Publisher's Synopsis
It's 1977 and Jack Sheffield arrives at a small village primary school in North Yorkshire. Little does he imagine what the first year will hold in store! Among those he has to grapple with are Ruby, the 20 stone caretaker with an acute spelling problem, Vera, the school secretary who worships Margaret Thatcher, Ping, the little Vietnamese refugee who becomes the school's best reader and poet, and Deke Ramsbottom, singing cowboy and father of Wayne, Shane and Clint. There's also beautiful, bright Beth Henderson, a local deputy head, who is irresistibly attractive to the young headmaster.
