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.

We had the same, with Collins hub. A number of parents expressed to the school their reluctance, and we can now sign a form for them to send the original book home on a Thursday to go back the following Monday. In signing this we have agreed that if the book gets lost or damaged we will replace it, so that they can keep their full set for school. Might be worth approaching them

I’m guessing the parents of the children in your class value books. Not everyone does.

They can't charge the parents if the books are damaged/not returned, or only give books to parents who actually read with their kids and look after the books, so as usual, everyone who treats things with respect misses out.
You could move schools, but isn't this going to be the case in all state schools soon? I don't know much about private schools, but presumably they can charge or refuse to give books if they aren't returned properly.
Could you possibly get together with other parents (who you know will look after them) to buy a set between you? That could then be passed on to the next year, so if costs were shared, it would be affordable for everyone?

This goes against all the research on literacy engagement for little ones. Blue light is not good before bed, handling books and turning physical pages helps with motor skills, and sitting with an adult following the words/pictures on a page with your finger helps comprehension. I’m sure there are loads of other benefits such as portability and escapism.

It’s really sad that schools are going down this route - it’s dumbing down.

As pp says, they must have books that they've used in previous years. Can you tell them that you don't have a tablet and ask for physical books for your child? They can only say no...

Your library should have reading scheme books but, depending on how your child takes to phonics, it might be really helpful for them to have a book chosen by the teacher which is covering the right sound for that week.

Are the teachers insane?!?!

Mine’s just started Reception and thankfully is coming home with books because there is no way I’d be logging into an app to read with her, you are definitely not being unreasonable. If this appears at any point I won’t be having it, she has a lifetime to stare at a bloody screen all day like I do and it won’t be starting when she’s 4.

An affordable phonics book programme is the Read Write Phonics ones. Look on amazon searching that plus set 1. First set is green. Designed as book bag books and they identify which sound is being used etc. sets of 10 for £14 or so. Really excellent.

totally agree with a visceral rejection of teaching reception children that looking at a phone is reading a book

Can the Collins hub books be read on Kindle or other 'grey screen' e readers, so not a screen as such?

If so, you can get these really cheaply on ebay if you don't already have them so would that be a better solution?

It's for budget reasons schools here in Australia are the same the school can't afford tissues let alone books that's let's face it a lot get ruined by kids that don't care about them

My friends kids all take turns bringing tissues and sunscreen because the school can't afford it ☹️ I can understand schools not having a budget to keep replacing lost/damaged books

Phonics aren’t the whole story, but they are an extremely significant one. If kids don’t learn how to decode words properly they’re at a massive disadvantage.

May I recommend you the podcast Sold A Story, on reading education and the massive crisis non phonics reading education has created in the US, you might find it interesting .

OP

I love my kindle but a child needs actual books IMHO. I have bought actual books via world of books, they sell good condition second hand or books that are at the end of print run so would be sent to landfill.

www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/pages/childrens-books-ages-5-8

You do know that individual teachers rarely make these sorts of decisions? I’m sure they’d all love an endless supply of physical books and a class of children and parents who always look after them.

Put your blame on government budgets and families who don’t respect education.

Yes they had a really good range (we were SW London) they could order from other libraries in the area as well, the librarians were so helpful. Chat GPT has been helpful recently when I've been trying to understand equivalent reading schemes and levels (I have older children now but sure same applies) good luck and you're not being difficult, there is a way of complaining I think without it being targeted at the poor teachers. I have such conflicted views about tech especially now kids are older but can say my kids love reading (not saints they love TV as well haha) but it was definitely persevering with it and paper books they can take in the car etc not a bloody screen 😭

I agree that the Oxford Reading Tree Songbirds series would be a good move. Try Vinted. Start with the Pink levels, then Red. Book Band Stage 1.

Also, Google “Book Band Stage 1 Pink” to get a list of possible titles from a range of publishers.

Not sure what level you need but this might be useful - 18 books for £25 ish

www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/collins-big-cat-reading-lions-level-1-2-3-fluent-reading-at-home-18-books-box-se-book-9780007949595?sku=GOR009363380&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17415896148&gbraid=0AAAAADZzAIBQxNvRQnEDW7HZ-PPjC15Ql&gclid=Cj0KCQjwz4LWBhCMARIsAFEG5MpgQumSB3XJdrjVJepsaWXwYgCu2mPkfxqR6LOyeykp6gNt_5fSk54aAk7YEALw_wcB

I guarantee the Head does not think this is acceptable. But they simply do not have enough in the budget to afford physical books.

What is absolutely hilarious is the whole reason schools cannot afford the books is because of Ofsteds insistence on fidelity to the phonics scheme....so parents are going out and buying phonics books that are Shock! Horror! from a different phonics scheme!

Its almost like Ofsted have fucked up here? But of course, that never happens!

Well there's no way my child would be reading off a screen, I would just refuse.

In the past, books were kept, and sent out. They got dog-eared, and schemes might change, but old books were still fine to use.

However, now Ofsted has explicitly stated that: “What’s important is that schools take an approach that is rigorous, systematic and used with fidelity (any resources used should exactly match the Grapheme Phoneme Correspondence (GPC) progression of their chosen SSP approach)…”

Effectively, this means schools have had to jettison older books, which may not match the GPC perfectly. The cost of this is massive (as other people have said), so the use of e-books is a way of dealing with an Ofsted requirement.

Most schools have no spare cash, and it’s unlikely a PTA will raise enough funds to buy a complete reading scheme.

That’s outrageous.

I haven’t seen any R age child just started.

I picked the school partly due to the size of the library. Hopefully they make good use of it!

To echo PPs if I were you I'd get a subscription to Reading Chest - you can ask for just Pink band (or whatever) to start with and let school know the book and band you've done at home.

1. Yes it is normal, it started in the pandemic, it assumes every home has an Ipad.

2. Subscribe to Reading Chest (The Book Subscription for Children Learning to Read - Reading Chest) - you get sent physical reading scheme books of your choice from a huge selection through the post, then you send them back and pick more, like a Reading Scheme library. Much cheaper than trying to buy the whole of Biff & Chip yourself!

Not read through the whole thread, but as a primary teacher and English lead I find this quite shocking and not something a lot of schools would be ok with. Sure maybe have it as an alternative, but not completely in place of physical books.