School report - does this sound right?!

[93656188o]

Year one. Just got school report.

Phonics screening result - 39 out of 40 correct.

Phonics reading level - RWI, moved up to Grey after last assessment in May. (Pretty sure would've carried on moving up if they did another assessment since) Top set in his class.

For phonics and reading on the school report we have attainment and progress at 'expected' level.

Does this sound right?
I am a parent and I genuinely don't know, so not being controversial - just curious.

I suspect there is no exceeding in phonics - in fact I’m surprised they are separating this out. Isn’t it part of reading and writing? The expected in reading I would question with the teacher but again don’t fret if they push back. Could be a million reasons. He’s only in year 1 and you know he’s really good at reading.

My school doesn't use RWI so I can't comment on that specifically, but in my class I have two children who scored 39/40. One of them is a very greater depth reader who can answer just about any comprehension question while the other received 'not yet working towards' on the end of year reading paper because they can read but can't comprehend.

So, it may be that your DC is a good reader and can answer many, but not all comprehension questions meaning he is expected rather than greater depth.

My son got exceeding for reading from year 1 onwards, he was free reading pretty much with good comprehension. Not sure what he got in his phonics test. He's in year 4 now and everyone has pretty much caught up. Unless there are big issues it's not worth thinking about too much

@93656188o whats his reading speed like OP? Getting off Grey onto comprehension requires them to read an unseen text at between 90-100 words per minute. That’s what usually keeps our children at Grey.

In terms of what ‘exceeding’ looks like at that age, both of my DDs were exceeding at that age. Both of them were off the reading scheme and were ‘free readers’ by the middle of year 1, and both had full marks in the phonics screening. I don’t actually know what metrics were used to assess them at that point, however. One has just finished year 4 and one just finished year 3, and they’ve always been assessed as ‘exceeding’ in their end of year reports.

@UrsulaIsMyQueen they both sound like they're doing amazing!

@BridetoBee I'm not sure, to be perfectly honest.
I guess we have to wait till Sept now to find out.

Fair enough! Thank you

@thebookeatinggirl thank you so much for taking the time to explain - this is v helpful

Op I got year one reports for my twins today and both were reading " at greater depth " score. To tell you what this looks like, they have both been independently reading books like the worst witch and David Walliams and Mr Gum for many months now, in fact one of them since reception. The teacher has said their reading is exceptional. This isn't a brag btw, they're crap at maths and their handwriting is atrocious 🤣

@ladygindiva amazing! Thank you

Dd also finishing year 1. She was assessed at greater depth in reading, expected in phonics. She got 40/40 in the screening so I'm assuming that they are either expected or working towards in that.

DD's greater depth isn't quite at the level of PP, but she is reading early chapter books fluently, as well as any non-fiction, and her comprehension / inference skills etc are very good.

We have below expected, slightly below expected, good and exceeding. Im not worried at all. Its nice to see how different schools work. The teacher and head comments about improvement over the year meant more than anything x

This is my son 😄 He got the hang of phonics really quickly but it's taken until year 4 to convince his teacher that his comprehension is very good too.

Just to throw another comparison in.. my DC got 36/40 in the phonics screen, is yellow band in RWI (that is the top set for our year 1 - no child is higher, they move through the books at an excruciatingly slow speed) and he was given greater depth for reading in his report.

Tbf his reading is very good, he could read pretty much anything you give him and his comprehension is spot on, but he never chooses to read a book to himself!! He gets annoyed by the alien words in tests so expect those are they ones he failed during the screening.

But I take all of the gradings with a pinch of salt at this age!

@LilyMyOneAndOnly this alien word thing is a bloody joke in our school. As parents we try hard, then the kids want to talk and spell alien..we speak and spell properly x

At DCs' school, greater depth/exceeding is only given if they are comfortably a year ahead of expected levels. Only a few get it, and it tends to be the Autumn and Winter born IME.

The nonsense word part of the phonics test can be a nightmare for fluent readers and actually see them getting lower marks than less able DCs. They've long passed the need to sound out shorter words and their brains try to autocorrect the nonsense words (like we do when we see typos). My DCs were both exceeding for reading in yr1 (but decidedly average or below in other areas), and had to undergo training in the run up to the test to get them to slow down and insist they sounded out each word. Neither managed 100%.

Year 1 teacher here! Getting a high score in the phonics screening test is definitely not indicative of 'greater depth' as the majority of children score highly on it. I have a few children who have passed the phonics screening but have not been assessed at 'expected'.

The book band colour would indicate GD as you can only give children books at the highest band if they are fluent readers with excellent comprehension. It's possible that your child did an internal assessment such as an NFER test where it may have showed gaps in vocabulary or comprehension which would suggest working at the expected level rather than exceeding.

Hi op your little one is doing wonderfully. Grey by the end of yr1 is the top end of the expected range. Exceeding would be given to the rare child who is an independent free reader of more complex chapter books.

The 13 Story Tree House series are a nice set to build up to this level. They have the feel of a chapter book but have lots of images and kids love the silliness.

At this stage practice really is key, the best way to develop that is for the child to love what they are reading.

It's a competent way to learn phonics but it does suck the joy out of reading

I should also say that at DDs (GD for reading) school they don't do any sort of reading band system. They have the phonics scheme books (v. basic and dull!) and when they move past that, they can read what they want. Not sure how that fits with a consistent / clear assessment of their reading ability!

Blame the government, not the school. They're the ones who insist on the Y1 phonics check and inclusion of alien words!

But then the report would be not showing the facts. If a child is below expectations and the rest is meeting expectations. It may appear that he she is a weak performer. Whereas if the report shows that he is also exceeding at 1-2 subject, it gives indication that he is not a bad performer at all. It shows e.g. that this is a quantitative mind and not an artist and so on. That helps with further choices

@user1471541220
Thank you - never heard of NEFR before. Very helpful to know.

Thank you for that.
It just goes to show how different schools are even when they're using the same phonics system with the same ready-made assessment sheets etc.
Makes me realise unless I compare his report to someone from his year and his reading set