When Hurricane Soft and Fluffy completely flattens Sandy Primary School, an unlikely turn of events means that the children of Mr Bell's class are handed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The government wants a bunch of ordinary children to not only design the new school, but to decide on its location, too. Unfortunately, the government can't find any ordinary children, so Mr Bell's class are chosen instead.

When the school is reopened, Mr Bell leads his bonkers class through perilous bus journeys, calamitous school fairs, an exhilarating treasure hunt and all-out parent warfare at the sports day. Gluey guinea-pigs, a local artist's Big Plastic Windy Bottom and daft doctors are all part of the usual ebb and flow of Sandy Primary School.

This is a story that needs to be told, but who could possibly write it and would anyone believe that it was true? It is...almost.