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 just don't bother my DD with the books. Same with the homework she is meant to do, she reads it all perfectly on the first go.

Instead she just reads a lot at home, at least an hour a day in both English and my native language. I'm not ruining her love for reading just so I can tick some boxes.

Ugh, that is annoying.
It's hard to know the best way to approach without being 'that parent', but they really shouldn't be plodding through every book of a level if he's reading fluently and comprehending well. As you know!
Is he heard read by the teacher or a TA? Some less confident or experienced staff are less likely to see when he needs moving up?
If all else fails I'd honestly rebel like pps have suggested, drop to maybe reading the scheme book once a week and buy some cheaply. Or just get books from the library. As you're a teacher you know the phonic system well enough to just say 'OK you won't have learnt these graphemes yet but 'ough' in this word makes an u-f sound' or whatever.

Don't let them put him off reading! My Y2 boy is insisting on reading a chapter book at night after he reads to me. He's not a naturally gifted reader (his older sis was) and didn't start blending sounds til the end of reception but thanks to sensitive school staff not putting him off and moving him on at the right time, he loves reading. Half the words he's reading to himself are probably wrong but he gets the gist and feels so grown up!

@Mischance yes, teachers have plenty to do. But I for one go out of my way to answer parents queries and help them to support their child at home. Frankly, if a parent wants to help their child then please do ask me for advice because it's such a huge help when parents are supportive. What I am asking for is not personalised lessons taught 1:1 or for him to be heard reading every day in school. I'm asking for him to be moved up a book band. It's not exactly a big ask that's going to take the teacher hours of time. It's a 5min job, if that, to hear him read 2 pages, say "yes this book is too easy" and say now you are on purple level or whatever. I spend significantly longer on sorting issues that parents bring to me regarding their child's learning at home and providing the right resources for them.

I agree and I'm normally the first to say 'deal with this yourself, teachers have enough to do'!
Some parents are constantly pestering for children to be moved up when the fluency or understanding just isn't there. You're not that parent.

I wonder if the teacher is hearing him read during guided reading and seeing a different picture than you see. You say he hates reading, I wonder if that is affecting him when he read in class?

Does she agree he is reading above what she is setting him?

OP I get it but have no answers other than to fib that he has read them. Mine were not as able readers but absolutely loathed most of the (ancient) school reading books (justifiably so they were mainly boring). Once they had ploughed through the school book each night they were so fed up they didn't want to engage with reading anything else. The school insisted they read every book in the band before moving up so that they were used to a variety of texts 🙄. Honestly I swear it put my first two completely off reading.

@napody yes, I certainly feel like "that parent!" The issue is DS is such a 'good boy' that he knows he should read every day and they get rewarded at school for reading their book that he always wants to do it. If his teacher tells him to do something, he's going to do it!
I think I just need to speak to the teacher and find out their reasoning for keeping him at the level he is at. I just feel like I'm making myself 'that parent' like you say!

By year 2 we provided dd with books, she was reading standard kids books like Charlie and the chocolate factory, famous five etc and the school were fine with it.

@hitherandhither he doesn't hate reading, he just doesn't love it. He wouldn't choose to pick up a book, he would rather draw or build Lego. But he reads with lovely expression, particularly if it's an interesting book!

@Holidaynovice ugh, it's awful. It is not good practice to read every book in a band. It's very frustrating that some schools are still doing this! I feel your frustration!

Good luck! Is there a parents eve coming up? I'd probably do it then if so. And sometimes a parents evening prompts some of the more laissez faire teachers to hear each child and check they're on the right level before they have lots of parents questioning them. So... it might even resolve itself before then!

@Winifredduck apologies, I missed your earlier post. Some of those books we already have on our bookshelf. Others I will look into to see if they look like his interests. Thank you for the recommendations

OP maybe normal schooling isn't for your DS?

This is what happens in school. You can supply extra reading at home and just get on with it. Or if you're not happy consider home education which is what I ended up doing for other reasons.

FWIW my DS was a slow reader and had undiagnosed dyslexia and other SEN he's still now applying for Oxford in year 13 in a humanities subject.

There is zero point moaning about it in an education system set up to suit the many.

Email school, ask for a meeting.

Apologies, I seem to have missed a while chuck on replies! @Smartiepants79 yes, I'm surprised too! They haven't given a reason. Tbh I do think I need to go back to the teacher and I would not have given a response like that myself but I feel like I'm being 'that parent' where they see me coming and think oh what now! 😂 But I need to get a proper answer out of her. I rarely see the teacher which is the problem because I send a message in his reading record and then I feel I get fobbed off with a half arsed reply which doesn't really solve the matter.

@Fifireee I'm not asking them to spend any money on him, they will already have more challenging books above orange band in school. I just want them to let him bring them home for a night or 2! What part of that uses their budget? And don't worry, I'm well aware of how stretched budgets are, I've had a discussion with my class about their use of pencils today! That's how stretched we are. I can still send them all home with an appropriate book without it costing anything.

Ask for a one to one meeting with the teacher. We had this too and it wasn't until I went in and actually talked to a human that anything was done to address it.

But is that what the teacher is experiencing too? Does he read with lovely expression when she asks him to read?

@napody last year there was a parent's evening in Nov so hopefully it won't be too long away. Haven't got a date yet though!

@llifeturnsonadime yes, I'm not sure what the answer is though when the only options available to us are normal school as you say, or home school or private school, neither of which would be financially viable for our family.

@MidnightOnceMore yes, this is what I think will be the only solution here

I was similar at school - not sure what the technical term is but a very very early reader and also I speed read (a chick lit novel takes me around 45 mins to an hour)

They effectively gave up at school and let me read my own books. The biggest help was my parents who never restricted my reading, and the library who gave me a teenage ticket early then an adult one. I read everything from the paper to my mums magazines to cereal boxes in desperation! It caused/causes a lot of problems for me from being accused of lying by a teacher and told to read something properly to people at work questioning I haven't read something

Nobody taught me to read but my parents read to me from birth and by age 4 I could manage Enid blyton etc

The trickiest bit at school was when they said read page 1-3 when you've already read the whole damn book. Twice

Agree with him that you will say he read the book, sign or whatever to say he has and he can just sight read it when necessary.

Explain that this way you and he can read books that are a lot more fun. It will soon dawn on him that teachers are not always right - for example making him read these godawful books.

My DM failed to get the school allow me not to complete the reading scheme, but did persuade me to lie about it. Read a huge amount of awesome books at home, skipped 99% of the reading scheme and just read everything for the first time at school.

@BonjourCrisette glad to hear it got resolved. Hopefully a face to face meeting will sort it for us too!

Well the obvious answer is let the teacher do their job, provide extra material at home and see what happens.

FWIW the early readers are not always the ones who do best later on from what I've seen.