Rant after year 1 parents night (reading)

[MumNWLondon]

DD is in year 1 and on ORT stage 4, we are getting through 6 books a week (they change 3x a week, we get 2 books at a time).

But the books are far too easy for her. She knows all the words and can read them in around 3 mins each. She can read books like mr men books, the poppy and max books, and the easier horrid henry books etc.

I raised this as a concern at parents night tonight, and teacher said that headteacher has policy that every child has to read every book on the scheme, and as we are already getting 2 books at a time we can't go any faster.

I offered the following: a) to send lots of books home over the weekend b) me to come into school to work through the books with DD c) for them to send home 3/4 books at a time and teacher said none of these are possible.

I am reading other books at home with DD, but it seems to me that the school reading books are now just an irrelevant waste of time.

Teacher suggested as a compromise sending home one harder book as well as a stage 4 book but this will not really help as move any faster as it will take even longer to get through the stage 4 books.

There are some kids in the class on stage 5 and 6, these are the kids with older siblings in the school where the parents know how the system works and requested 2 books at a time from the start of reception!

mumnwlondon

i have a few children and our local primary school is extremely successful and excellent with special needs but will NOT be told what to do

middle class pushy parents obviously wind them sky high and are the bane of their lives so they stick with this rule (reading every book)

my eldest went through it and it drove me insane... number 4 is now doing it and i bite my lip

my eldest is extremely academic and doing very well in his university applications - maybe just maybe they know what is best...

it has most definitely not hindered my children - though i TRULY believed it was

(as an aside)

i moved my daughter from said school to a primary that was then in the top 10 in the uk for primarys

I moved her because i argued our primary were not challenging her. When she started at the 'more pushy' tip top school they soon told us that she had obviously had a great education at the other school and was actually top of the class

I again ate my words

she has since sunk like a stone and spends her time reading trashy novels and talking about snogging so hey ho!

JesusChristOtterStar - school in leafy London suburb, ALL parents are pushy and middle class - DDs friends all have professional parents. Sat results are excellent, although parents don't think the school pushes enough.

She brought home 2 books over the weekend - one easy and one harder. The harder one was just right the easy she knew every single word and read it in 2-3 mins. But then she read lots of other things this morning to me - half a chapter book, and half a mr man book so I guess we'll seen how it goes with the 2 different book until christmas.

sounds very similar to our cohort

the head must be sick of us all

I emailed the head teacher - trigger was that the harder books (ORT 5) weren't really that much harder and DD knew all the words in them too. This might have been chance as so far only had the Julia Donaldson songbird books (they give these first on each level), but DD is frustrated by it asking why the books from school are too easy for her, esp when other children in the class on higher levels (generally those who had 2 books at a time in reception).

I am going to see headteacher tomorrow but she said in the email that DD can progress through the books as fast as necessary, and they look at each child individually.

Went to see head teacher - she said her policy of every books is due to pushy parents who try and push kids up a level even when they are struggling but in this case class teacher should have used discretion to realise that this was not the case.

She has sent home 2 ORT stage 6 (DD read both books this evening very fluently, maybe one word in each book she didn't know) plus 6 books from a scheme called "bangers and mash".

She said she wouldn't want to put DD much higher on ORT because the stories not suitable for year 1 so if these still too easy will need to use a different scheme. And she said to come back to her if needed to discuss further.

Anyone sounds as if problem solved - although still think its mad had to go and see headteacher on this!!!!!

Why would books above this ort level not be suitable for year 1? DD is year 1 and on ort stage 9.

Gosh, I'm sorry that the head is still clinging onto this policy.

My yr 1 son is on band 8 at school (purple band) and brings home books from a wide variety of schemes including ORT. The themes in these are definately suitable for yr 1 children. I have books at home going all the way up to band 17 (big cat band 17) and it isn't until you get to about band 14+ that I would say that the themes are unsuitable/over the heads of a 5 yr old, although he doesn't get some of the jokes in his band 12 joke book. I would say that all KS1 books (up to band 11) are surely suitable for a yr 1 child.

I looked at some of the ORT level 8/9 books in waterstones and can't really see why not suitable for y1 pupil. But anyway, she is on stage 6 now and bringing home 8 books a week (2 Mon, 2 Wed and 4 Fri), so at this rate each stage only takes around 4 weeks.

Although she can still read pretty much every word I want to be sure she really is understanding what she is reading at this stage before I speak to them again.

Had problems with my DS1 with this, as a result the school changed their policies, and now with a quick chat with the class teacher, you can between parent and teacher, decide to go up a level or down a level, teacher or a parent helper listens to them and if the books are too easy, they will send home one of the easier books and one of the harder books for a while. And the parents can now go to the books and get what they feel is appropriate if they wish. It does get hard when you have a very good reader who hits Yr2 at 6.4 and they storylines of the books he can read and understand are not what you feel are suitable though. That levels off at Yr3 though in my experience. My DS1 is now in Yr3 and has just finished all the Harry Potter books, and is just starting on Lord of the Rings?! I first read that when I was 9.5 and spent a whole half term refusing to do anything but read until I'd finished the Hobbit but he's only 7.9 and I do worry that the storyline is too 'old' for him, but he read the first chapter out loud to me, then I didn't see him for the rest of today except meals, and he was telling me all about it. Might have to read it again myself when he's finished with it...

Just wanted to report back on this - thanks for all your support - they put her on stage 6 but then gave lots of books over Christmas (12!) so now on stage 7 and she is still reading them fluently so glad I spoke up.

Also now I expect we'll be back to 2 x 3 books a week but as the books now have 32 pages thats more than enough to keep her going.

Glad you are now resolved, but just a few more comments...

what we find with our year 1 dd (who gets given books from a variety of schemes, all of which are lovely) is that the fiction books are fine for a five year old (ORT level 10/book band gold) but that the fact books at this level are too grown up.

E.g. they use language that a five year old wouldn't have heard of. (Can't think of any examples!)

However, the teacher is very sensible and - though they like the children to read at their level - says that is it fine to approach each book in whatever way works best.

So, an adult read one chapter, our dd the next. Or, read it to our dd one night and she read it the next night.

Builde - yes teacher said wouldn't put her higher than ORT6/7 at this stage in year for that reason - (she still knows every word in ORT 7 no reason why she couldn't read higher levels - but ) - but said that she had books from other schemes that were suitable once she had read all the ORT Biff & Chip books. She is getting 6 books a week so I guess we are going to move through stages 7-9 quite quickly anyway, and DD needs to work on expression.

Builde not all kids find the fact books too grown up - it just depends on what they're into. DS (5) can't read at all well, but his teacher often sends him home with one ability level reading book (v.simple!) and a fact book probably more suitable for a 10 year old, as that's what DS lights up on. He pours over them and can read v.technical words but struggles still on simple key words. He's a little unusual I'm sure, but still...