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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

moving up book bands

18 replies

spongecustard · 16/05/2010 12:07

At the school in the village next to us, the children seem to whizz through the book band levels and become free readers very quickly, whereas our school has a much slower pace. Surely they can't all be better readers at the other school. Has anyone else noticed anything like this?

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coppertop · 16/05/2010 13:22

From what I've read on MN over the years, each school will have its own rules for when a child can move up a book band and also when a child is classed as a free reader.

Some schools will insist on children reading most (or even all) of the books in one band before being allowed to move up. Others will allow children to skip some bands altogether if the teacher feels that this is what the child needs.

Some schools will only class children as being free readers if they have gone through all the levels. Other schools will class free reading as being after stage 10. I've even seen a school on here who class a child as a free reader after level 5.

lovecheese · 16/05/2010 15:03

At my Dcs school there are 22 book bands to get through bfore being classed as a free reader, the first 11 of which are the national scheme (ie pink, red, yellow, blue, green etc) and then another 11 that the school has. My eldest is in yr4 and only has she thinks 2 more levels to go,, and I know that a friends DD who is in yr5 now and a very competent reader became a free reader at the end of yr4. I would be questioning of a system that allowed kids to be free readers after only 5 levels.

mrz · 16/05/2010 17:00

I agree level 5 is far too early for a child to become a free reader but it really depends on what is meant by a free reader. In some schools it could mean pick any book you like in others in might mean pick any book with green spot ...

Original poster

spongecustard · 16/05/2010 18:08

This school has 12 levels and a lot of the children were free reading by the end of reception.

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Original poster

spongecustard · 16/05/2010 18:09

Sorry, by free reading I mean choosing whichever books they wanted.

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mrz · 16/05/2010 18:16

spongecustard any book or any book from an appropriate selection?

Original poster

spongecustard · 16/05/2010 18:24

Any book at all!

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mrz · 16/05/2010 18:29

I would be extremely alarmed at that

lovecheese · 16/05/2010 19:10

I echo your point mrz. If anyone is following the on-going saga of my own dd's progress on MN you will know that teacher is wavering about moving her from level 9 to 10 as her comprehension needs to match, even though she is fab at decoding and reading with expression. Whilst initially we were annoyed at this, with hindsight I have chilled and realised that iti is being done with DDs best interests in mind. A love of reading and developing comprehension skills is the goal, not to be the first past the finishing post with the book bands. I would like to see the school mentioned in action with regards to their free reading policy, I cant see how children that young would be able to access any book.

molk · 17/05/2010 13:28

Don't really know about differences between schools, but I have noticed different teachers in my ds school seem to go at different paces through book bands.

lovecheese · 02/09/2010 16:24

YEE-HA!!!! DD1's first day in yr5 today and she is off the darned reading scheme!!
Hallelujah!

brassband · 02/09/2010 16:49

Oh yes DD1 was whizzed through the levels and put onto free reader WAY too early.The teacher was my friend and I wonder if she thought she was doing me a favour??

domesticsluttery · 02/09/2010 18:39

They have to work their way through a lot of levels in my DC's school before they can be free readers. They also usually have to read every book in each level.

DS2 has just gone into Year 2 and is on Level 10. Once he has finished all of the books in level 10 there is level 11, level 12 etc... I would be very suprised if he was a free reader before the end of this year.

Obviously he reads a variety of different things at home, but in school they work their way slowly and steadily through the levels.

PixieOnaLeaf · 02/09/2010 20:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Hulababy · 02/09/2010 20:10

DD's school always worked through books in a logical and set order, moving between different schemes and also different styles and forms of writing. If there was a big jump in a child's progress yes, they did jump ahead to more appropriate levels, but they still read plenty at each stage.

DD was/is a good reader, reading above her chronological age and this slower move towards free reader in no way hampered it.

Infact in many ways it helped her make even better progress. Unlike some children I know who went through a faster system, Dd is much more comfortable reading a whole range of texts put in front of her, all with good levels of expression, and her comprehension is fantastic. She is also very competent at reading out loud too, not just in her head.

There is no need for a rush at school. Let them read anything and everything outside of school, and use the school books to focus on key reading and comprehension skills instead.

pointythings · 02/09/2010 21:05

I think that as long as the needs of the individual child are met there isn't necessarily a right or wrong way - but I do agree that all aspects of reading have to be at the point of moving up a level, not just one or two. My daughters' school used the ORT scheme, which has sub-levels inside each level and those who were progressing faster were usually allowed to skip the lowest level because it would be more or less equivalent to the highest level of the previous band - but they would then use books from other schemes which fit into the band to make for a broader and more challenging experience.
I'd have been very concerned if either of my children had been classed a 'free reader' after ORT band 5...

Free reader for them meant being able to pick whatever book they wanted - but from the year library for their year or key stage. This wasn't stuck to rigidly though, and in consultation with the teachers we ended up having them bring in books from the public library or from our own collection instead - not necessarily because they were 'more advanced' but because they broadened the range and depth of their reading experience (i.e. poetry, plays, non-fiction texts). I've ended up with two girls who are not only very good readers, but more importantly love nothing more than curling up with a book - and they still love being read to as well. Really, all it takes is common sense.

civil · 03/09/2010 06:11

In our school you have to get to the end of Book Band lime. (e.g. the end of book bands) If you are learning quickly, you don't have to have read every book band, or every book within that band.

They can then pick books from the library.

In my dds class, 3 children had achieved this by the end of year 1. (3 our of 17)

IAPJJLPJ · 03/09/2010 06:19

my ds has just started yr3 and is on dark blue level but there is more above that in our school.

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