Buster’s Book Club supporters and beneficiaries have praised the literacy scheme after young participants clocked up a staggering five million minutes of reading in just six months.

Sarah Leipnik of supporter organisation Golding Vision said: “We’ve been involved in the project since the start and we’ve seen it grow and grow and grow, which we are really proud of.

“We’ve hit five million minutes of reading, which is fantastic.

“If you are looking at ways of trying to encourage your reluctant readers, give it a whirl, visit the website and get involved.”

Reading reward scheme Buster’s Book Club encourages children to read more at home. Participating schools’ classes compete internally for weekly trophies, and winners of monthly inter-school challenges are rewarded with tickets to leisure attractions or visits by celebrity storytellers.

Lesley Ogle, assistant head at Buster’s participant St John’s C of E Primary in Canterbury, said: “We’ve been doing Buster’s Book Club now for a couple of years, and it’s really made a difference to the amount of children reading in the school, and really raised the profile of reading at St John’s.”

She said older pupils in particular had been inspired by Buster’s spirit of friendly competition.

And Michael Head of supporter organisation Acorns Read and Grow said: “I think that the KM Charity Team and Buster’s Book Club do a fantastic job in helping to improve children’s reading and enthusiasm for reading.”

Besides Golding Vision and Acorns Read and Grow, Buster’s is supported by the Ernest Cook Trust, Little Cheyne Court, the Kent Community Foundation, Orbit, Specsavers, Leeds Castle, Diggerland, Hornby, Wildwood, Rotary, the Crown Foundation, The Education People and Kent, Medway and Bexley councils.

Find out more at Bustersbookclub.co.uk, and watch a video about the five-million-minute landmark here: