Reception children given e-books instead of reading books for home reading

[Randomname83738]

My daughter is in reception, and we’ve had a message today that instead of being sent home with physical reading books, children will be given a login to Collins hub to access e learning books to read at home instead. I absolutely HATE this as a concept - is this common now? We don’t have tablets, so it would be on a phone screen. I’ve looked at purchasing the books for the scheme he’s doing and it would be hundreds of pounds (presumably this is why they’re doing ebooks instead). I’m actually so disappointed in this and if I knew in advance it might have influenced my choice of school.

I wouldn’t be happy about that at all and wouldn’t be going along with it. As people have suggested, have a look for second hand books, whether online, second hand bookshops, charity shops etc. Our school has used various ‘schemes’ over the years and I honestly can’t see why it matters to go with one over another - I’ve managed to produce two strong readers from reading whatever we can get our hands on / what interests them.

I’m on the PTA at our school and would definitely suggest fundraising for actual books if that was an issue. Is that something you could get involved in / suggest? Getting volunteers for PTA events is a whole other thread in itself but you might get more interest if other parents feel similarly to you?

Just read whatever you have got with her, reading is reading and phonics isn’t the be all and end all of making progress. In fact relying on phonics to read English words can be stifling and just plain dull. Stories should excite and enthuse young readers.

I would absolutely hate this, and would refuse if it was me...and generally I am a compliant non confrontational person. My DS has also just started reception and they are doing the Oxford tree scheme. I had definitely seen those in the local library and you could get a full set second hand for under £20. I can't imagine there is much difference in the phonics schemes.

Just start by saying to the teacher “that’s not going to work for us. We haven’t a tablet. Please can you send home a reading book, at least over the weekend.”

I cannot actually believe this. My good God. Genuinely one of the main reasons I’ve HE from beginning of schooling is to remain screen-free. I’m so sorry to hear this.

My local library has loads of these books. Gice them a try and otherwise look for other schemes, its easy at the start when theyre just on SATPIN.

Weve always augmented the school reading books, and reception teacher said to use other schemes so you dont confuse their order.

I'd hate the books too!

That’s just reminded me DD had this in primary. I don’t think it was for long though

Start a petition. This is awful!

It’s awful, I wouldn’t do it

We had this but only in year 1 and as additional books for extra reading!
Reception was normal paper books. Each week a book to match the sound they were learning. I’ve never found those type of books in libraries.

From what I can tell schools are now made to pick a reading/phonics scheme. So for example read write inc or monster phonics. It can cost them about 10k. So they’ll usually prioritise paper books for reception as they need multiple copies of each.

So not sure what yours is doing. Lots of parents in our year 1 class just didn’t do the on screen ones. We did but we have an iPad and I don’t mind. I absolutely wouldn’t do it on a tiny phone screen. And like I said it was an addition. You need to go as a group to the school and say you’re not going to use it.

My school do this because we literally do not have the money to buy all the books we need. It’s not my preference but I can assure you that it has not had a negative impact on the children learning to read at all, nor on their reading for pleasure.

This happened at a school near us (not my kids schools) where they wanted everyone to log into little wandle
the parents all kicked off about reading having to be “screen time” and all refused to do this and contacted offstead especially as they had recently had had an Amazon gift list plea asking parents to buy books, needless to say the idea was soon quashed!!!!!

Personally I would rather have DC read actual books but now these apps are available it really does make sense. 'Physical' books get worn, graffiti, go out of fashion, funding costs. It's the same reading, like a Kindle.

Huge adjustment for me as a teacher and parent but my ND DC actually does read a few pages in his phone but reading from a book is too overwhelming.

This is the modern world and, as much as I don't like it, we've got to accept this is modern homework.

It doesn't mean your DC needs to stop habing pleasure from reading books, my nieces are constantly reading!

I would definitely complain and not use the technology. I looked up the app and I can't even download it - I need an OLDER version of my phone!

In the meantime, you can log into the app (If you can access it! I imagine you can log in on a browser) just to see what the books are like and then get a similar one at the library. Our first Little Wandle books were wordless, then moved on to really basic books with 2-3 words per page. "Pat pat", "hit it", "sit sit" etc.

From what I can tell, most schemes start with the same phonemes and rough order and don't start to vary much until the vowel digraphs around Christmas time. So even though the library likely won't have an extensive collection of Big Cat Collins books, any of the the really early reading scheme books should work.

I haven’t worked in primary for a couple of years but we would use e-books in the classroom in addition to physical books and we always sent a physical book home for reading.

I don’t think I’d be happy with only using E-books.

Yeah, it defeats the purpose in my mind. Supposed to be moving away from screens. And that isn't the same experience as books.

They could find the money if they wanted to.

Out of the books sent home each week I would say that about 3/4 get returned at all. Of them two or three will have got soaked, chewed by the dog or scribbled on by the toddler. Schools don’t have the money to keep replacing them.

My DD was using online software for education purposes when she was at primary school. She's 27 now, so it's nothing new. It helped her immensely, sometimes tech Ed can be a good supplement.

Trust me, schools want to. We literally have £0 left in our budget. We don’t have money for pencils, let alone books.

The teachers won't want this.
The school won't want this.
If schools were funded adequately it wouldn't happen.

But schools can't even afford essentials like paper, pencils, glue or even adequate staff in the current climate. Physical books are a luxury.

I’m a primary school teacher, I’m well aware of what can happen to books but, as a teacher I’m utterly horrified by the idea of just giving up on letting the children have actual books. I never had a class that lost more than a few books a term! 3/4???? Not in my experience.

I really wouldn’t worry about trying to find the same scheme. The levels/book bands are fairly interchangeable. Buy (then resell) secondhand. Or we did reading chest for a few months for DC2 as wasn’t getting anywhere at school. A focussed few months at home and they were flying. Then any book will do - the reading scheme era is thankfully short for most children if you are diligent.

I love e books as an adult but this would make me very cross as a parent

Yeah, I didn't mean schools, I meant the people who give schools their budget.

Wow I’d be moving her to a different school. Any Headteacher who thinks this is acceptable needs to get sacked.