ABOUT US
Three generations of women have worked to bring you
the most effective resources we can.
Three women, seven decades, over 20,000 sales later... and we are still passionate about it.
Mary Andrew
Founder / Primary School Teacher
Mary Andrew, Founder
Mary Andrew (Diploma in Teaching, B.Ed), was a New Zealand primary school teacher.
When Mary started teaching in the mid 1960s, she was deeply concerned to discover there were many children in her classes who experienced difficulties in reading, writing, and spelling. They needed more individual attention than a classroom teacher was able to provide.
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Mary developed the resources for the many parents who wanted to help their children but didn’t know how. Her dedication included training both tutors and parents to work with underachieving students.
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She had a passion for literacy and a determination to empower these children, many of whom would have fallen through the cracks in the education system.
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The Mary Andrew Literacy Training Trust was set up to help carry on the work she was so passionate about. Mary passed away in 2006, aged 79.
Barbara Griffith
Author / Resource Teacher of Literacy
Barbara Griffith, Previous Owner
Barbara has been a teacher for more than twenty years. As a Resource Teacher of Literacy, she specialized in teaching literacy for much of that time.
Barbara is passionate about books and has a particular interest in helping children to learn to read.
She has used her skills and experience to carefully redevelop Mary Andrew’s original red manual into a more interesting and user-friendly series of books.
Darlene Mathieson
Author / Editor / Graphic Artist
Darlene Mathieson, Current Owner
Darlene loves books, art, learning, and children. She has always been passionate about helping people and animals whenever she can.
Inspired by her mother, Rosalie, her fascination with learning led to her research literacy and learning styles. She has trained in remedial reading and worked with children and teenagers in primary school and community programmes.
She loved redeveloping the existing materials with Barbara, and continues to create new and exciting books, games, and resources.
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Darlene is a Mum to her new son, Jamieson; and loves to travel and compete in motorsport in her spare time. She is also a marketing consultant and business mentor at her company Traction Business Acceleration.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the following people who helped make the revised editions of Mary’s book possible.
Firstly, we dedicate these books to the memory of Mary Andrew who had the passion, and the desire to make a difference in children’s and adults’ lives by empowering those experiencing difficulties with reading.
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Secondly, our gratitude to Karen Tobich, for having the vision to see that Mary’s programme and resources would continue long after her death.
We are also deeply grateful to Cheryl Bougher, who has given us considerable practical advice in the use of the manual and was very helpful in the editing phase of this series of books.