It's a new academic year and budget cuts start to bite at The Castle, the largest and most successful school in south Gloucestershire's Castle School Education Trust. 16-year-old Chloe is struggling to deal with the pressure of her forthcoming GCSEs, walking out of one of her mock exams after suffering an anxiety attack. She wants to be a forensic scientist, but must overcome her fears as the real exams approach. 12-year-old Chelsea, one of the brightest students in her year group, is struggling to settle into her first year of secondary school. When she deliberately sets off a fire alarm and the entire school has to be evacuated, head teacher Angie Browne sees it as a cry for help from a talented child trying to fit in and decides to intervene personally. Angie, newly appointed as interim head, is struggling to maintain the school's high standards whilst overseeing significant budget reductions. Within eighteen months the Trust's cash reserves will be exhausted. Angie must break the news to her colleagues that they face pay cuts of up to £6000.