The year is 1976 and Jack Sheffield never wants to leave his job.Jack has been the deputy head teacher at Newbridge Primary School for six years now, and he's happy exactly where he is - even if it sometimes feels like there are a few things missing from his life. After all, the kids keep him busy and there's always a game of rugby to play.But it's a time of change, and Jack's world is no exception. New and old faces appear in his life and a romance blossoms, bringing with it a buried secret and hidden threat. Soon, Jack must make a decision as to where his future is heading, and prepare to face whatever change is yet to come . . .A classic Jack Sheffield tale, ready to transport you back to a simpler time._____________________Praise for Jack 'Wry observation and heartwarming humour in equal measure.' Alan Titchmarsh'Overflowing with amusing anecdotes.' Daily Express'Amusing adventures at the North Yorkshire village school.' Choice'Jack Sheffield's in a class of his own.' York Press
Jack Sheffield (born Jack Linley, 1945) is a British author who wrote a series of books of fiction about the headmaster of a village school in a fictional Yorkshire village. The stories are set from the late 1970s to the early 1980s and attempt to portray life in Yorkshire as it was at that time.
He was trained as a teacher at St John's College, York and later became head teacher of two schools in North Yorkshire and then senior lecturer in primary education at Bretton Hall.
He took up writing after retirement, and his first novel "Teacher, Teacher!" sold 100,000 copies
Like all of his other books, this is like a comfort blanket to me. It is a prequel to the Ragley school books, so I will now read them all again! Highly recommended.
I have read every single book in the teacher series, obviously over the last few years, so it was especially enjoyable reading this story, as it was at the very beginning of Jack’s future career as a head teacher. Thank you Jack Sheffield x
Another beautifully written book by Jack Sheffield. He has a lovely laid back style, reading his books is always a pleasure. As usual the book progresses through a school year, introducing us to endearing characters as we discover what Jack did in the year proceeding his headteacher series.
First one of this series I’ve read and probably the last too, unless there’s nothing else to read.
The author appeared to have revisited every episode of TOTP for the dates covered by the book and therefore every time he gets in the car and turns on the radio we hear what was the number one then. Sooo boring. Then he must have reread every newspaper for that date range, and every Woman’s Weekly too, so he can try to drop relevant topic info in. Again, sooo boring and badly handled too i.e. very obviously. I certainly expected more anecdotes about the children but the plot (what there was of it) turned out to be much more about the staff and their private lives than school life itself. This wouldn’t have been a problem if what they did out of school were interesting. Even the plot line about an ex coming back to cause trouble could have been made exciting, instead it dragged on and on, and its finale was a damp squib.
As always, I thoroughly enjoyed this latest instalment of Jack Sheffield’s “Teacher" series of books. The books follow Jack Sheffield, a young teacher in Yorkshire, as he starts his career in teaching. To me, they are a comfort read - books that I have read at busy or difficult times in my life, which take me into the past when times seemed much more simple. I love the little touches, like popular foods, records, playground games and comics and the descriptions of the children and their little comments are delightful. This book finds Jack seven years into his deputy headship at Newbridge Primary School and takes him towards the time when he will take up his post of Head Teacher at the Ragley on the Forest Primary School, detailed in Teacher, Teacher, the first book in the series. I am very much looking forward to the next instalment, which I believe takes up Jack’s story 10 books later and takes him towards a new career teaching at a teachers’ training college.
Fast read, stories of jack’s esrly career. Included his love life, music then in the charts, the cars and products of those times. The book is set in the late 1970’s and is nicely evocative - there’s a pleasure in remembering all the hallmarks, even the characters and sayings of those days. The days and people and even the schools mentioned are long gone. And it’s with typical pleasure I revisit that far off past was via Jack’s books. It all sounds like it was much simpler then, more colourful, more nostalgia although there’s gritty realities in here too. I enjoyed reading this, there’s a cornucopia of characters and they are brilliant. The stories almost tell themselves. And you want to know what’s next for them all. Jack cares, and so his reader cares too. If you like Call the Midwife, Waterloo Road, etc you’ll like this.
I love Jack's books. The stories are heart warming and include the appropriate historical information of the decade. This one reminded me of life as a young child. The characters are very well presented and add to the overall sense of charm.
A lovely feel good book. A nostalgic trip back in time to the 1970s. I loved all the references to songs that were in the charts at the time…David Soul, Leo Sayer, Abba….brought back many memories from my early teenage years. I love this series of books.
We always expect laugh out loud moments with this author's story telling and this tome is no exception. Thoroughly recommend for light-hearted read and comical tales.