About Us

Welcome to the online home of Fitzroy Programs. Our shop and office, located at 593 Brunswick Street, North Fitzroy, Melbourne, is open 10am - 5pm, Monday to Friday. All enquiries, however big or small, are welcome via phone or email. To keep up-to-date with news and happenings, follow Fitzroy Readers on Facebook and Instagram.

 

The Story of the Fitzroy Program

The Fitzroy Readers began in Victoria, Australia, in the late 1970s. The program was created by an educator–linguist team who shared a simple goal: to help children learn to read in a way that was logical, achievable, and enjoyable.

At the time, phonics was not a central focus in classroom practice. The first Fitzroy Readers were created in response to this, offering a clear and carefully structured pathway into literacy. The guiding idea was straightforward: children benefit from moving forward step by step, learning the sounds of English in a logical sequence, and building skills in a way that makes the structure of the language clear and accessible.

What started as a small set of carefully graded readers gradually grew into something much larger. Over time, more stories were added, sequences were refined, and supporting materials were developed to strengthen the learning process. Today, the program includes ninety decodable readers, along with companion resources that extend into spelling, comprehension, grammar, and writing.

As literacy education has evolved, phonics has again taken a central place in classrooms, including within frameworks such as the Australian Curriculum v9.0. The Fitzroy Program has continued to develop alongside these changes, remaining grounded in explicit teaching and a steady, cumulative approach to learning.

Now used in thousands of schools and learning environments across Australia and internationally, the program has become part of many children’s first experiences of reading. It continues to support teachers, parents, and tutors in helping learners build confidence, independence, and lifelong literacy skills.

 

 

English

The Fitzroy Program provides systematic, synthetic, evidence-based phonics resources for the explicit teaching of literacy.

The program is a complete F–6 literacy resource. Ninety decodable readers form the core of the program, each carefully graded to introduce new sounds and spelling patterns in a logical sequence.

The accompanying Word Skills workbooks reinforce the phonics taught in the Readers while also developing grammar, punctuation, comprehension, vocabulary and writing skills — including creative, practical and persuasive writing.

The Fitzroy Readers gradually introduce the high-frequency irregular words (referred to as special words within the program).

Aligned with the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0, which places a strong emphasis on phonics, the Fitzroy Program supports achievement across all three English strands, with a particular focus on literacy.

 

Maths

The Fitzroy Maths Program was developed to build confidence, accuracy and fluency in numeracy through clear, structured progression.

It consists of six sets of five workbooks, designed from beginner through to upper primary level. The early levels use minimal written language, allowing students to focus on mathematical understanding and skill development.

The program follows the same step-by-step, logically sequenced approach as the Fitzroy Readers, ensuring that concepts are introduced gradually and reinforced through practice.

Students develop strong foundations in number, operations, measurement and problem-solving, with opportunities to build both procedural fluency and mathematical understanding at each stage.

 

French

Fitzroy Readers distributes Bien-dire magazines, a respected French language-learning resource for English-speaking students.

Bien-dire Initial (for intermediate learners) and Bien-dire (for advanced learners) are published specifically to support French language development. Each issue includes articles on contemporary culture, history, travel, cuisine and current affairs.

Vocabulary lists support comprehension, and optional audio materials assist with pronunciation. Interactive online exercises are also available via Bien-dire Plus.

Six issues of each magazine are published annually, with Bien-dire Initial and Bien-dire released on alternate months.