Nursery life inspires Victoria’s new book

A FORMER Teesdale Mercury features writer has published her first children’s book about life at the Toft Hill day care centre her children attended.
Spring into Explorers, by Victoria Downes is the tale of a day-in-the-life of preschool children at Explorers Day Care Nursery, which is based on a working farm.
The book, illustrated by Kathryn Gander, follows children and their teachers as they explore the farms, fields and woodland, viewing each moment with a child’s natural wonder and curiosity.
Ms Downes, formerly of Eggleston but now living in Durham, was employed at the Mercury as a feature writer 20 years ago. After leaving the paper she went on to work in radio before retraining as a teacher. She took a sabbatical from teaching after the pandemic to pursue writing.
She said: “Both my children attended the nursery and I was inspired to create the story when a picture appeared via the nursery Facebook page of my daughter feeding a new born lamb.
“[Explorers owner] Jenna [Whitaker] is passionate about doing all she can to ensure the children in her care have access to every resource possible. Lots of children were affected during the pandemic and the book can be used as a tool to help build a child’s vocabulary and help ease any potential anxiety they may feel when transitioning into the early years foundation stage”
Ms Whitaker said: “Creating a book that was purposely designed for early years has been a real dream for myself and my team.
“Literacy is at the heart of everything we do at Explorers.
“We want to inspire the next generation of writers and illustrators and what better way to do that, than by bringing literature to life for our children with a book about their nursery and experiences.”
l Spring into Explorers is available for sale at Explorers Day Care Nursery priced £8 or through Ms Downes’ website www.teacheronsabbatical. com.