When Mrs Kay's 'Progress Class' are unleashed for a day's coach trip to Conway Castle in Wales, it is an exuberant celebration of the joys and agonies of growing up and being footloose, fourteen and free from school. But this is more than a romp - it points up the depressing present and empty future for these comprehensive no-hopers from the backstreets of Liverpool, for whom a day out is as much as they can expect.
