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 don’t understand - is the school’s approach that kids have to read all the books in the band? That seems like madness: a waste of everyone’s time and the quickest way to make a child view school as boring and lose interest in learning/education.

@hitherandhither no idea, I get no feedback from her! Possibly he finds it difficult to read in a group or to an adult in authority like a teacher and therefore he doesn't show what he does at home. But I honestly don't know!

Lol, I’d forgotten about that one.

I was going to suggest you read the school book to him and then find him something pitched more at his level if he can’t/won’t do both. But if he’s going to dob you in that might not work.

I might be tempted to stop reading them and stop filling in the reading record. That might grab their attention.

My DM's other trick was to always say we had read 10 extra pages. Would that work?

@AnnaMagnani unfortunately I don't think I would be able to get him to fib! I bet reading that quickly comes in useful though, he is nowhere near that level anyway!

@lifeturnsonadime yes, often that is the case. I don't yet know how it will turn out with DS. All I know is that he developed his academic abilities very early. He may carry on being advanced in this area or he may slow down and fall more in line with the others in his class. Who knows at this stage? What I do know is that what he's currently being given is matching his current abilities.

@IdealisticCynic seems to be! Mad way to do it and sure to put loads of children off!

We didn't bother reading the school reading books much, youngest DD could read before starting school. Mine all love reading but dislike English at school as it sucks the joy out of books. Such a shame the curriculum does this as I did an English degree so wish it was more inspiring.

@RafaistheKingofClay yeah, it's taken some of the choice away from me as i know I wouldn't be able to get him to lie to the school! 😂 he's very honest which is usually great, but does have its pitfalls!

When I was that age I loved reading. Still do when I'm not mumsnetting 🙄

And some of my favourite memories from childhood is going to the library every week and getting new books. They were well above the level I was on at school.

I don't think being challenged reading at school will hold him back, certainly didn't hold me back. As many PPs have suggested let him read his own books at home.

If he doesn't want to read them as you've said he's too tired, then maybe he is at the correct level. Is he your first child?

I get that but you can provide the reading at a higher level so I'm not really sure I understand your gripe if I'm honest.

When my DC were in primary school they had undiagnosed SEN which was a whole other ball game.

If your DS is unhappy with Biff and Chip ultimately YOU can give him something else to read.

He's not going to be put off reading with supportive readers at home.

So I'd just let him get on with it and let the teachers focus on kids who need the extra support to actually be able to access their age group.

As I said earlier the early readers aren't the ones who are doing best in year 13 amongst the people I know. Just let your child enjoy school, primary will soon become a SATS factory and you will be so focused on spelling and grammar that biff and chip will be distant history.

DNiece would have been the same but was different in that she loved reading anything so we could just get the school book out of the way and I could give her a better matched one 4-5 bookbands above. Or a couple of pages of something much more challenging. No way would she have countenanced not reading the book.

Is it Biff and Chip he dislikes? Or the level of the book? If level, ask to move up or ask why he isn't being moved up. They might have a good reason, or at least something you haven't considered. Go from there and keep asking - usually the more vocal you are the more attention the issue gets. If it is Biff and Chip he dislikes, then that's more of an issue if it is the preferred reading scheme at the school. We would not have endless supplementary books to hand out instead of the main reading scheme at my school. At that point you'd just have to continue supplementing from library/your own stock of books at home.

I’m not sure an accurate reading assessment to find his correct level is going to take a huge amount away from other children. And that’s not supposed to be how teaching works anyway.

I don’t think the OP is suggesting her DS is some sort of gifted and misunderstood reader who’s way above his level. Just that he is above the level that he’s currently on and he still has skills to learn which he can’t do on the books he’s currently being given.
I don’t think it’s particularly unusual for a child that’s done a day in school with before and after school club to be tired and want some downtime when they get home either.

Just read other stuff at home too. If he is a keen reader than surely he's picking up other books at home. That's where kids actually learn to read. Ask specifically at parents evening what he needs to do to move up. Also just because he demonstrates that level at home with you doesn't mean he shows that at school.

Have got to say though the fact that you don't think your child is capable of lying is quite interesting.

Have got to say though the fact that you don't think your child is capable of lying is quite interesting.

Yes I agree.

Perhaps OP should look up hyperlexia.

We were in a similar position, read the school book once or twice a week every other night recorded reading books from home.
He has also read in bed from year 2 listened to him maybe once a week. Did confirm this one with his teacher.

Yep, I was hyperlexic. And all kids lie, even the painfully honest good ones.

There are different kinds of lying though. And this is the sort of thing that painfully honest children would be painfully honest about.!

He is 6 years old for heavens sake

It’s not ideal. But even if he’s a honest kid, he’s does he even look at his reading record? I don’t think any of mine ever saw what I wrote in it. We always just read the school book once and then I’d write in it what we were reading on the other days. I couldn’t even tell you what book band my 6 year old is on. I do remember the drunk horse book though

As a primary teacher, I would have thought you would have a good idea about this yourself. I would go for some short, age appropriate chapter books. Fun things like Claude, Flat Stanley, The Twits if he is ready. Look in the book shops in their age 7/8 section to get ideas, then get them from the library.

Orange is some way off the end of the old reading schemes. You need to ask for gold/white if he definitely can read the Orange well.

Also I would let him enjoy books! He doesn’t need to answer lots of different comprehension questions about them. A general discussion is usually enjoyable but lots of reading questions are just as likely to put him off as the old tatty books.

I'm a primary teacher and it is a frustrating situation you are in. As a teacher it's frustrating for us also as we are not supposed to move children up until we have taught particular sounds and tricky words in phonics. All books that we send home are supposed to be fully decodeable and a child should be able to read their books with confidence and be able to blend well. It is likely that the teacher has not yet taught the sounds required to move up to the next level. As we have Ofsted looming we have to be particularly careful that we are not sending home books with sounds not yet taught and I explain this to parents that this is the reason we can't move the child up yet, whilst fully encouraging them to enjoy their own books at home.

Read the books from school once. Then read other stuff. Put it all in the reading record. He's 6.

Oh, and it doesn't matter how tatty books are. You may have noticed there is a problem with funding for schools.