School Years

From the autumn harvest festival to the summer sports day, the academic year is a non-stop frenzy of planning, preparation and potential chaos, whichever side of the school gates you find yourself. But now Britain’s best-loved teachers and podcast hosts Lee and Adam Parkinson are here to make it all that little bit easier as they share the hilarious trials, tribulations and tomfoolery going on inside our primary schools.

Every four years, two girls are kidnapped from the village of Gavaldon. Legend has it these lost children are sent to the School for Good and Evil, the fabled institution where they become fairytale heroes or villains. Sophie, the most beautiful girl in town, has always dreamed of her place at the School for Good while her friend Agatha, with her dark disposition, seems destined for the School for Evil.

Fed up with the playground mafia at her children’s school, Rachel Young is desperate for a change. With her family and various pets in tow, a picture-perfect village in the countryside beckons. There, Rachel’s children will be able to keep chickens and skip through fields and she’ll bid farewell to the botoxed, fake-Gucci wearing Mumzillas forever. But at the new school the mums are even worse, and before long, Rachel finds herself contending with a motley crew including Mrs High School Musical, The International Sex God and The Frisky Pensioner.

Pediatrician and twin-mom, Dr. Shelly Vaziri Flais, offers expert advice for raising healthy, well-adjusted twins and triplets in this fully revised and updated third edition. Her guidance will help parents of multiples prepare for their babies' arrival, weather the first few months of infancy, manage toddlerhood, and help establish individual identities through the school-age and teenage years. The combination of sound medical advice and real-world experience will give twin-parents the direction and reassurance that they need.

Just like all little girls, I hoped I was special and that one day my powers would be revealed. My parents would be bewildered, my friends would equally worship and envy me, and my bullies would run away in terror! Nothing happened when I turned 10. I didn't grow wings at 12, still wasn't able to make things move with my mind at 14, and at 16, I was already too old to believe in such nonsense. Well, what do you think happened the day I turned 18? I got the confirmation that I was only human. In the mail! Oh, and also an invitation to apply to the Grim Reaper Academy.

For as long as I can remember, I've been the girl who didn't fit in, the girl who collapsed in the middle of class, just because my brain decided to turn on me. I can't really complain, though. We don't live in the Middle Ages, so I have yet to be subjected to an exorcism. I can get treatment for my condition. Epilepsy aside, I can mostly be a normal person and have a normal life. There's just one problem. I'm not a normal person. I never have been. And the first time I find this out is upon receiving an exclusive invitation to The Academy of the Devil.

Rafe Kane has enough problems at home without throwing his first year of middle school into the mix. Luckily, he's got an ace plan for the best year ever, if he can pull it off. With his best friend Leonardo the Silent awarding him points, Rafe tries to break every rule in his school's oppressive Code of Conduct. Chewing gum in class - 5,000 points! Running in the hallway - 10,000 points! Pulling the fire alarm - 50,000 points!

Yesterday, your child was a sweet, well-adjusted eight-year-old. Today, a moody, disrespectful 12-year-old. What happened? And more important, how do you handle it? How you respond to these whirlwind changes will not only affect your child's behavior now but will determine how he or she turns out later. Julie A. Ross, executive director of Parenting Horizons, shows you exactly what's going on with your child and provides all the tools you need to correctly handle even the prickliest tween porcupine.

It was clear from an early age that Dexter Procter was different. He started speaking at four seconds old. By the age of three, he had 87 A-levels, from Afrikaans to Zoology. And by ten, he was working as a paediatrician at Lilydale General Hospital. Despite a loving but annoying family and a couple of good friends (Rupi and Otto), Dexter’s always struggled to fit in. Add to this a mortal enemy (Dr Drake) and a major problem at his old school (all the teachers struck down with awful diarrhoea) – will Dexter be able to save his job, save the school and find his place in the world?

