5 pages a day reading limit???

[KatieKat188]

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster.

Very sorry for the long rant and if anyone reads this whole thing, thank you so much in advance!

My daughter is 5 yo, in Year 1, and attends a small private school near us. For the most part, we have been overall very happy with her experience so far, and have been pleased with her reading and writing.

However, all of last year, her teacher kept sending home reading books which were too easy for her, and I spoke to her several times about this, and eventually she started giving her books that were slightly more on her level.

This year she has a new teacher who assessed her reading level at the start of term a few weeks ago and I was instantly a lot happier with the reading level of books coming home, and she was on the Level 4 Biff, Chip and Kipper books.

However, last week, even though her book was a Level 4, it was a bit on the easier side again, and I wrote in her reading diary 'read whole book' - it was about 20 pages with 1 short sentence per page. They swapped the book out and the next one was equally easy for her, including going over the reading comprehension questions, so again I wrote 'read whole book.'

The next day I was met with a note in her reading diary saying 'please only read 1 - 5 pages per day.' I asked my daughter about this and she said her teacher told her that she should only read 5 pages per day in her book.

This bothered me all of Sunday and I e-mailed her teacher this morning to ask what this was about and why school would ever tell a child to limit their reading, and the response I got was that this is school policy, because they often find that children rush to get to the end of the book because they want to swap it or move up a level and haven't actually mastered the comprehension of it. She then recommended that dd is free to choose a second book from the school library and read that after doing 5 pages of her reading book if she wants.

When I tell you I've been shaking with anger and seriously considering withdrawing her from there for the next term...

Is it just me or does this seem completely counterintuitive??? Only read 5 pages of one book because it's school policy but then read as much as you want of another one.

I would understand if it was a case where they are reading the book together as a class or something and don't want anyone reading ahead, but that's not what it is. The kids each choose their own reading book and swap it when they want to.

My husband works at the school as well and spoke to the Head of Primary who said, don't worry, of course you can read more with her if you want to.

But that's not the point... she was told by her teacher... at this young age where she is only starting to really form her opinions about school and reading independently... that she shouldn't be reading more than 5 pages a day.

So she now feels like she is doing something against her teacher's wishes if she wants to read more.

I have honestly never heard of something so insane. I am all for testing reading comprehension. You want them to write a few sentences about the story before swapping it? Great. You want them to tell the teacher about the story before swapping it? Also great. You want them to answer questions about the story? Great. Test their reading comprehension before swapping or moving up.

But in what insane world is it ok to tell a child they SHOULD NOT be reading more than 5 pages?

sigh

I am overall very happy with my children's primary school but over the years there have inevitably been a few things I've rolled my eyes over. Mostly I've kept quiet and backed up the school to the children. Occasionally I've told the children x or y is a silly rule or one I don't agree with (and explained why) and then we've either just followed it anyway (and explained why sometimes it's easier to just jump through the hoops) or occasionally I have done something a bit different or contacted the teacher. Hopefully all of this will prepare them for the workplace where there will almost certainly be some daft rules and it's a judgement call as to whether to just follow them, quietly ignore or challenge.

If you are overall happy with the school I really would aim for eye rolling rather than shaking with fury over things like this, otherwise you are going to have a very stressful time during the rest of primary never mind secondary.

Stop shaking with anger and give her some other books, or is she only getting books from school? Join a library and get her started on something more advanced. And calm the fuck down.

I agree.

My dd joined private school in year 9. She met a friend and they got on so well. Her friend’s parents in a pique of rage withdrew her friend for year 10 and sent her to another school, which she didn’t like. The girl ended up failing all but 2 of her GCSEs despite being at private school from the age of about 7.

Consistency is key and not sweating the small stuff. Sometimes having money doesn’t bring better results.

DD has always been a reader and massively ahead of most of her peers so we’ve faced similar requests from school. Ultimately with DD’s school it came down to them not wanting to allow her books that were not ‘age appropriate’ due to some content/themes.
So we read the school book at the requested pace and allow her to read whatever she wants (within reason) at home.
Comprehension is huge focus in EYFS, so they need to pace the class so they can assess.
Also cannot remember the last time we filled in the reading diary (DD is now yr 5) but as her previous teacher said, they don’t need evidence DD reads at home, they can tell 🤣

@KatieKat188 I am sorry that you're paying for private and your child is effectively being held back in her class. I understand as this happened to my DD when she was the same age, but in a state school. It was frustrating and pointless.

You will of course, heed the advice of all the mums saying read whatever she wants at home.

But I think there's a bigger issue at play here. What on earth are you paying for?
I would consider moving her to a state school as you're gaining very little in practical educational terms from this private.

Good luck anyway.

Her DH works at the school, maybe she doesn’t pay that much or anything at all.

