Age expectation for gold reading level

[Kentmum84]

We are a little concerned our Year 3 child has only recently moved onto the gold oup reading level. We are beginning to wonder if there is an underlying issue such as dyslexia/ other learning need as they are very far behind where dc1 was (although dc1 went to a different prep/prinary). However, our prep school has said this is where most children are at at this point in year 3 and being at this level currently doesn't mean they need extra literacy support (it has been made clear literacy support has to be allocated according to need and others need it much more). Looking at the tables online from oup it seems gold is where they should be in Year 2? Although, is this a case of tables online being overly optimistic? DH is concerned that this is another example of our current school not being quite right (he has wider academic concerns and doesn't like the new head but I am nervous of moving children and the impact of social upheaval). I don't want want to move children unless it really is a concern but don't really understand much about levels or what is expected. Where should a middle of the road kid (not the superstars) be roughly in terms of levels at the start of y3? Should we be pushing harder for dyslexia assessments/ ed psych reports? I can't work out if this is a school issue, a learning need issue or if the school is right and this is infact where most kids are and the tables online see more aspirational guides for able readers (which DC1 seemed to be)

Each school orders and colour codes their books differently, so first of all what does gold level mean?
which phonics program do they use?
which brand of books have they bought into? Eg Oxford owl
children who are behind age expected in my year 3 class read brammington stokes books that are set at phonics levels linked to our Little Wandle scheme, but we have colour coded them purple so the kids don’t know as much.
some schools use accelerated reader scheme which is much easier to tell you as they assess more frequently

could you photograph your child’s reading book? End of year 2 expectation is reading approx 90 words per minute with basic prosody (expression/phrasing eg saying an exclamation sentence with a suprised voice on the first/second read)

there are three parts to reading. 1=decoding, 2=fluency 3= comprehension. So, with a text you think they are familiar with and have read at least once b4, could they answer comprehension questions? From basic recall (eg where is the red cat?) to inference, which is the hardest skill (eg how do you know the cat feels sad?)

what grade did they get in their ks1 SATS reading papers? You can download and print out past papers and get your child to have a go then mark. This would give you one indication if they are where they need to be.

I've taught Y3 for a decade and if they come in on Gold they have a very good chance of meeting age related expectations at the end of the year. Depends how fluent they are I suppose - for example I think my children's teacher is extremely cautious with levels and has children a couple of bands below where I would put them. But if they can read a gold reasonably well I really wouldn't be worrying.

If you Google Oxford reading tree you should see a table of the reading levels.

I lead reading in a primary school. For the end of year 2, gold is the first band classed as greater depth/ higher ability. If they were still on gold at the end of year 3 this would mean they are struggling with reading however if they continue on the same trajectory and move up one book band a term to finish year 3 on brown they will be classed as higher ability/greater depth. For the beginning of year 3 (which I currently teach) I would expect to see most of the children on purple, gold and white. White or lime is the end of year expectation for year 3, brown and grey are higher ability.

The table is available online but remember it means that is the end of year goal, not what they should be on at the start.

This will definitely depend a bit on the school (see all previous comments!), but if a child at my school was on gold at the start of Y3 they’d be considered slightly behind and would be receiving at least one extra reading session per week.

I’d expect most children starting Y3 to be on white or lime.

See, I don't think there's much discernable difference between gold and white, certainly not to a level I'd consider one on track and the other requiring intervention. I find once children are past Turquoise they can generally skip through the next few bands very easily. You're right it depends a lot on the school though. My child at the end of Y2 had only just moved onto White, is a very solid reader and was assessed as GD.

I think a lot of schools do vary in cohort and standard expected. My y2 is currently on purple and I’d expect to be on gold by half term and I think she is slightly behind my eldest at this point. At our school they used to be aiming for white/lime by the end of y2 but now it’s all about the phonics phases so not so sure if they still use the reading book levels in the same way. It seems a bit unambitious for a prep to be happy with gold for year 3.

I really wouldnt be thinking dyslexia if reading gold well at 6/7 years old.
However my ekdest was fluent and could read chapter books at 4y10 or so. My second was affected by covid schooling and school tend to hold back but y3 teacher did move her up to free reader in first y3 read.
in our state school reading is almost all done at home. They read with the teacher maybe 5 times a year. But do the phonics at school.
On mn there is a list of real books at each book band which is good to vary from the reading scheme. Comprehension is a very spdifferent thing though and kids who were slow(er) to learn still did well at y6 sats.

There is no set level. Some schools have limited books within a level and some have added to and built on each level extensively.

Dyslexia does not automatically mean you can not read well.

My youngest is dyslexic and is an excellent reader from an early age.

Find some books on a subject they like, look at comics, magazines, newspapers, quizzes and even treasure hunts

To answer a few questions raised they are mainly being sent home the oup gold alien adventures, gold hero academy and the Oxford traditional tales (level 8/9) as reading books. Our last book was the nok one called the ruby cage. DC2 is 7 turning 8 soonish so not a summer born.

Some really good tips about using SATS papers and looking at reading speed/comprehension/inference. I hadn't realised inference was such a big part of it so will work this into our post reading chat a bit more. Currently books from the series above take 2 nights so speed might be an issue. We generally aim for 15-20 minutes a night (and then I read for the same time). Getting dc2 to read isn't a battle, they just get in with it, so not wasting time etc. Speaking to other parents the school seem correct in saying this is where most of the cohort are at the start of yr3 with most only just being moved onto gold.
most are still doing this alongside the grey read write phonics in school.

Thanks for the tips on where to find book recommendations beyond these to build a bit more interest/love.

Its reassuring to know dc could still meet age expected goals if they go up a level a term from this point. Trying to separate out if there is a SEN issue vs expectations being perhaps a little low for the cohort has been challenging. Ed psych reports are expensive and good ed psychs in the area all have long waitlists so wanted more of a feel on this.

The oup table I got from here seemed to suggest they should be most brown/ grey (brown at start/ grey at end of year?) which worried me. DC1 (who went to a different pre prep and seems a middle of the road kind of kid appeared to track these levels ish based on notes in her old contact books yet was always "expected")
https://educationblog.oup.com/primary/take-reading-to-the-next-level

It's reassuring to know they are not miles off all other schools and the variety between schools might mean waiting to see how things evolve this year. Slightly behind isn't as worrying as I initially thought looking at the table in the link. A friend who worked as a senco said you often get a better feel for learning needs in y3 anyway vs normal variation in age.

I really appreciate all the guidance it's been really tricky to get my head around! Most threads seem geared towards top set, high achiever early readers which doesn't help in this instance.

My daughter is ASD and potentially dyslexic.She is on gold but 8.5yo and has just started year 4, so older than your child.

Nah, I've always thought those charts are a little off if they are suggesting the average level. The school I teach at has an extremely high pass rate for Y6 SATS (100% some years) and our Y3s often arrive as gold/white as I said upthread. Some of those gold/white readers leave Y6 with GD in reading.