Held back in year 1

[mrsnw]

My son is reading stage 9 of the ort scheme. He reads well and is developing fluency. I was told at parents evening this week that she will not be moving any of the group onto the next stage because she believes that they are rushing through the book and not understanding the story. I believe that my sons comprehension skills are fine. He can answers question and make predictions about the story. He has had non fiction books for the last half term that have been very old and dated and quite honestly very boring. I know they are being given these books so they don't progress onto stage 10. Am I being unreasonable? Why would you make a whole group tread water for a term? And I'm a primary teacher! Oh when the boot is on the other foot :)

[Hulababy]

I have never known a school to do this personally but have heard of it on mn.

Does he fully demonstrate his comprehension skills at school based on the necessary types of questioning he needs to be able to do?

I can see no real benefit to a teacher to hold children back. It would look bad on their tracker data and in a school like mine would be flagged up at the next progress meeting, which we have every half term.

[AMumInScotland]

She's not making the whole group tread water though, if their comprehension (apart from your son) isn't up to scratch. She is just making your son tread water until the rest of the group catches up with him.

Not exactly great, and I'd be asking why he can't move groups if he's ready to move up and others aren't, but I think it's quite common once they are in a group for it to be difficult to chop and change. So they move when the group as a whole is ready to move, and unless the difference between one (at the top or the bottom) and the rest is getting really big they don't tend to re-sort the groups every time it happens.

[mrsnw]

My ds is in top group so nowhere to go am afraid. One of the children in his group reads Harry potter type books and yet still on stage 9. It's an outstanding school. Mmmm coasting more like !

[lljkk]

There are early reading books in our public library, see if you can access similar. I'd be okay about treading water, to be honest. As long as love is reading is kept alive, they progress naturally as long as they have something they want to read.

[AMumInScotland]

It's a bit tricky then. I'd just focus on making sure he has more interesting/challenging books at home for now. Being able to read things doesn't necessarily mean that their comprehension has reached the same level. But if you think it's just nonsense and coasting then you can try to call her on it.

[DeWe]

At each level you do get the different types of books to be covered, so if they're doing non-fiction books then they're not really treading water. they're learning about the elements of non-fiction.

For what it's worth, my ds (year 1) loves the non-fiction books. He finds some of the fiction totally boring. But give him the old dated fact books and you struggle to get him away from it.

My 2 dd's found the facts books generally boring because they were generally easier to read and they'd rather a good story, but they still learnt a lot from them.

They all have enjoyed the poetry books that come at each level.

[bangwhizz]

What I have found is that ORT books are very predictable.It is not uncommon to find children whizzing up ORT but unable to read other books to the same standard.They need plenty of breadth i their reading.

[learnandsay]

In order to avoid friction with parents I think teachers should physically demonstrate to parents where a child's skills need improving otherwise it just descends into a

he can't read properly yet
yes he can
no he can't
yes he can

[Periwinkle007]

Personally I would feel the same as you, if HE is able to read it properly and demonstrate he can do expression, punctuation, prediction, comprehension etc then HE should be allowed to progress in his individual reading regardless of what happens with his group for guided reading IMO. The non fiction books my daughter brings home she loves. ORT fireflies mainly but a couple of stages back she had a sunshine spirals one from the 1980s about bee keeping which was really interesting. Sadly I think non fiction variety is seriously lacking in many schools reading schemes and a lot of children don't realise how much fun it can be.

I have concerns over my daughter's reading level at school because she can read the books word perfectly so I feel they aren't challenging her and she reads harder at home. She is on book band 7 but reads 9 or 10 at home happily and pretty easily (perhaps 5 new words in a level 9 books)

not sure what you can do though - the teacher has stated her reason and it is her decision ultimately what happens in the classroom. Perhaps if he is bored of the books he is getting (only so many magic key stories any kid can take I think) and he doesn't like some of the non fiction topics you could just ask if there are any levelled non reading scheme books they can give them instead to broaden their experience of reading at that stage (I found a few lists online) if they don't want to move them up yet.

[mrsnw]

I agree he needs to read non fiction. But that's all we've had for half a term. Surely there needs to be some sort of balance across a term. He reads a range of books at home. Not sure if to go and chat with teacher again or just chill out :)

[Periwinkle007]

could you perhaps just put a note in his reading record something along the lines of 'X has asked if he could have a fiction book next time please?' it is a completely harmless comment to make, can't offend or annoy and gives the teacher the chance to say if they are concentrating on non fiction for a reason.

my daughter chooses out of a box and it is a mix of fiction and non fiction, she prefers the non fiction but as there are fewer she ends up having quite a good mix and I think on the day the staff select the book they bring home (once a week) that they try to balance it out to make sure all children are trying all the different styles/types/reading schemes etc.

[stressyBessy22]

He needs to read other books besides ORT

[MrsSham]

Just read at home a variety of books, and don't worry what school do.

[teacherwith2kids]

Get him a wide variety of other books to read (from the library or by buying them) and record those alongside the school ones in his reading diary.

And don't worry. If he reads and enjoys books with you at home, and you discuss books and stories with him all the time, then what level he is on at school won't, in the long term, really matterm will it?

[survivingwinter]

So frustrating isn't it! We waited 2 terms for dd, also yr 1 to move up a reading band even though she was reading much more challenging stuff at home. I also think there is s bit of a glass ceiling in some schools when kids reach the level required of them by age/NC level. DD has now been moved onto ORT level 10 but am expecting her to sit there for ages now!!

[mrsnw]

Soooo frustrating winter. We haven't had a new reading book since thrs now. It, apparanetly, depends on how many helpers they have in the classroom. So no parent helpers = no new book. Am starting to feel very despondent :(

[bubblesinthebath]

Been there done that. My Ds was to find his own book to promote independence which eventually lead to him bringing the same book home over and over again and he lost interest in reading, think the longest he had the same book was 2 weeks. I left nice messages in his reading log to ask politely that someone helps him to find a book he hadn't read, spoke to his teacher, spoke to the TA. which then turned into he didn't change his book because he doesn't bring it in (not true) At the age of 6 his reading age was 4.5 and it was then my fault because I hadn't made him change his book or read with him at home . Now he is on stage 8 and changes his book every day, so long as he can recall the story. But he keeps getting his levels extended with no explanations as to why other than he read them too quickly much to his dismay so we are slowly replacing his books at home to keep the motivation for reading, don't want to lose that again.

[freetrait]

chill out. Just make the school books low priority- or don't bother with them and find some good stuff to read at home. DS is also Y1, picks what he likes from school now . Sometimes it's good, sometimes not. So, if it's good we do that and focus on it, if not he reads us Astrosaurs .