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A systematic, synthetic phonics program for F–2



Essential Letters and Sounds Australia (ELSA) is built on a research-based program with proven impact. We have adapted this series for complete alignment to Australian schools and all state curriculums.

⟶   Keeps routines simple to reduce cognitive load and maximize your students' success
⟶   Online, on-demand training, available around the clock and included in your teaching subscription
⟶   Practice made easy with our high-quality decodable series matched to the ELSA phonic progression and aligned to Letters and Sounds

Meet our authors and experts

Expert Contributor

Karina is an experienced classroom teacher, school leader, and literacy consultant. Karina is passionate about the use of evidence-based literacy instruction and positive behaviour support practices in Australian schools. She has a particular interest in implementing Multi- Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to ensure equitable access to effective instruction and intervention, so all students can succeed. Karina is currently a PhD candidate at Monash University, researching the implementation of learning sciences within an MTSS framework to support improved reading outcomes in Australian schools.

Literacy and Instructional expert

Dr Nathaniel Swain is a Teacher, Instructional Coach, and Researcher. With expertise in language, literacy, instructional practices and cognitive science, Dr Swain is dedicated to empowering teachers to develop “life-changing” language and literacy skills in every student, through effective and engaging teaching. He works as a Senior Lecturer in Learning Sciences and Director of Undergraduate Academic Programs at La Trobe University School of Education and SOLAR LAB. Nathaniel has taught a range of learners in schools and universities, and founded a community of teachers committed to the Science of Learning: THINK FORWARD EDUCATORS, now 24,000 members and growing. Dr Swain is a sought after speaker on educational circuits, and has a new book soon to be released in 2024 entitled “Harnessing the Science of Learning: Success stories to kickstart your school improvement”.

Author

Tara Dodson has many years experience in supporting schools across London as Reading Lead and developing CPD programmes for phonics and early reading. Tara runs the live training for Essential Letters and Sounds in the UK.

Author

Katie Press is a specialist English teacher, supporting schools in developing their phonics practice and modelling high-quality phonics and early reading teaching. She is the Director of English for the Knowledge Schools Trust Primaries.

Teaching Subscription

The online Teaching Subscription provides everything your school needs to implement highly structured, consistent phonics teaching.

⟶  On-demand teacher training for implementing the program, available every day of the year for refresh and coaching
⟶  Daily front-of-class lessons and Teacher Handbook for planning
⟶  Assessment and intervention support
⟶  Printable lesson plans, word cards, and more


Teaching Subscription

Classroom Resources

ELSA’s structured approach means that these resources are used in a consistent way in every lesson, reducing cognitive load for students and maximising success.

⟶   Grapheme Cards for Foundation and Year 1
Use these front-of-class every day of the week as part of the ELSA’s consistent lesson structure

⟶  Spelling Poster Pack
Contains one copy of each of the Foundation and Year 1 posters, display as a clear front of class reminder

⟶   4 Activity Books
These activity books are used by students during each lesson, are an essential support for reading, writing and spelling and are available in the various state specific handwriting fonts


Classroom Resources

eBook Library

Digital ebooks matched to the Essential Letters and Sounds Australia progression and organised by year and week

⟶   The ELSA eLibrary school subscription makes digital reading practice easy, with titles matched to each week of the ELSA progression across Foundation and Year 1
⟶   Teachers can simply assign relevant titles to students in the eLibrary subscription
⟶   Oxford’s decodable range aligns to Letters and Sounds and can be used alongside the program

eLibrary

F and Year 1 Decodable Book Packs

The Essential Letters and Sounds Australia Foundation and Year 1 Pack provides decodable readers perfectly matched to the ELSA Scope & Sequence for every week of the program. Students will read one book in pairs during the explicit teaching weeks (one book between two students), and two or more books in pairs across each review week (one book between two students).

The packs include titles from many different series aligned to Letters and Sounds and include a range of engaging fiction and non-fiction titles.

Each Pack contains over 500 readers, explore the titles!
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Packs

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Activity Books - NSW Handwriting Font

Activity Books - VIC Handwriting Font

Activity Books - QLD Handwriting Font

Evidence of Impact


Essential Letters and Sounds Australia has been adapted for Australian educators and learners from a very successful structured synthetic phonics program, Essential Letters and Sounds, developed by Oxford University Press (OUP) in the United Kingdom (UK), which has been validated by the UK Department for Education (DfE), and which is currently being used by more than 1000 UK schools.

In 2023, Oxford University Press (OUP) undertook an impact study with schools in the UK to gain an in-depth understanding of the extent to which and how the Essential Letters and Sounds teaching program enables teachers to deliver consistent and structured phonics teaching.

READ THE IMPACT STUDY

Webinar: Discover an evidence-based, explicit phonics program built for Australian schools

Watch our Essential Letters and Sounds Australia (ELSA) webinar to find out how Oxford can support you in implementing a cost effective and evidence-based approach to teaching phonics in your school. Hosted by the Press' Joanna Lake, this webinar will equip you with strategies and resources to implement explicit teaching in synthetic phonics, to support student success.