Testimonials

A Fat Cat is probably the first book that many of the students I work with can ever read.

Cheryl, teacher

 

Fitzroy Readers are perfectly matched to help a wide range of readers to achieve success. As a teacher, I like the Fitzroy reading system because each book builds on words that a child already knows. Each reader does this by including a familiar word list, the blend focus and any special words a child may need to know by including a list of foci at the front of the book. Each text has clear, easy-to-read print and well-illustrated pictures to match. Finally, at the end of the book, a new word list that includes familiar words and some new words is included. Great revision! Each series of books also comes with comprehension, word and blend activities to support a child with their learning. A great series of books that builds on and extends a child’s ability to read!

Rebekah, teacher

 

I have ordered the Fitzroy Program for my school recently. I have found them OUTSTANDING…Thank you and congratulations on your program!

M. M., teacher

 

Students using the Fitzroy Program are experiencing such success at school and at home with their reading. We are also receiving wonderful feedback from parents regarding their children’s eagerness to read these books. Thank you.

S. C., teacher, Prescott Primary, SA

 

I find the readers extremely useful. They are integrated into our school curriculum and done at all levels of primary school. I particularly like the fact that they are written on a ‘gradient approach’ (as far as new sounds and words are concerned).

C.A., teacher, Athena School, NSW

 

We have four children and between them they have attended both state and private schools for their primary education. The Fitzroy Readers were the BEST readers and graded reading system we encountered. All schools should use them.

Sarah, parent

 

The Fitzroy Program is really great for my students and I would be lost if I did not have these readers and worksheets. Thanks so much.

Jenny, tutor

 

Thank you for presenting readers which deal so effectively with the base blocks of reading.

M. K., parent

 

Fitzroy Readers are the best system I know of.

Bryan, tutor

 

I am pleased to recommend Fitzroy Readers to parents and teachers. The benefits of the Fitzroy Readers include the following: 1. Enjoyable stories which appeal to the reader. 2. A systematic approach to teaching vocabulary and spelling. 3. A finely graded introduction of new vocabulary and spelling. 4. A complete program covering all the main spelling patterns of written English. My own daughters have been educated using the Fitzroy Readers and are now achieving excellent academic results at the University of Melbourne and in the senior levels of high school.

Professor Michael E. Hamel-Green, Victoria University, VIC

 

These readers are phonics based (ability to match the sounds of spoken English with individual letters or group of letters) and allow the students to work at their own pace. In the past Fitzroy Readers have proven to not only be motivating and engaging for all students of all abilities but students develop confidence in their reading ability along the way. I really appreciate how the Fitzroy Readers introduce students to all the basic letter sounds along with introducing students to new vocabulary.

Louise Richards, Inclusive Education Coordinator, St Mark’s College Port Pirie, SA

 

Feedback from our teachers regarding the training program, which has been implemented in our classrooms, has been exceptionally positive and the results already are proving amazing!

Sue, Heathmont East Primary School

 

Your books have been immensely useful in facilitating my online remote speech pathology intervention.

Michele Rahmani, speech pathologist, Talk Solutions, Melbourne

 

We used the Fitzroy Readers combined with the Fitzroy Word Skills workbooks. They are funny, simple, intuitive, and once again I found they promote autonomy, and the progress is very organic. They are black and white and my daughter liked to colour in everything, which I think made her learning experience more fun and enjoyable.

Filipa, parent

 

The Fitzroy Readers are the most used and valuable resource at our speech pathology service.

Monique Thompson, Lala Speech Pathology, Bairnsdale, VIC

 

I used these when I was home-schooling my daughter for prep. Such an excellent product! Very clear and well-graded.

Mary, parent

 

I've just started using these with my son who is in Grade 1, and who has been struggling hugely with learning to read. It is so nice for him to have something to read that he can 'get' and work through without being overwhelmed and giving up/guessing everything.

Danielle, parent

 

The practice with pronunciation is excellent.

Isabel, Project Manager, Bright Futures Foundation, Kathmandu

 

Thanks to Fitzroy Readers and [Word Skills] workbooks, I have had years of happy teaching of literacy to EAL students. The logical and step-by-step phonics create confidence and mastery, while the stories are engaging and interesting. The illustrations are attractive, but no guessing is necessary, as the reading system promotes clarity in place of the demoralising confusion and arbitrariness of many other reading programs. For EAL learners, vocabulary is slowly introduced and reinforced, and the workbooks strengthen the students' knowledge while gently guiding them to more challenging tasks all the time. Thanks, Fitzroy Readers!

