BEEF EVERY DAY BUT NO LATIN, BY KEVIN NEWMAN

Ever thought you could run your school better than your teachers? In 1925, an 11-year-old schoolboy from Hove in Sussex, James Bernard Clifton did more than just think about it – he actually went ahead and set up his own school. Complete with a one-legged swimming teacher, a book-throwing headmaster, a ball-stealing school dog, and WWII bombing raid, Beef Every Day But No Latin tells the tale of how ‘Clifton’ manages to do what no other British child has ever done: open up his own school and keep it going. Unlike any other school, Clifton was able to decide on the timetable, recruit his own staff, and teach other pupils. The end result? A very unique school, which we’d all like to have attended, where the pupils had ‘beef every day but no latin’. This equally sad, funny and heart-warming story is based on the real-life story of a this very amazing boy, the team he built and his school, Claremont School in Hove. Setting up a school will lead to all sorts of problems though, as Clifton will find out, especially when the Headmaster of the school you left is out for revenge…

This book is also available on Amazon.

£7.99