As the stuff of Nutbourne College return to their premises at the end of the summer holidays and prepare to welcome back the boys for another year, they are horrified to discover that another school is about to arrive, expected to share their facilities by the Ministry of Education.

Headmaster Wetherby Pond is outraged not to have been informed but sets about trying to work out where 100 extra boys, and their teachers, might sleep.

It is not long, however, before the first students begin arriving, and there is a further shock in store: the incoming St. Swithin's is an all-girls establishment!