New headmaster Michael Byrne arrives at Waterloo Road with big ambitions to improve the school, bringing with him a team of high-achieving teachers including newly-weds Jez and Sian Diamond and former Waterloo Road teacher Matt Wilding. Left scarred by a pupil's knife attack at his last school, the new head is called to court to hear the verdict of the trial. Elsewhere, Phoenix and Harley Taylor struggle to hide the death of their nan and Finn begins to show an interest in newcomer Trudi, sister of the nearby estate's ringleader Tariq Siddiqui.