Home/Publishing/Reading levels
Ten levels, three strands, and a clear statement of what a publisher-developed level can and cannot tell you about a child.
Faith & Character
The values carried in the text, the scripture quoted, and what the child is asked to notice about how a person behaves. Seventeen values run through the catalogue, from sabr and shukr to ithar and ikhlas.
Word Recognition
Decoding, sight vocabulary, sentence length and structure — the mechanical load of the page. This is the strand most levelling systems measure, and the only one they measure.
Meaning & Comprehension
Inference, sequencing, holding a thread across pages, and answering a question the book does not answer for you. The strand that separates decoding from reading.
Fruit is not a fourth strand. Skilled, willing, independent reading is what the three strands grow into — so we assess the three and let the fourth be the outcome. A child is never given a score for whether they love reading.
| Level | What it looks like | Typical age | Book band |
|---|---|---|---|
| SRL 1 | First words Board books and single labelled images. An adult reads; the child points, names and joins in. | Ages 1–3 | Lilac – Pink |
| SRL 2 | First sentences One short sentence per page, heavy picture support, strong repetition. | Ages 3–4 | Pink – Red |
| SRL 3 | Early reader Two to three sentences a page. The child carries the decoding with an adult nearby. | Ages 4–6 | Red – Yellow |
| SRL 4 | Growing reader A short story with a beginning, a middle and an end. First real inference. | Ages 5–7 | Yellow – Blue |
| SRL 5 | Confident reader Longer picture books and short chapters. Vocabulary starts to stretch. | Ages 6–8 | Green – Orange |
| SRL 6 | Independent Chapter books read alone. Character and motive matter as much as plot. | Ages 7–9 | Turquoise – Purple |
| SRL 7 | Fluent Sustained narrative, subplots, and non-fiction with structure to navigate. | Ages 8–10 | Gold – White |
| SRL 8 | Advanced Longer chapter fiction and reference texts. Reads to find out, not only to finish. | Ages 9–11 | White – Lime |
| SRL 9 | Extending Complex non-fiction, historical narrative and layered argument. | Ages 10–12 | Lime+ |
| SRL 10 | Mature Encyclopaedic reference and full-length narrative. Reads across a subject, not one book. | Ages 11+ | Beyond band |
Typical age is a guide, not a gate. A level is a description of a book, and a child is placed on evidence a teacher gathers — not on how old they are.
We say this here, in the toolkits and on every mapping grid, in the same words. A level that oversells itself is worse than no level at all.
Assess once, place the child, and let the series do the sequencing.
Thirty minutes, your student numbers, an honest answer about whether we are a fit. Onboarding, training and data migration are included — there is nothing to sign to find out.