Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
Outstanding - cover

Outstanding

Steve Baker

Publisher: Crown House Publishing

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

What do you get if you blend a downtrodden head teacher, a hostile school inspector, an incompetent reality TV film crew, an ice cream factory and a load of unruly pigs? A hilarious novel from the pen of Steve Baker, a brilliant writer and school behaviour specialist.
Outstanding tells the story of a school inspection set against the backdrop of a struggling school in a semi-rural setting. Educating Norfolk have been invited in to film the cash strapped school and just happen to arrive at the same time as the inspectors - with hysterical results. Meanwhile, a war erupts between the neighbouring ice cream factory and a local pig farmer in which the school is collateral damage. Plus, an idealistic recently appointed inspector, confronted with the reality of his judgements and their consequences, is forced to make a life-changing decision.  Steve skilfully weaves these elements together and leads the unhappy protagonists towards a magnificent and heartwarming climax.
As a teacher, behaviour specialist and award winning education non-fiction author, Steve Baker brings insider knowledge and sharp wit to this brilliantly crafted debut novel. Combining satire and social commentary, this hilarious book captures the heart of the chaos and pressures of modern-day teaching.
A highly entertaining read for teachers of all levels seeking a light-hearted escape from the pressures and stresses of their day job.
 
Available since: 03/28/2025.
Print length: 280 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • Blue Pastures - cover

    Blue Pastures

    Mary Oliver

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    ""A gathering of gorgeous short pieces"" (Library Journal), Blue Pastures collects fifteen of Pulitzer Prize– and National Book Award–winning poet Mary Oliver's prose works about nature, writing, and herself. 
    ""This transcendent collection is Oliver's joyful sharing of her love of her craft.""—Library Journal 
    With consummate craftsmanship, Mary Oliver has fashioned fifteen luminous prose pieces: on nature, writing, and herself and those around her. She praises Whitman, denounces cuteness, notes where to find the extraordinary, and extols solitude. Nature speaks to her and she speaks to nature. 
    ""This book is biased, opinionated; also it is also joyful, and probably there is despair here too...But the reader will find the pleasures more certain, and more constant, than the rills of despond. Thus it has turned out in my life thus far, influenced by the sustaining passions: love of the wild world, love of literature, love for and from another person."" –Mary Oliver
    Show book
  • Finding Hester - The Incredible Story Of The Hidden Woman Whose Love Letters Changed World War II - cover

    Finding Hester - The Incredible...

    Jack Lawrence, Greg Callus,...

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Finding Hester explores the untold story of Hester Leggatt, a woman who helped trick the Nazis, and is a fascinating read for fans of West End musical Operation Mincemeat and anyone with an interest in women’s war stories 
     
    Operation Mincemeat is one of the stranger tales to come out of the Second World War. A corpse dressed as a British pilot was dropped in the ocean near Spain, with the forged documents he carried landing in the hands of the Germans to convince them to move their troops to the advantage of the allied forces. 
     
    It is an event perhaps most popularly told in Ben Macintyre’s 2010 book Operation Mincemeat: The True Spy Story That Changed the Course of World War II, but it has recently been retold in a 2021 film and is currently the plot of an Olivier-winning West End musical. Operation Mincemeat has never been more familiar to the public. 
     
    To sell the ruse of the corpse, MI5 had to create a credible backstory for their fictitious pilot. They filled his briefcase with receipts, cigarettes, a photograph, and, importantly, two fabricated love letters. 
     
    An interview with MI5 secretary Jean Leslie, conducted by Macintyre for his book, revealed the name of the woman behind those letters to be a ‘Hester Leggett’. This has been repeated ever since, including in both the film and the musical. 
     
    Hester Leggett does not exist. 
     
    The false identity was discovered by a group of fans of the musical. While we know much about the other key figures portrayed in the musical, Hester was always more of a mystery and once the group started to research her, they discovered she was actually Hester Leggatt. 
     
    This misplaced vowel made all the difference and we uncovered a huge amount about the real Hester. This book tells the story of how the musical fanbase found her school records, her family, her real love letters from the Second World War, and definitive confirmation from MI5 that they had the right person.
    Show book
  • Return to Growth Volume One - How to Fix the Economy - cover

    Return to Growth Volume One -...

    Jon Moynihan

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    The UK has, in recent years, been suffering from what is nothing short of an economic crisis. Growth has now completely stalled in those western democracies, the UK included, where high government spending and high taxes have steadily burgeoned, decade after decade. Free-market economies now threaten to leave us behind in terms of wealth, opportunity and standards of living. At the end of Rishi Sunak's 2024 government, expenditure was at 45 per cent of GDP and taxes were 36 per cent and rising – yet still nowhere near sufficient to cover public expenditure. The government's net annual borrowing is now a completely unsustainable 4.4 per cent of GDP, with our overall national debt growing rapidly and alarmingly.
    In this arresting and powerful manifesto for economic change, Jon Moynihan analyses the UK's decades-long stagnant economy and looks at what can be done to resuscitate it. Combining rigorous research with unparalleled business experience, he explores the key dynamics affecting economic growth, ranging from government borrowing, expenditure, tax and regulation to the way national resources are deployed on non-productive and futile, growth-stifling endeavours.
    Ultimately, Moynihan shows that unless we act now to reverse the decline, by radically restructuring our economy to stimulate economic growth, the UK risks stagnation, financial collapse and a long-term disintegration in our standard of living. Ignore his warning at your peril.
    Show book
  • Philebus - cover

    Philebus

    Plato

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    The dialogue centers around the nature of pleasure and its relationship to the good life. The two main interlocutors in the dialogue are Socrates and Philebus, a prominent Athenian intellectual. Throughout the dialogue, Socrates and Philebus engage in a complex and nuanced discussion about the nature of pleasure and its place in the good life. They explore questions such as whether pleasure is the ultimate good, whether there are different kinds of pleasure, and whether pleasure can be reconciled with reason and virtue. The dialogue highlights the importance of balance and harmony in the pursuit of a good life, and it remains a significant work of philosophy to this day. Read in English, unabridged.
    Show book
  • United Kingdom - History of Scotland and England - cover

    United Kingdom - History of...

    Kelly Mass

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    The following topics will be addressed in this book about Great Britain and its history: 
    1 Horatio Nelson 
    2 The British Raj 
    3 The Cathars 
    4 The Great Fire of London 
    5 Ghosts of Scotland 
    6 Scottish History 
    7 Wars of Scottish Independence 
    8 William Wallace
    Show book
  • A Rare Recording of President Richard Nixon and Prime Minister Golda Meir - cover

    A Rare Recording of President...

    Golda Meir, President Richard Nixon

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 - April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was the 36th vice president from 1953 to 1961 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. His five years in the White House saw reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the first crewed Moon landings, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Golda Meir (May 3, 1898 - December 8, 1978) was an Israeli politician who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974. She was Israel's first and only female head of government, the first female head of government in the Middle East, and the fourth elected female head of government or state in the world. She has been described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics, with a reputation for being down-to-earth and a persuasive speaker.
    Show book