Here at Booker Avenue Junior School, we are passionate about promoting high standards of language and literacy. Through Reading Plus, Cracking Comprehension, Opening World texts and a reading spine that is linked to the wider curriculum, our programme of studies equips all of our children (including those with SEND and vulnerable children) with the necessary skills in reading.

We promote and foster a love of reading through the use of high-quality and diverse texts and exposing children to a range of authors. We want our children to develop the habit of reading widely and often, both for pleasure and for information, and appreciate our rich and varied literacy heritage. Our children are exposed to and encouraged to use comprehensive and diverse vocabulary and have a good understanding of the use of grammar. Children are exposed to texts that help them successfully navigate reading with confidence.

Through our well-planned and sequenced reading curriculum, our aim is that by the time children reach Year 6 and move onto secondary school and college, they will be able to access the more complex texts expected of them in the next stages of their learning journey, enabling the children of Booker Avenue Junior School to become successful, active and positive members of their local community and wider world.

From Year 3 through to Year 6, children will be taught to:

• Read aloud fluently and with expression
• Read for meaning
• Develop the skills required for the critical reading of texts
• Read a wide range of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction texts
• Use a range of strategies for reading including:
• Phonic (sounding the letters and blending them together)
• Visual (whole word recognition and analogy with known words)
• Contextual (use of background knowledge and connection)
• Grammatical (know which words make sense)

All children have access to our wonderful school library that provides them with a multicultural and inclusive range of texts that hopefully instil an ardour for reading, a passion for discovery and a confidence to explore their imagination.