At John Bunyan Primary School and Nursery, we know that reading opens doors. It helps children to understand themselves and the world around them, to develop their imagination and curiosity, and to discover ideas, people and places beyond their own experiences. 

Our ambition is for every child to become a confident, capable and enthusiastic reader who develops a genuine love of books and reading. We want children to read not simply because they can, but because they want to. 

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum. It enables children to access learning across every subject and gives them the knowledge, vocabulary and confidence to make sense of the world. We therefore give reading the time, attention and importance it deserves from the moment children join our school. 

Learning to read 

Our youngest children begin their reading journey in Nursery through rich experiences of language, stories, rhymes, songs and high-quality books. We build strong foundations in communication and language, phonological awareness and vocabulary so that children are ready to become successful readers. 

In Reception and Key Stage 1, children follow a systematic approach to phonics through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. Children are taught to recognise and blend sounds, developing increasing accuracy and fluency as they progress. 

Phonics teaching is supported with fidelity to carefully matched reading books, allowing children to practise the sounds they have been taught and experience the success of reading independently. Regular reading, rereading and discussion help children develop confidence, fluency and expression. 

Where children need additional support, we act quickly. We identify gaps in learning and provide targeted opportunities to practise and secure the knowledge and skills they need to become successful readers. 

Alongside learning to decode, children hear and share a wide range of stories, poems and non-fiction. We want children to experience the joy of books from the very beginning, including books that they cannot yet read independently. 

Growing as readers 

As children become more fluent, our teaching moves beyond learning how to read towards developing how to think as a reader. 

Children encounter increasingly challenging and engaging texts and develop the skills needed to understand, discuss and respond to what they read. We explicitly develop vocabulary, background knowledge and comprehension, helping children to become thoughtful and increasingly independent readers. 

Children learn to: 

• read accurately, fluently and with increasing expression; 

• develop a rich and varied vocabulary; 

• draw on their background knowledge to understand new ideas; 

• ask and answer questions about what they read; 

• make connections and predictions; 

• explain their thinking and justify their ideas; 

• read between the lines and make inferences; 

• summarise and retrieve important information; 

• discuss authors, characters, ideas and themes; 

• develop increasingly critical and independent responses to texts. 

Reading is not confined to reading lessons. Carefully chosen text spines are woven through our wider curriculum, allowing children to encounter subject-specific vocabulary, develop knowledge and deepen their understanding through carefully chosen texts. 

Reading for pleasure 

We want our children to develop a lifelong relationship with reading. 

Our classrooms and library provide opportunities for children to explore books, make choices and discover authors and genres that interest them. Teachers read aloud regularly, sharing stories, poems and non-fiction that children may not yet be able to access independently. 

We believe that reading for pleasure is about more than the number of books a child reads. It is about developing curiosity, enjoyment, confidence and a sense of belonging within a community of readers. 

We celebrate children as readers, recommend books to one another and make time to talk about what we are reading. 

Books that broaden horizons 

We carefully select texts that reflect the experiences of our children while also introducing them to lives, cultures, places and perspectives that may be different from their own. 

Through our book spines, children can encounter the unfamiliar, challenge their thinking, develop empathy and begin to understand the richness and diversity of the world around them. 

We want every child to be able to find themselves in the books they read and, equally importantly, to discover people and experiences beyond their own lives. 

Reading together 

Families are an important part of our reading community. We encourage children to read regularly at home and value the time families spend sharing stories, talking about books and enjoying reading together. 

Our family library sessions and wider reading events give families opportunities to share books with their children and celebrate reading together. 

We know that reading with an adult, talking about books and hearing stories read aloud all contribute to children's development as readers. 

Our ambition 

By the time children leave John Bunyan, we want them to be fluent, confident and independent readers who can use reading to learn, to imagine, to question and to understand. 

We want them to have experienced a rich diet of books and to be able to talk with enthusiasm about the stories, authors, characters and ideas that have stayed with them. 

Most importantly, we want children to leave us knowing that books belong to them and that reading can take them anywhere. 

Reading helps our children to live our vision: 

Kindness leads. Resilience grows. Every learner is inspired to achieve their full potential with purpose and pride. 

Through reading, children develop the knowledge, confidence, imagination and curiosity to understand their world — and to find their place within it.