Able 6 year old reader not being challenged

[bluesky45]

My 6 year old (year 1) has finished his phonics scheme at school. They have now put him on orange band books, biff, chip and kipper from around 25 years ago, the books are honestly so tatty! Such a contrast to his phonics scheme books which were literally brand new!
He is reading these books with ease, they present no challenge. He reads the book each night and can answer comprehension questions on the book. Sometimes we stop part way through and I ask him prediction based questions or inference etc.
At home, he reads more challenging books and he has expressed that he finds biff, chip and kipper books boring. I have tested his reading age (I am a primary teacher so used reading age tests we use at my own school). It suggests his word reading age is 9 and his comprehension age is 11.
What should I be expecting from the school in order to push him? He is working his way through the book band, reading every single book on the level before he moves up which I don't think is necessary when he finds the books easy.
His teacher has suggested sending home 2 books at a time (hasn't materialised) and sending home comprehension questions to answer (again, hasn't materialised) but I feel the books themselves don't offer any challenge or interest to him.
Where do I go from here in asking the school to challenge him? Thanks for any advice!

I really can't see the issue. He reads the easy book and then reads however long from another more challenging book. Giving him higher books from the reading scheme will accomplish what? How will this be different from you choosing books you think he will enjoy from the library? It sounds like you are making a fuss for no real reason.

We are having a similar problem.

Simply don’t bother with the school books. Write down a different book every day in the diary instead. “Bob read a chapter of the Famous Five.” Etc.

It’s not compulsory.

The issue can be that the older scheme books are just not right for a 6 year old because they expect different knowledge and interests - I say this from having very much been there ourselves. There are some good book schemes designed for advanced readers - so with the right content for a Yr 1 but more complex sentences - but this is so long ago that I can't remember their name. But they were the answer for us, and then we just wrote other things in the reading diary and then we had to move school because it all went wrong...

Why would you wish to "push" him?
My DD was getting basic readers from school with all their crass nonsense but reading Wind in the Willows" at home.
Just find good books to read at home and let the school stuff wash by. He does not need pushing ... he needs to just enjoy reading. If you make great books available to him at home he will "push" himself by exploring them all. He is getting other things from school too. The books that come home do not matter.

@BlueIgIoo yes, I've tried this. The teacher is very reluctant to move him up. I've tried catching the teacher on the door on the day that I do pick up but it's never a great time, I've tried a message in his reading diary and I've tried a dojo message but she says they will do things that never happen.

Just don’t read the school books. I used to write in the reading diary LittleGame didn’t like this book so read x instead. No one ever read the reading diary so it didn’t matter anyway.

Unfortunately I can't say he has read the book if he hasn't read the book because DS doesn't lie so I need to be honest with the teacher because he will tell them straight!

Op, can you tell me what you used to test your child's reading age and comprehension? Is it something I could access? I would just really like to know as I think my ds is ahead, but his older sister is dyslexic and a bit behind so I'm not 100% sure.

Ds is still on phonics books as school don't move them on until yr3. His teacher has recognised the issue and sometimes gives him an extra book. We get things from the library too but similarly to you I wish school were moving things along just so it's not boring for him.

You are a teacher.
You know very well that adapting to the keel of a child years ahead of their leers is hard, if not impossible.
You also know they need to validate each step so he will have to go through all the stages.

Just read more difficult books at home and wiz through the school ones if he is finding them that easy.
And Biff and Chip are boring anyway regardless of the reading level….

Why not work on expression or on finding something he enjoys? Maybe he might prefer non fiction. If enjoyment is the issue there is so much you can do. Read to him. Model fluency and expression. Just having a different reading scheme will not be the answer. I am also puzzled as to why you are using reading tests to prove his reading age.

Surprisingly, his reading diary is checked every day. Unfortunately, nobody hears his read at school. I think he was heard 3 times in reception and once, possibly twice so far in year 1. Obviously I expect he is heard during guided reading etc but this is hearing him read individually and recorded in his reading record.

Btw you’ll get better results if he is reading in the morning rather than in the evenings.

Whenever I thought my dd was finding a book band too easy I just put a note in her reading record or mentioned it to the teacher. They would have a quick check and agree and move her up. No drama.

We had the same issue with DD. She was told she couldn't skip stages, she had to learn properly or she'd never be able to read. She was reading and understanding novels!
We used to just write in her log what she had read at home, there was no way I could get her to "waste her time" on them ... she then had to stay in at break to read the books she was meant to have read 🙄

Just tell them he's finding the school books dull but he is reading books of his choice for 20 mins a day/however long he's supposed to be reading for. You are a teacher, surely you know how to deal with this? Just let him choose the books he wants. It really doesn't matter what books the school sends home - if they are that easy he can read them quickly. Or not at all, so long as he's reading something. You could raise it with the teacher, but why bother? He's your child, do what you think is best for him. It doesn't matter where his books come from, school or somewhere else.

@AttillaThePlum yes, we had to explain why a horse a cart would be going door to door, what drunk was, how a horse eating rotten apples made him drunk and why this was supposed to be funny! It was just a context that ds had no idea about! It certainly felt rather dated to me!

DD1 was similar at the end of reception/beginning of year 1. We did reading chest for a while which worked well but was expensive so I cancelled it to save money. I didn’t want to be ‘that parent’ but luckily DD told her teacher the books were too easy and he let her go to year 2 to choose books from a higher level.

Why would it be better if he is read with individually at school? Surely that can be done at home. Guided reading will be a better use of the teacher's and students time.

Some schools are like this. DS has been on orange band since the start of year 1 (currently in year 2). Hasn’t been moved up since. Even came home with a no-words lilac band book at one point. He’s reading white band at home.

I just ignore the school books, and write his library books in the record. He’s reading 2-3 books a week, and we get him to read things around him (like magazines, signs, instructions) to stretch him.

@cansu I used the reading tests purely because I was analysing the data at home and he asked what work I was doing, it went from there.

Re enjoying reading.

My dcs never enjoyed reading until they reached a stage where they could read complex stories in their own.
Before that, the stories were too simple so never caught their interest.

So I just carried in reading books to them. Every night until they were about 9 (?)yo. They learnt to enjoy books. They learnt to enjoy reading. And when they were comfortable reading in their own, they did it (usually with books aimed to ‘older’ children).

Then don't read them ... just tick the record and leave him to enjoy the books he likes. We did this ... no problem. None at all. DD just continued to enjoy her reading. Loads of parents do this all the time.
As you will know only too well teachers have enough to do without parents putting on extra pressure.

@daffodilandtulip yes, this is what I worry about. DS hates to be in trouble or do the wrong thing. If his teacher has told him to read the book, he will read the book!
Unfortunately he finds school so tiring/overstimulating that he doesn't have time/energy to spend an awful lot of time reading at home. Once he has had chance to unwind and we have had dinner then we have done the school book, he is ready for bed! I need his school books to be challenging because he will read the school books because he's told to by his teacher.

See, I would use that for a far more interesting discussion about social history. DS and I have just been watching some YouTube clips about the risks of coal mining, he had loads of questions and it was a really interesting sidetrack.

@PeakABoocha yes, we read more challenging books to him every night at bedtime and have no intention to stop that any time soon! Luckily, he loves books. He just doesn't love reading himself. Possibly a very similar situation to what you describe where the books he's able to read are not complex enough so he finds his own reading boring.