A teacher from Middleton Primary School in Leeds has attracted over 37,000 fans with her alias ‘Veronica Silver’, reading morning and bedtime stories to children across Leeds. Michelle Park was both upset and concerned about the mental and physical wellbeing of her own class and the rest of the school when lockdown started, so decided to actively do something to support the children whilst schools remain closed.
Creating a ‘Mrs Doubtfire’ style character, Veronica Silver was born and is now reading stories and trying to help children understand and cope with the current situation and feelings that they will be experiencing. Michelle explains, ‘we look after a lot of children from disadvantaged areas, and children whose parents are key workers, so may not get to spend a lot of time with them during the lockdown. I wanted to ensure they still had some structure to their day and something to look forward to. I also use the story time to openly talk about the current situation and suggest ideas for drawings or activities they can do at home.’
Within a week the postings were attracting a lot of attention on both Instagram and Middleton Primary School’s website, but Michelle has now had viewings of up 37,000 nationwide. What started as an idea to benefit a small number of children, has blossomed into a following that is inspiring and helping young children across Yorkshire and beyond.
Local author Amy Walker contacted Michelle to ask if she could read her story ‘Anchor Moon’ and posted her a copy, which has subsequently been offered as a prize.
Headteacher of Middleton Primary, Samantha Williams is delighted with the public’s reaction to Veronica Silver, ‘we are so lucky to have such a dedicated and inspirational member of staff whose concerns for her own pupil’s mental health and wellbeing, are now benefitting thousands of children nationwide’.
Michelle has also featured as the ‘Hero of the week’ on Andrew Edwards breakfast show on BBC Radio Leeds and been offered books from Pegasus Publishers. However, she only has a limited supply of books at home and is in need of more to ensure she can maintain the variety of stories for the children and her growing audience.
Given the current lockdown situation, it is unfortunately not possible to involve the public in supporting this request for more books, but Michelle has put out a request to publishing companies, bookstores and authors nationwide to try and support her appeal. Michelle will happily read out any books received and then offer them as prizes to the children. It is an amazing opportunity for authors to reach out to a new audience of young children and introduce their books to them.
The ideal type of books needed are 5-10-minute storybooks for the 4-8 age group. Any companies or authors wanting to support Michelle are asked to email her at [email protected].
If you would like to follow Veronica Silver on Facebook or Instagram, so your own children can enjoy her stories and updates, please go to @athomewithveronicasilver
