Phonics level vs writing level

[TheBirdintheCave]

My son is in reception (5 this month) and we had his first parents evening just before half term. His teacher told us that he is reading at a Year 1/2 level based on an in class assessment and that he would be joining a phonics group made up of older children after half term. My husband and I were pleased with this as we’ve long been trying to get the school to recognise our son’s reading level (he started learning phonics in pre-school in April).

She said the only snag was that they combine reading and writing practice in the phonics groups and that whilst my son excels in reading his writing level is average for his age so he would struggle with the writing elements of the older class.

She assured us that they’d figure things out however and he wouldn’t be held back or bored.

Anyway, yesterday I picked my son up and the teacher said ‘He’s doing brilliantly in his phonics group, we’ve kept him with the reception kids because of his writing so he might find it all too easy but he’s doing great!’

I’m autistic and it takes me a while to absorb surprise information so I just said ‘Great!’ and took my son home. It wasn’t until we were nearly at the house that I realised that didn’t match what we’d been told at parents evening.

I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to disrespect the teacher’s decision as I’m not in education but equally it’s hard to hear my son come home telling me he read ‘Put the pin in’ when he reads orange level Maverick Early Readers (he can decode words like disappeared, altogether, somewhere etc) at home with me.

So as not to drip feed, my son is on the waiting list for ASD/ADHD assessment and I suspect he also has dyspraxia (like me) which could contribute to a slower development in terms of writing. If that is the case will they keep holding him back? How is he supposed to progress in reading if they do? It doesn’t seem fair to group the two disciplines together when they’re so different.

Should I ask that another solution be sought or should I just give up and carry on as we have been furthering our son’s reading at home? (We will regardless of course I’d just like some support from the school)

It sounds like the school considered moving him to a harder group, but realized it wouldn't help him. Phonics is about reading and writing. He is at his age level for writing, and it is most important that he develops this, whether he has SEN or not.

The phonics group is just one aspect of the teaching of reading. He will be learning about books in many other ways throughout the day. And yes, he definitely should be reading with you at home. It's great that he's reading above his age level.

Yeah I definitely do want his writing to improve so maybe you’re right and that this is the best way to get him there. He’s never been one for fine motor skills hence my concern that he is also dyspraxic. His colouring in is appalling 😅

I’ve been looking into various writing work books online to see if i can order something so that he can do extra practice at home. At the moment we have a few fun maths and English ones that be enjoys but nothing specifically writing focussed.

I wouldn't try to rush the writing- it will come, especially if he is where he should be. Instead, I would work on his fine motor skills (e.g. build up strength in fun ways through things like dough gym on YouTube as these are essential to writing) and read more interesting books with him to ensure that he doesn't lose his love of reading.

The phonics books are deathly boring anyway, so, if you are confident he can do them (and understand what he is reading- half the battle is comprehension. Sometimes kids can devote, but can't necessarily understand) then check understanding, tricky words etc with each book and the move on to something more fun!

I wouldn’t worry too much, DD was also an advanced reader and we also had a gap between writing and phonics (smaller gap by the sounds of it). They sort themselves out, DD is in year 1 and now must in a holding pattern for reading, she’ll be a free reader this year so I’ve stopped thinking about what she’s doing in terms of reading because thats absolutely fine, they are just sending books home because of her age. Instead her teacher is focusing on her writing skills.

There will come a point where he’s basically hit the ceiling on the reading books anyway so just focus on spelling and writing. You can get practice writing books but tbh I found Dd improved doing comprehension sheets (sent by school) rather than handwriting practice books.

At the end of it all they will all be able to read so theres no rush really on that score. Writing well is a skill though, so I think it’s probably reasonable for the school to pay attention to that.

Reception teacher here.

Don't worry, he's not being held back with his reading. It's quite an outdated approach to move children out of their year group for a lesson anyway. Even gifted and talented children should be able to be stretched in their own year group.

Phonics is just a very small part of reading. He will be challenged in his reading is other ways, as reading should also be taught as a separate entity away from phonics too. Phonics teaches children to decode words, but they develop their comprehension, vocabulary, expression etc through separate reading sessions. Writing is also taught separately. They'll be taught how to segment the sounds in a word in order to write them in phonics, but they'll learn to write different genres in separate writing sessions. Phonics is not the only reading and writing the children do in school, it's just a small part.

He definitely needs to be with his own age group for phonics if he is writing at CVC level (age appropriate). He might be able to read 'Put the pin in', but if he can't yet write it it would be wrong to rush ahead in phonics. The blending (reading) and segmenting (writing) aspects of phonics are very closely aligned, which is why they are taught together. You read a word and then you write it, moving on to reading a caption/sentence then writing it. Most children will be working at a similar level in both. If one area is much stronger than the other (most commonly reading at this age), they must be kept at the level which matches the weaker area of the two for phonics. The phonics part of reading (decoding in order to read the words) is such a small part of reading. He won't get bored because, even though he can easily read the captions, the writing part of the lesson is challenging for him. I hope that makes sense?

Great advice from the reception teacher above. Also, remember every reception class has a good number of children who are way beyond the satpin letters when they start - it's really not the case that every other child is starting from 0. They still take enjoyment from phonics and benefit from many aspects of it, particularly the writing side. It is a very small part of the school day, in which there are plenty of other opportunities to stretch their reading abilities.

@BoleynMemories13Thank you that’s really helpful. He’s my oldest child so this is my first experience with school since attending myself and I have no idea how things are done anymore 😅 Son is also not particularly forthcoming in regards to how he spends his day 🙄😂

My DD could read fairly fluently when she started Reception. However, her writing wasn't at the same level. They didn't move her on too many stages ahead until her writing had caught up.

We made her write book summaries of each book she read at night and her writing was in GD by Easter of Reception, where she remains for reading, writing and SPAG in Year 2.