Zero Per Cent

Jack Curling tells his life story from 11-15 while sitting in Business Studies GCSE, writing nothing but his number, knowing that this will earn him precisely 0%.

Jack is caught in the slipstream of decisions, decisions made without reference to him and what he wants. Can't he run his life on his own terms? He's pretty famous at school – Jack Curling, entrepreneur and wheeler dealer. Surely his dad can see that he's OK doing it his way? It's time to prove a point. The exam is waiting. Can he get precisely 0%?

Mark Swallow was born in 1963. After studying history at Oxford University, he trained as a journalist on the Gloucestershire Echo. He has travelled and worked in China and India. He is now a teacher in Bristol, where he lives with his wife and son, Finn.