The Leyden Story

leydenpublishing.com is the online store for the unique Australian classroom educational publisher Peter Leyden Publishing, specialising in primary school resources.

Founded in 1963 by teachers Peter and Elsie Leyden, nearly all primary schools have at least some Leyden Publishing resources in their library.

Ashleigh Leyden is their eldest daughter and together with her husband Bob Gallagher, continued the good work after her parent's death.

In 1965 Bob joined the student Freedom Ride that travelled through regional NSW drawing attention to poor Aboriginal living conditions.  A life changing event for all participants.

In 2012 with the trend towards delivering resources online, the firm undertook a major reworking of their back catalogue for online access.  This provides the opportunity to deliver directly to teachers individual lessons on demand.

Continuing Bob's commitment to social justice issues, we particularly recommend teachers check out ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA A-Z a direct follow on to his participation in the Freedom Ride.  First developed in the 1990s by 2 very experienced primary teachers in northern NSW with extensive links to Aboriginal communities, this covers many cultural subjects for all students, not just Aboriginals.  It was also a pioneering resource that acknowledged that white people invaded this country - we use the words  "i for invasion" - that shows how up to date this resource is still today.

Other famous resources now avaiable online include MUSIC, MIME AND MOVEMENT, 16 audio lessons for junior primary; PERCUSSION BAND musical arrangements and CAPTAIN COOK, easy reading information, pictures and activities for classroom use.

To help teachers assess our resources for their own classroom needs,there are extensive FREE sample notes for some programs - link.

Enjoy exploring our website - leydenpublishing.com

Ashleigh Leyden