Ours is level 12 on your sixth birthday (will have been at school exatly 12 months as everyone starts on their fifth birthday) so I would say level 5 after a whole year is very low but not unheard of.
If you hold her back no can she skip if she does suddenly surge forward?
Our school year runs Feb-Dec, so she has not been in school for a year yet. It is hard to say how many more levels she might move up over the rest of the school year. The link that ndw provided says level 9 for the end of the year, so she would need to move up 4 more levels.
If we hold her back, it would be very difficult to move her up again. That is part of what is making me hesitant to hold her back. But I really also don't want year 1 to be a huge struggle for her. If only I knew if and when reading might click for her.
