I’m using the Rapid Catch-up spreadsheet and the book levels seem to be low, why is that? 

In the word reading sections, the spreadsheet differentiates between ‘Y’ for read correctly by blending and ‘A’ for read automatically. If a child is not demonstrating any automaticity, even if they get all ‘Y’s, they cannot be recommended a book level over Phase 3. 

Read our useful blog post on why this is.

We updated our Rapid Catch-up spreadsheet in June 2023 to take account of automaticity. That’s why you may notice lower book levels than last year if you’ve been teaching the Rapid Catch-up programme for a while.