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Despite the title, this is actually a relatively slim book, but one dripping with ideas. The main section is organised under 26 headings, which is an approach that generally works well – though using ‘Y’ for ‘Why?’ and ‘X’ for ‘Excellence’ seems slightly forced.

Section 2 focuses on SEND, teacher standards and other areas, offering suggestions grounded in Blatchford’s first-hand experience of English schools and some overseas settings.

The end result is a tome that readers can easily pull new ideas from and feel enthusiastic about implementing. Not all ideas are equal, though, and I’m personally yet to be convinced by the benefits of dictation. Blatchford also floats the idea of teaching English via a cross-curricular approach, which, while a worthy goal, has been tried with less than satisfactory results. By and large, however, this particular A-Z would merit a place in any teacher’s collection.

This review was first published in Teach Secondary magazine.