Each short text is accompanied by VIPERS reading comprehensions and the answers.

Each stage relates to year-group expectations. Stage 1 = Year 1, Stage 2 = Year 2 etc. We have called them stages in case you have children working at a level that differs from their own year group. This way a Y4 child working below expectations does not have to complete work with a Y2 label, for example.

How do we decide on the stages?

The stages are based on a measure of readability called an ATOS score. It is a formula designed to guide students and teachers to appropriate-level texts. It is based on a number of predictors - average sentence length, average word length and word difficulty level.

The following table shows the ATOS score and the percentage of children who should be able to read the text in each year group. For example, if a text in Y3 has a score of 3.62 - 4.2, it should be independently accessible to children between the 50 and 25 percentile. If a text has a score of 4.5 in a year 4 text, it should be independently accessed by the top 10% of children in the class.

	Percentage of children who will be able to access the texts independently.
Year Group	75%	50%	25%	10%
1	0	1	1.57	2.4
2	1.58	2.52	3.3	3.5
3	2.75	3.62	4.21	4.5
4	3.89	4.69	5.14	5.5
5	4.97	5.74	6.08	6.5
6	6.01	6.75	7.03	7.5

We have developed a simple ‘Shed Rating’ to guide teachers.

1 Shed should be independently accessed by 75% of the class.

2 Sheds should be independently accessed by 50% of the class.

3 Sheds should be independently accessed by 25% of the class.

4 Sheds should be independently accessed by 10% of the class.

The score is only to be used as a guide. There are a number of factors which can increase the score, one of these is technical language. Where technical language is prevalent the score increases, we, however, have used our own professional judgement to include them in the correct stage.

Some texts with a high score may need to be used with support or by children working at a high level within the stage.

In some texts, particularly in Stages 5 and 6, some of the scores are slightly lower due to some of the content being written for effect. For example, short sentences to add dramatic effect or tension lower the score - but are important technical aspects to be experienced by readers.

Comprehension is also dependent on background knowledge so pupils who have a knowledge deficit in a particular area may find comprehension difficult in that area.

View a list of all the comprehensions, their text type and their focus by clicking the 'overview' button below. This list also indicates which comprehensions have accompanying TEACHING SLIDES.

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Stage Overviews