[1] The show follows the lives of the teachers and the pupils at the eponymous school of Waterloo Road, a failing inner-city comprehensive, tackling a wide range of issues often seen as taboo such as a missing student, adultery, bulimia nervosa, bullying, sexism, contraception, an affair between a teacher and a pupil, child pornography, homelessness, young carers, a dog attack, Alzheimer's disease, postpartum psychosis, sexual exploitation, homosexuality, xenophobia and infertility.

While Jonah relishes the opportunity to make new friends and have new experiences, high-achiever Ruth feels she's got little to learn and soon takes matters into her own hands by running away.

Meanwhile, Chris has slept with a girl called Jess, but when he arrives at the school he is horrified to learn that she is not only a Sixth Form student but Karen's daughter.

Facing exclusion, Sam relies on the honesty of her best friend, Lauren, while Cesca's reputation lies in tatters as Karen struggles to unravel the truth.

Jonah is outraged when he learns that the staff room doesn't have a camera and, along with Ronan, hatches a plan to expose the hypocrisy of the scheme, unwittingly stumbling upon Jess's and Chris's secret in the process.

Elsewhere, through the aid of Jonah and Ronan's planted CCTV camera in the staff room, Grantly's shocking home life is exposed to the year 11s, who taunt him about it in class, and push him to his wits end.

However, a letter from the council to Grantly tells him that Fleur does not qualify for any sort of pension, and thus he must pay the full amount of her care, a fee which could leave him broke.

Elsewhere, Adanna unveils her latest plan to unite the sexes; Denzil conducts a life-threatening stunt; and creative differences threaten Ruby and Grantly's writing partnership.

In a bid to finally go public with her relationship with Jonah, Cesca hands her notice in to a shocked Karen and Chris with a fabricated story about her father being sick.

However, when a series of events arouses Chris's suspicions, he follows the pair and finally uncovers the truth, sending shockwaves through Waterloo Road and bringing the wrath of both Karen and Marcus.

It's the day of the Waterloo Road pantomime and there's drama both on and off-stage as Finn gets Kyle purposely kicked off the cast, Cesca and Jonah rush to get married and Denzil's latest stunt ends in tragedy.