Thank you to NetGalley and 4th Estate and William Collins for this ARC.

George Pointon is or at least was in this book a young primary teacher for Year 1. This is probably why he explains everything clearly, including the British school system, which I, as a non-native, was grateful for. Year 1 is five to six year olds ("it's important to remember that some of them are six").
 
Here he talks about his first year as a Teaching Assistant (TA) at a run-down primary school in London. What makes this doubly interesting is that it was the lockdown year 2020-21, and the kids had to be taught remotely for a while, which was a challenge as not all the children had access to online learning tools and the government did nothing much to help.

I've been following George Pointon on Twitter for quite a while now. I love his pupils. He asks them questions and they give the most adorable answers which he has shared on Twitter together with his good-natured commentary. I would have liked more of that in the book actually.

When Ravi was first mentioned I cheered - he's my absolute favourite, a ray of sunshine and kindness and "a charismatic superstar". Obviously there are also the more challenging children, the ones with a home life that's not up to scratch or are underprivileged in many ways, but even they are described with love.

I don't know whether the kids' names are real but he has given his colleagues drinks aliases, so we get a Mrs Tea, a Mrs Milk and a Mrs Smoothie, with a late addition of a Mrs Chardonnay. He is always full of praise for his mostly female colleagues.

"Mrs Smoothie would make an excellent politician if she didn’t have empathy."

It shines through how much he loves working with children and always treats them with respect and the individuality they deserve. He is so engaging and never says a bad word about his pupils, even the challenging ones. He finds kids fun and wise - "these imaginative, fun and joyful young people."

I am sure he would be a great Dad too and it was sad to read about his heartbreak (trigger warning for some who only expect funny bonmots from school life).

He keeps his ire for politicians like "the ham-faced mop of hair that we called a prime minister". 

We need more teachers like him but he is honest about the challenges teachers face from underfunding and overwork, and that many teachers go to look for less stressful and better paid jobs after a while.

My own family is full of teachers (both my parents were) but I don't think I could have ever done it myself, and I am full of admiration for those who can.

This is a fantastic and mostly funny read celebrating young children and their minds. Heartily recommended and might be a nice present for any teacher in your life.

We should all follow him on Twitter. At the moment he's doing "one challenge a day for 29 days" against child poverty, obviously chosen by his pupils: @GeorgePointon_