Ruth, teacher

 

We have been using Fitzroy Readers since 2011. We use them on a one-to-one basis and in small groups. The children love the sessions and become more confident as their skills improve. We use them throughout the school as part of our Literacy Support Program and find them a practical way to teach the skills the students don’t have and entrench the ones they do. The combination of story/comprehension/spelling/ grammar/vocabulary/story-writing in the worksheets makes Fitzroy Readers one of the best all-round literacy tools available. I would and do recommend Fitzroy Readers to my colleagues.

Sharon, teacher

 

We have purchased the full set of Fitzroy Readers and the improvement is incredible. [Our son] is now enjoying reading, he loves getting to know the sounds, special words and announces when words are not-so-special anymore. He is also now very accepting of those very special words that he accepts will never make sense when he sounds them out. Your method builds knowledge and understanding one reader at a time! Your approach has created an enthusiastic little reader - thank you!

K. D., parent

 

I was aware of the educational impact of phonics-based approaches, but the online materials I had used had been lacking and disengaging, but that all changed with Fitzroy Readers. Even my Reading teachers gush about how helpful they are in their classes and find them extremely helpful in identifying the phonological gaps in their students learning. Perhaps the most valuable component for me has been running a guided reading group and giving other students Fitzroy Readers materials to work on independently while I have guided students through a more complex text.

Charlie, teacher

 

Thank you, Fitzroy Readers, for saving two of my boys from reading failure. Two of my sons were reading at two years below their peers, due to the method currently used in schools. I heard about Fitzroy Readers from a friend, and they're now both able to read at an acceptable level. My 10-year-old has stopped misbehaving at school, as he now feels confident in his learning, and doesn't have to try to be the naughty boy instead of the "slow" boy. He's now the smart boy! I also used Fitzroy Readers to teach my youngest, who is now in Grade 1 and reading at a Grade 3 level....so a big THANK YOU from the boys and their mum.

Janine, parent

 

Congratulations, Fitzroy, on reaching the big 40 years!!! I have been using the Fitzroy Reading Program for 12 years in a number of settings, including: Juvenile Justice Education (10-18yr olds); Special/Remedial classrooms; and, more recently, a remote Indigenous (EAL) classroom. In each of these settings, I have found the readers, student workbooks, assessments and manuals to be invaluable. The Fitzroy Reading Program allows each student to work at their own pace. Students love working through the books, especially in a multi-levelled classroom setting. Relief/casual teachers can come in on any day and everything is done for them! The text and illustrations have appealed to all my students (gender; socio/cultural backgrounds; mixed abilities). Thanks, team!

Liz, teacher

 

The Fitzroy Readers are one of the best graded readers out there. I use them for teaching students who are learning English as a foreign language, and they work really well. I can recommend them to all English students.

Dan, teacher

 

Our beautiful grandson … was a bright and quick learner and loved us to read to him. He started school and was doing well at everything except reading – which we just couldn't understand. Then one day the children's librarian mentioned Fitzroy Readers. I sent away for them and we started working on them immediately. All I can say is that it was like a switch turned on in Josh's brain almost immediately and from then on he read everything. This year he is 21 and has finished his Bachelor of Arts at Melbourne Uni and has just started his Honours year. I would say this is a success story, wouldn't you?

Merle, parent

 

I was so glad to find these readers! I read the Teacher's Guide to understand the approach and it just makes so much sense! I used these readers to teach my eldest son to read. We started with the Fitzroy Sounds CD and books that go with it, while he was at kindergarten. We then progressed through the readers during Prep and Grade 1. I am constantly amazed at how well he can read! I am now taking the same approach with my second son, who is even keener to read, having seen how his brother can do it!

Elizabeth, parent

 

When my children were struggling to learn to read using their school's standard readers, I purchased the Fitzroy Readers. Extraordinary results! I started from the first reader and they really understood how to read very quickly. They progressed much faster than we expected and then grew to love reading. There was no pressure which was important, but just fun reading and re-reading the Fitzroy Readers.

Felicity, parent

 

When my daughter was 5 years old I discovered the Fitzroy Readers in our local library. By the end of her preschool year she was reading. We worked through the whole program. Because of the readers she became a really good reader and a good speller. Last year in Grade 9 she got a high distinction in English. This I credit to the Fitzroy Readers Program. I recently have been thinking of buying the first set for a friend who has a little girl who is in Prep. I can't recommend them highly enough.

Bev, parent

 

As the home-schooling mother of a child with Downs Syndrome, I found it extremely difficult to find readers that would allow my son to move at his own pace and that also had enough support material to keep him interested whilst he was working hard with his new words. Fitzroy Readers allowed us to be successful in the area of reading. It has been a great encouragement to us to be able to achieve in this way.

