Pupil H is reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Pupil H is a Greater Depth Reader. Pupil H is in Year 2 – that means Pupil H is six or seven years-old.
Pupil H is a stunningly good reader, fluent, expressive and very knowledgeable. Parents and teachers have done a phenomenal job with this little girl and should be rightfully proud.
But Pupil H is part of the Department for Education’s new exemplification materials.
I admit, I have come across a few pupil Hs in my time: prodigious readers who devour everything like a reading whirlwind. These children, however, are not the norm and they are definitely not the entirety of the 27 per cent currently achieving Greater Depth in key stage 1.
As we all know, these messages have a habit of setting a bar: when Ofsted or the DfE says something, this output has a habit of changing practice. There are some who will read and watch this exemplification and take it as a model for what we should be aspiring to do or use with cohorts of children.
Personally, I don’t think the Goblet of Fire is a suitable text for six- or seven-year-olds. I’m saying that as a parent and also as a headteacher. If my Year 2 teacher came to me and suggested using the book, I would categorically say “no”.
Schools need to draw a line on content
Other parents may feel differently about that and that is their choice. However, as a school leader, I have to draw our lines around the things we use.
Would I let children play age-inappropriate games or watch 12A films in school? Pretty sure you know the answer to that.
I think we equally need to draw those lines around books as well.
That is not saying that we don’t need to use challenging books, far from it, but it is suggesting we need to think thematically about the books we use and their suitability for different groups of children.
The use of The Goblet of Fire in exemplification sets a dangerous precedent about the kind of material we put in front of KS1 pupils in our rush for ever-more-challenging texts.
My other issue is around expectations. This, for me, potentially sets a bar for what is Greater Depth in Year 2. This can impact in one of two ways: we are driven even more to get children to achieve this Holy Reading Grail (not sure Ofsted would approve of an even more intense focus on reading); conversely, we give up. The massive morale knock that that video and exemplification will have on some Year 2 teachers doing an amazing job could frankly be huge.
Is Pupil H Greater Depth? Definitely. Is it a good exemplification model of what Greater Depth looks like at Year 2? No.
By using this exemplification, the DfE says a number of things, none of which are frankly helpful. However great the pupil is, she is definitely an outlier rather than the norm.
If that is where the Greater Depth line is being drawn, sadly this year in my school we won’t have any children hitting that mark, and I’ll be pointing moderators in the direction of these materials as my evidence why.
Simon Smith is headteacher at East Whitby Academy in North Yorkshire. He tweets @smithsmm
