I asked my Year 1 class, ‘What's the best thing that's ever happened to you?'

George Pointon asks his class a lot of questions. What do you want to be when you grow up? What do you reckon your parents do while you're at school? Can you put that down, please? JJ, the stapler – can you put it down?

He's also got a few for himself: what is he doing here? Who was he kidding, thinking he could teach?

But the course of true professional fulfilment never did run smooth, and there's no backing out now.

In this book, George takes us along on his first year inside the messy, magical world of primary school teaching. In the company of five-year-olds – who are somehow wisdom, innocence and chaos incarnate – there is always lots to be learned.