At 22, Dan Brown came to the Bronx's P.S. 85 as an eager, fresh-faced teacher. Unbeknownst to him, his assigned class, 4-217, was the designated "dumping ground" for all fourth-grade problem cases, and his students would prove to be more challenging than he could ever anticipate. Intent on being a caring, dedicated teacher but confronted with unruly children, absent parents, and a failing administration, Dan was pushed to the limit time and again: he found himself screaming with rage, punching his fist through a blackboard out of sheer frustration, often just wanting to give up and walk away.

Rex Forehand, PhD, and Nicholas Long, PhD, have helped thousands of parents achieve discipline using positive reinforcement, without yelling or harming the child's self-esteem. Their clinically proven, five-week program gives you the tools you need to successfully manage your child's behavior, giving specific factors that cause or contribute to disruptive behavior, ways to develop a more positive atmosphere in your family and home, and strategies for managing specific behavior problems.

Parents will gain insight into how to transform their parenting to help middle schoolers find greater independence, connect well with peers, and have the deepest learning possible in and out of school. Educators will learn about the developmental keys to making middle school a place of belonging, with deep social and emotional learning and academics that draw out students' full motivation and potential.

From age five to 12, parenting decisions get more complicated and have lasting consequences. What's the right kind of school? Should they play a sport? When's the right time for a phone? Making these decisions is less about finding the specific answer and more about taking the right approach. Along with these bigger questions, Oster investigates how to navigate the complexity of day-to-day family logistics. The Family Firm is a smart and winning guide to how to think more clearly - and with less ambient stress - about the key decisions of these early years.

Middle School Makeover is a guide for parents and educators to help the tweens in their lives navigate the socially fraught hallways, gyms, and cafeterias of middle school. This audiobook helps parents, teachers, and other adults in middle school settings to understand the social dilemmas and other issues that kids today face.

Homeschooling can be a tremendous gift to your children—a personalized educational experience tailored to each kid’s interests, abilities, and learning styles. But what to teach, and when, and how? Especially for first-time homeschoolers, the prospect of tackling an annual curriculum can be daunting. In Home Learning Year by Year, Rebecca Rupp presents comprehensive plans from preschool through high school, covering integral subjects for each grade, with lists of topics commonly presented at each level, recommended resource and reading lists.

A book that aims to help parents - and professionals - support their child with Down Syndrome’s communication skills through the Primary School years, from age 3 to age 11.

Marisa never planned to be a snoop for hire. It wasn't like she wanted to catch her best friend's boyfriend making out with another girl. But as her reputation for sniffing out cheaters spreads all over school, Marisa finds herself the reluctant queen of busting two-timing boys. And her next case? It's for ex-frenemy Kendall. She's convinced that her boyfriend, TJ, has feelings for someone else and persuades Marissa to start spying on him. But the more Marisa gets to know sincere and artistic TJ, the more she starts to fall for him. Worse yet, the feelings seem to be mutual.

It's New Year's Eve, and Iris has just found out that her husband, Adam, is cheating on her. Furious, she kicks him out and enlists her dad to move in and help with the children whilst she tries to mend her broken heart. But her dad soon starts to display signs of Alzheimer's, and Iris realises that if she loses her partner, she'll be managing an awful lot on her own. Soon, she realises that Adam wasn't the only one taking their marriage for granted, and for the sake of the children she decides to give him one more chance. 

Ava Alexandra Hughes is seven years, four months and 15 days old. She's looking forward to her first day of year three at Crabtree School for Girls. But there is a serious problem: Crabtree School is just too good. It's such a good place that the a class from last year refuse to leave. Now those pesky 11-year-olds are clogging up the whole school, and Ava is going to be stuck in year two forever and ever. Ava and her friends must come up with a plan to get the year sixes out for good.

In Growing Strong Girls, Lindsay Sealey reveals the tremendous power of connection to activate self-awareness, inner strength, and confidence in girls. It all starts with a nurturing and secure connection between you and her.