School's out!

As the new school year begins, Jack Sheffield prepares for an even more eventful year than usual. A new teacher is appointed and, before long, tongues start to wag. Meanwhile, five-year-old Madonna Fazackerly makes her mark in an unexpected way, life changes dramatically for Ruby the caretaker and, in the village coffee shop, Dorothy Humpleby plans a dirty weekend. It's the era of the new CD player, Microsoft Word, the McDonald's McNugget, cabbage patch dolls, the threat of a miners' strike and a final farewell to the halfpenny piece.