Jack Sheffield

The year is 1969 and Jack Sheffield is a young teacher in need of a job. In a room full of twenty-nine other newly qualified teachers, he's overjoyed when he's appointed to Heather View Primary. Jack is excited to start his first year there and to begin shaping young minds in a beautiful new location on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.

But Heather View isn't as idyllic as it first sounds. In fact, it looks more like a prison than a primary school. With less than adequate funding and a head teacher who doesn't seem to care, it's no easy task to give the kids the education they deserve. But Jack's determined to do just that. 

For the residents of Ragley, the war is finally starting to feel like a distant memory. But Lily Feather can't quite forget the events of the war and the years that followed. Buried in her past remains a terrible secret from which she cannot escape but that still threatens her fragile family. After the death of their mother, her brother, Freddie, has come to depend on her and her husband. On the cusp of adulthood, Freddie's life is simple: all he really has to worry about is school, girls and a spot of rugby. But when he stumbles across his family's secret past it is his life that is changed forever.

It's 1979 and Dallas is on TV, Mrs Thatcher has just become prime minister, Abba is top of the pops, and in the small Yorkshire village of Ragley-on-the-Forest, Jack Sheffield returns for his third year as headmaster of the village school.

It is 1982 and Jack Sheffield returns to Ragley village school for his sixth year as headteacher. It’s the time of ET and Greenham Common, Prince William’s birth and the introduction of the new 20p piece. Meanwhile for Jack the biggest surprise of his life awaits!

1986 and it's the time of Margaret Thatcher's third election victory, Dynasty and shoulder pads, Neighbours and a Transformer for Christmas. And at Ragley School, a year of surprises is in store. Ruby the caretaker finds happiness at last, Vera the secretary makes an important decision, a new teacher is appointed and a disaster threatens the school. Meanwhile Jack receives unexpected news, and is faced with the biggest decision of his career...

It's 1987, and after a decade as head teacher at Ragley-on-the-Forest School, Jack Sheffield is looking to the future. He and his wife are expecting a new baby, the school is preparing for the introduction of the new National Curriculum, and the coming year promises a whole host of other surprises. Whether it's combing the church for an escaped pet mouse or dealing with the obnoxious new school governor, life in the village is always entertaining.

So when Jack is offered an opportunity that could change everything, he knows he has a difficult decision to make. Endings are never easy, but perhaps the thrill of a new beginning is exactly what Jack needs...

Hilarious, nostalgic and heart-warming in equal measure, Last Day of School is the final novel in the much-loved Teacher series.

A new school year starts in the North Yorkshire village of Ragley-in-the-Forest. On the headmaster's desk are three letters; the first makes him smile; the second makes him sad and the third is destined to change his life forever.

It's 1981 and head teacher Jack Sheffield returns to Ragley-on-the-Forest School for another rollercoaster year. Vera, the school secretary, has to grapple with a new-fangled computer and enjoys a royal occasion, while Ruby the caretaker rediscovers romance with a Butlins Red Coat. And for Jack, wedding bells are in the air.

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 . . .

It's 1983 - the era of the new CD player, cabbage patch dolls, the threat of a miners' strike and a final farewell to the halfpenny piece. At school Jack Sheffield has to manage a year of triumph and tragedy, life changes dramatically for Ruby, the caretaker and five-year-old Madonna Fazackerly makes her mark .

1984 - and it's an important time for the children of Ragley-on-the Forest school... Their school choir is to sing a carol in a church in York, and is actually going to be on television! Helping to keep his excited children, not to mention their parents, under control during these momentous events taxes Jack and his staff to the limit. And at the same time, Jack has his own problems to deal with...

It's 1985, and Jack returns for another year as head teacher at Ragley village school. It's the year of Halley's Comet, Band Aid, Trivial Pursuit and Microsoft Windows. But meanwhile Jack has to battle with some rising stars of the teaching profession to save his job and his school....

It's 1952 and Lily Briggs has just arrived in Ragley, ready to begin her first year as a teacher at the village school. There to welcome her is John Pruett who, after his years in the war, has settled into the role of headmaster. Tom Feather, the local bobby, is also on hand to make her feel at home up north. But Lily has a secret lurking in her past that threatens the new life she's trying to build. Can she move forward and begin to love again? Only time will tell.

In this humorous re-telling of his time as a headmaster in a small village primary school in North Yorkshire, the author has to deal with Ruby the 20 stone caretaker, a singing cowboy, Vera the school secretary who worships Maggie Thatcher, and Ping - a Vietnamese refugee and the school’s best reader and poet.

York, 1988. Dr Tom Frith is beginning his first term as a tutor at the University of Eboracum. After teaching primary school children for several years, he's sure shaping the minds of young adults will be a welcome change. But that's before considering the pressures he'll face outside the lecture hall, from helping three hapless students who've been surviving exclusively on porridge, to fielding inappropriate propositions from students chasing higher grades. 

And then there's the particular challenge of Edna Wallop, the Acting Head of Faculty. Edna may have grand plans to overhaul the faculty's finances, but Tom can't help being suspicious of her methods... 

Meanwhile, Tom meets Inger, an enigmatic Music tutor, and feels an instant spark. One thing's for sure: it's going to be an eventful year on campus, for tutors and students alike!

It is 1980 and Ragley-on-the-Forest village school could be facing closure. In these uncertain times teacher Jack Sheffield may have to find another job.