Catherine, parent

 

I was very nervous as a home-school mum trying to teach my child to read. At age 8, he still wasn't reading anything yet. We started the Fitzroy Program and he has gone forward in leaps & bounds! Together with the accompanying Word Skills worksheets, he is now a confident reader & writer. I highly recommend this program, I can't praise it enough! I'd shout from the rooftops to anyone who wants to teach their child to read: 'FITZROY, FITZROY, FITZROY!'

Freshie, parent

 

Best Australian Phonics Program! As a home-schooling parent, I cannot recommend the Fitzroy Method highly enough. My three children, aged 8, 7 and 5, love the books and their progress has been nothing short of amazing. My five-year-old started reading the books when she was four and her knowledge of the English language is incredible. My oldest son (8) has only 16 books left to read and his grasp of English grammar is fantastic.

Claudia, parent

 

A great resource.

J.M., teacher, Brookvale Public School, NSW

 

I have had great success using your books in my foreign language classes with young learners in Taiwan. The Fitzroy Readers are far and away the best of their kind. Thank you for providing a product of such high quality.

James, teacher, Taiwan

 

Our family has benefited greatly from the literacy program represented by the Fitzroy Readers. My son, who is otherwise an able learner, was not able to benefit from non-phonic modes of reading education. In a few months, exposed to the readers and the method they represent, he was able to read well beyond his chronological age. My daughter was lucky enough to be taught the Fitzroy Method right from the beginning. She has always been an able and keen reader and we both consider this to be due in no small part to the Fitzroy experience. In the course of trying to find solutions for my son, I came across none anywhere as good as the Fitzroy Method. The books are not only an excellent source of reading education, they are also interesting and fun for children and beautifully presented and illustrated. I cannot praise them too highly.

Cathy Lowy, Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne

 

I am delighted with the results achieved from these readers. I was very concerned with the progress being made by my 6 year old granddaughter in reading skills. Her confidence and ability has increased enormously. She now wants to read to everybody. And she is happy to go to school!

J.C., grandparent

 

Thank you for Fitzroy Maths books 16-20 which I received today. I am so happy with the program. My son now loves maths and says "it is easy". He told me last week that school used to scare him because he didn't understand what the teachers wanted him to do, but now he says, "It is fun!”

Mary-Louise, parent

 

I just wanted to write to let you know how valuable the Fitzroy Readers program is at our school... To see these boys develop a love of reading over the last 12 months has been very satisfying. They are much more confident readers and are doing so much better with their comprehension and spelling. The difference that this program has made in their lives is amazing and I would highly recommend Fitzroy Readers to anyone with reluctant readers.

Sue, teacher

 

I thought you may appreciate feedback from a home educator using your readers and worksheets as a first-year literacy program. During my initial search for a good first year program, it took me some time to locate a reader series that was a good blend of phonic teaching principles as well as memorising new words in a progressive way. Many programs I encountered seemed to polarise in one direction or the other. Eventually I found just what I had in mind, a complete set of the Fitzroy Readers in our local library. These readers are very popular with children and parents. I say this because I have never yet been able to just get what I want off the shelf. The readers are always ‘out’… I know very little about what to expect as normal development, however, I can say that Andrew started this year unable to read. We had laid the groundwork, of course, with the alphabet and some sounds. Andrew, himself, has always set the pace. Now he is reading Mark and Mars with fluency. I attribute part of this success to your very well written readers and progressive worksheets. We look forward to continuing the program next year.

Janet, parent

 

I have found the Fitzroy Program to be a most effective resource in helping my 9-year old daughter with dyslexia. She was tested by a psychologist both before and after reading your books and her comprehension was found to have improved markedly. I plan to use the program with other dyslexic children. Thanks again.

Suzanne, parent

 

I have put this new [Fitzroy Sounding Readers] software straight to use. My student was delighted with the ability to hear his internal monologue read back to him, having never received auditory feedback from his reading before. It was a truly magic moment to see his enthusiasm. It made my day. The sounding out component is brilliant for phonemic and phonological awareness. Students are able to track each phoneme visually, as it is articulated. It will greatly assist spelling and writing ability as well. The priming and post reading activities reinforce the components of the text superbly. Having the irregular high frequency words highlighted differently reinforces, visually, that these words must be remembered by sight and cannot be sounded out. I knew this would be another great Fitzroy Readers product, and was not disappointed.

Kristin Anthian, educational and developmental consultant, supporting diverse and exceptional learners