Oh my goodness get a grip

I initially had a reluctant reader and frankly we used to take the mick out of Biff and Kipper and get really silly. But we explained its not a race to the end in terms of the books and lets read something less boring instead and used to have a few charity shops we knew where we could pick up books for a quid a time and she could have five or 6 at a time. She really started to get into her books and when assessed at secondary in yr 7 read and comprehended as a 17 yr old. Big issue then was getting skill appropriate books that were also age appropriate - bit of a mare really. At 15 she had a list of classics she wanted to read so off we went to Oxfam book shop 2x a month and she ploughed through them - she is 19 now and still has a to read stack (usually 10 or so books) mix of new and secondhand, she is now scriptwriting at Uni (amongst other things) and reads books I find far too high brow lol

I would say follow the schools lead, if she gets too far ahead it does her no favours for reading or anything else at school, hot housing doesn't really help anyone unless they are super super talented, it pulls them out of their social groups and makes it difficult to relate to others the same age. Aim for a well rounded child, if they are bright try and introduce them to stuff outside of the curriculum to challenge them. We did a couple of languages at basic level - one of which she continues today and her Dad is a real history buff and they share that interest as well as one in films and politics. We had no money when she was at that age so it was what we could put together ourselves

Just write in the reading record what the school want to hear, if she’s doing what they want and exceeding it then who cares. If she’s doing less than they want then yeah, obviously don’t lie and say she has done it. But if she’s reading more then so be it. Get her some different books to read for fun. DS reads all sorts as his school books are dull.

My daughter is the same age turned 5 in July (not in private school). Likes to read Julia Donaldson books and equivalent.
She just loves to read!
Do you write anymore feedback in the learning record apart from read whole book?
My child is given 2 books per week receive them on a Monday and the go back to school on a Monday. They are told to read them at least 3 times.

She flies through those books, answers the questions, re tells the story etc.
I then write this in their learning record to shown they have good comprehension of the stories.

They are boring..... my child finds them boring. Teachers are aware she is advanced reading but wanting to ensure she understands the story, the punctuation etc behind it.

We've been told to continue to encourage reading as she enjoys it.

This.

Shaking with anger, honestly.

Read the school reading book slowly and ask her lots of open ended questions. Let her read as much as she wants of other books.

Yes, it's ridiculous and I wouldn't pay for this school.

If this was state school, I'd just tell you to suck it up and do as the teacher tells you but I would also be cross if I was paying for a private school. Sounds very poor and I would withdraw her and either go state or switch to a better private school.

Who'd be a teacher.

School is going to be a really long haul for you if you are already at the shaking with anger stage over this.

Read the five pages of the school book and then read some other stuff. It's not complicated.

My dd was in private school. I think it's simply that the school work book is meant to last a week and changed on, say, Monday. Imagine the chaos if all the kids wanted to change their books the minute they'd finished it, let alone the less able readers feeling inadequate.

They're not saying she shouldn't be reading any other library books surely?
It does seem an awfully miniscule problem, if it's even a problem at all.
Sounds more like a misunderstanding. Seems like the teacher is just asking you to make the school book last a week like everybody else. Read whatever else you like in the meantime.

So it is very easy. On day one, read the whole book and write down “read five pages”. Then every other day of the week read other books, and then just write down “read 5 pages”.

Teacher is saying they don’t have time to swap the book repeatedly so just provide other reading. That’s why we did with dd1.

The trouble we had was dd didn’t want to read the boring school book! But if it’s just once a week it is ok.

Pop to your local library and get a stack of Readers and you’ll be set up.

This has been pretty standard procedure with school reading books for all the reasons your DD’s teacher has explained since I was at school half a century ago! It’s standard because it is best practice. Get your DD some early reading books to enjoy reading for pleasure alongside her school reading book.

Read the 5 pages for homework then read something else for fun. If she says "teacher said only 5 pages" say "that is for homework, you can read as much as you like for fun, reading is a very good hobby"

My DS's state school asks them to read a book twice and then change them. The idea is the second time they are more fluent and can work on comprehension. They can change the books first thing in the morning by themselves. It's not chaos and presumably not particularly competitive as the books are in the corridor near the pegs and I doubt many children are keeping tabs on who changed their book each day.

My DS has read the whole book every time. It generally takes 5, maybe 10, minutes even for the longer books. His books now have about 4 lines of text per page and 16ish pages. Of course you can read from the library etc but the whole point of following a phonics scheme is the kids get practice at the level they know. It seems silly to me to gatekeep access to the books but is likely due to either the hassle of changing them or not wanting to run out of books. (Although I do think there is some merit in reading it more than once unless it is way too easy).

the five pages-are probably the context of her next lesson?like interpretation etc.
so stop shking,wit on a response if you want nd let her red for enjoyment mentime.your missing the point

This is bonkers. Just read the book again. Talk about it. Pick sone of your own books to alternate with.

Well mine's 25, so it's hard to remember that far back.

Shaking with anger and considering moving school? You're being absolutely ridiculous.
The school don't have time to change books every day.
Ask for a reassessment of reading level by all means, but also, just write in the reading diary, "X read pp6-10 aloud. No difficulties with decoding words", then read whatever you want together.
FWIW my DC hated Biff, Chip and Kipper (as did I), and we were glad to see the back of them.

Standard at primary schools whether you are paying through the nose or not.

Just give her some other books at home!