By Sue Roffey and Terry O’Reirdan, David Fulton pound;14

There is a flavour of a useful cookbook about this book. Sue Roffey and Terry O’Reirdan provide straightforward recipes for dealing with situations ranging from pupils’ difficulties in listening to following instructions, stealing, cheating, making noises and outright defiance. The recipes are quick-reference checklists describing behaviour, assessment, short-term management strategies and plans for longer-term change.

The advice draws on the authors’ experiences as educational psychologists and their work in drawing together guidelines on behaviour for primary schools in the London borough of Haringey. It’s clear they have met some tough kids.

Their book sticks to the plain language of the staffroom and is invaluable for inexperienced teachers and as a source for training learning assistants. Good teachers already use most of their techniques but will find useful reminders on how to avoid confrontations in which neither child nor adult is able to back down without losing face. There is plenty to help maintain and develop good working and social relationships in classroom and playground. The importance of consistency and a strong support network is rightly stressed. This would form a useful annexe to a school’s behaviour policy.