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Ravenscote Junior School


Junior School


At Ravenscote Junior School,  children are given the opportunity to read a mixture of books including; fiction, non-fiction and poetry. We do not follow one particular scheme and we use a mixture of 'real books' and scheme books depending on the child's reading ability.  At Ravenscote, the expectation is that all children in the school will read at home to an adult on a regular basis and they will record all their reading in their reading record. A child’s reading development benefits greatly when they read and answer questions about their book every day, it is just as important that the children understand what they are reading, as well as being able to read the words, so please ask your children questions as they read to you, some questions to support you in doing this can be found below. 

Finally, we want to encourage a love of reading, and encourage children to read other types of books, alongside the school books that are sent home. We therefore have implemented a "Read around the world" system which rewards children with certificates as they travel around the world, this is achieved by reading the specified number of times within a week.

Reading at home

Questioning your child during or after reading will help them to comprehend what they read and develop their reading skills. You don’t need to ask every question, just choose 2 or 3 each time… Reading questions:

  1. What has happened in the story so far?
  2. What do you think will happen next?
  3. Who is your favourite character? Why?
  4. Who is the character you like least? Why?
  5. Do you think the author intended you to like / dislike this character?
  6. Does your opinion of this character change during the story? How? Why?
  7. Find 2 things the author wrote about this character that made him / her likeable or unlikeable?
  8. If you met one of the characters from the story, what would you say to him / her?
  9. Which part of the story is your favourite / least favourite? Why?
  10. Would you change any part of the story? How?
  11. Would you change any of the characters? How?
  12. Which part of the story was the funniest, scariest, saddest, and happiest? Find some evidence in the text to support your opinion.
  13. Do you think the title of the book is appropriate? What would you have called it?
  14. What is the genre of the book: - Sci-Fi, mystery, historical, fantasy, adventure, horror, comedy or…?
  15. Find 2 sentences, which describe the setting.
  16. Is the plot fast or slow moving? Find some evidence in the text, which supports your view.
  17. If the author had included another paragraph before the story started what do you think it would say?
  18. Would you like to read another book by this author? Why?


At Ravenscote Junior School we carry out whole class guided reading using the VIPERS method to help improve pupil's comprehension skills.  Below is a guide to help you further understand what the acronym VIPERS stands for and the types of questions we ask within a guided reading session.