this reason. Plus I do think it's often a question of something clicking or finding the right book and then away they go reading rather than the slog of the scheme book.

As long as by the end of yr6 they are doing ok it's not a problem. It becomes more of an issue at high school if they can't read well enough for other subjects.

RedToothBrush, that must be very frustrating. I’m glad my DD went to our tiny village school - she had a reading age of 12 when she started reception, so the headmistress took her for one to one tuition and read Dickens and RL Stevenson with her.
DD would have mutinied if forced to plough through Janet and John or whatever! She did high school maths at primary as well - the city comprehensive sent their textbooks to the village for her.
Schools really need to be flexible - there is a very wide range in children the same age, from special needs to genius level, and one size definitely does not fit all.

We just humour it. DS reads what he wants at home.

He's progressed massively in a year as a result and was shying away from anything which wasn't very heavy of pictures still at the end of yr2.

The thing is to encourage reading at home and not rely on book band books alone. Cos this also allows kids to find what they love not what they have to read.

There were loads in his class who were still on purple at the start of the year. It wasn't unusual.

Free reading varies very much by school and the books that sit in the free reader box vary by year group as stories still need to be age appropriate.

DS1 left reception on blue and was put down to red at start of year 1. DS2 finds reading easy and is one of the top of his Y2 class and has been moved onto brown. He is reading the school books easily but they are focusing on expression as a key part of comprehension.

What matters is that children read as close to every day as you can manage this helps to build up stamina. DS1 in Y4 is finally finding that he enjoys reading Amd as a result is improving as he now wants to finish the story so puts in a bit more effort. All kids develop at their own rate especially at lower primary age so please don't compare too much. Maybe chat with the teacher to see if they think everything is on track?

My kids were always deemed free readers once level 10 was completed.

This seems totally ludicrous to me. You're either talking rubbish, following a different reading scheme or an extremely pushy school. My dd is just finishing reception and is reading orange (stage 6) books (although admittedly could easily be reading a couple of stages ahead) She's at quite a pushy school in which >90% of children are reading at greater depth by Y6. Her teacher has discretely but very clearly told me that she's easily the best reader in the class and that no other child is close to her. I believe the majority of children in her class are reading stage 3/4 books. My dd is now secure in knowing all her phonics sounds and would comfortably pass the end of year 1 phonics screen that (as the name suggests) most kids wouldn't be expected to pass until the end of Y1.

OP what's most important is that your child enjoys reading and playing with language and that they have plenty of access to engaging books so that they develop an independent love of books. Unless they're way behind I wouldn't stress too much about reading level. If you're keen for them to move up then have a think about whether anything other than fluency is holding her back? Does she read with inflection (ie reading dramatic parts like you'd expect the character to)? Does she understand inference? If you're concerned you're best to discuss it with her teacher really because (as demonstrated above) strangers on MN won't always have clue...

The national standard is that by the end of KS1 children are reading well enough to be able to read short novels. There are videos that exemplify this standard to help teachers assess correctly. So I should bloody well hope that most Y2 teachers are in the position of the pp, who isn’t ‘talking rubbish’ but teaching children to read as well as she is supposed to.

Yes by the end of KS1 not when they've barely even started it. My dd's school is very high performing and she's on stage 6 and as far as I know only she and one other child are at this stage yet. I atand by what I said. Even stage 6 books require phonics knowledge that aren't even covered as standard until Y2 and reading words by inference which is an advanced skill beyond phonics and are long so require stamina. There may be the odd child who can read at stage 7/8 level but most will be nowhere near this

The phonics issue is confusing….

My son is still in Reception and we are always being invited in to listen to their phonics lessons and the teacher focuses a lot on phonics when we have parents evening etc.

My son is at the end of reception and is reading the turquoise books. He can read the purple and gold book bands too but as he’s still in reception we’ve been told by the teacher that he cannot go any further than turquoise 🤷‍♀️

Fair enough - had missed the Reception bit. We’d have about six in an average Reception class. Some children work out the alphabetic code for themselves.

as he’s still in reception we’ve been told by the teacher that he cannot go any further than turquoise 🤷‍♀️

Just ludicrous.

My daughter is 6 and in year 1. She is a free reader. I’m not sure how it happened. She did have coloured banded books and then about a month ago they wrote free reader in her book log and she’s been bringing home books of her choice home. My eldest didn’t become a free reader until end of year 2.

I know!

He had to sit some kind of reading and comprehension test last week with his teacher, a Year 1 teacher and the Deputy Head before they would even authorise him to move up to the turquoise level.

It all seemed a bit OTT to me.

Tbh we just didn't bother making a fuss as it's pointless. You can encourage reading on your own terms by giving them books suitable for their level regardless of what they are given in school. And this is what's encouraged anyway.

As I say our school deliberately have held back a number of the kids. DS told us at the start of the year the highest level they would be allowed to go to.

I suspect part of this is because they don't have enough books to allow children to go to their ability. Plus certainly before yr2 SATs they don't want too many kids getting too high levels as it screws their progression scores for yr6! They want a certain number for exceeding and at expected to look good but they get the extra points for progression only in yr6. So a combination of lack of resources and playing the system is afoot.

They in fact put an remind out for certain colour books to be returned as they were particularly short on them recently.

It just leaves me with the firm belief that it's all a load of nonsense and it's far better as a parent to try and foster a love of reading of the books your child actually likes rather than worry about whether they are on the 'right' band anyway.

Tbh, given the book band books are to be read at home, we could easily just tick it off and school would be none the wiser anyway! What matters is that he CAN read it and we know he can.

DS2 (reception) is a good decoder and is reading out purple books at home but his comprehension is not at that level (he is only just 5) so I don't expect him to get put on that band when they level them at the start of y1. hoping for at least orange as it will be a lot easier to get him to actually read the books

I think we must go to the only school in the country where my children pick which books to bring home. They’ve never been on a “book band”. If the book is too
hard, I read it to them. If they can read it, they do. Yr2 son can read/understand everything, so I guess a free reader, but it’s never been mentioned.

When DS1 was in Y2, most kids were free readers by the end of the year. They stopped doing the book bands when they moved to Y3. DS2 is only reception and they do read write inc which is new to me so I have no idea what that will be like!

Don’t worry about what book band they are on. What’s more important is reading fluently, confidently and actually enjoying it. You’ve got plenty of time to build up to bigger books.

DS1 really struggled with reading and was still on level 1 when he went into Y1. He got greater depth for reading and spag in his Y6 SATS and is in top set in English at secondary. Still a reluctant reader though 🙄

My son Started Y1 on white and is now on grey. At his school they get a banded book and a free choice library book each week plus a class text. He started Rec knowing the 3 letters in his name.

I’m a teacher and purple to lime is ‘normal range’ with white being the goal. The SATs are at this level.we always have children below this.