School Days Special 12 Again

Coming up: 12 Again goes back to school.

You will behave when at this school!

I once got such a good school report,

my mum and dad bought me a tent.

I'm kind of out there, but not so much that I'll get in trouble.

We'll find out what big school was like for them.

If you talked, if you did anything wrong, your paper would be gone.

We'd have, like, a pie sandwich in an entire loaf of bread.

And what did they wear to the school disco?

Have we got any masking tape?

Want to know more? Well...

Have you wondered what it would have been like to be at school

with your favourite celeb when they were your age?

What songs got them dancing at the school disco?

And what were their favourite classroom dramas?

Because, despite the glamorous lifestyles they now lead,

once, they were a kid at school just like you.

This show finds out what school days were like for your favourite celebs,

and asks them to become 12 Again.

From presenters, to comedians...

Hello, Apollo!

..to pop and rock royalty

and the stars of must-see mega school drama, Waterloo Road.

I snore a bit, but you already know.

They've all sat in a classroom and longed for the bell to ring.

To be fair, this show can't start without us.

So let's find out what your favourite stars remember

about their school days.

When I was 12 at school, I was rather cheeky, quite talkative, a bit nosey.

When I was 12, I hate to say it, but I was really, really boring.

I was quite a cheeky chappy! Old beyond my years.

I am pretty sure that I was quite annoying at school.

I always asked questions. My friends used to hate it.

"Stop asking questions. We'll get out early!"

Well, Helen, I've got a few questions too.

First off, what was school like for comedian Shappi?

I wasn't one of the cool kids. We didn't have hair straighteners then.

My hair was this massive frizz. I got called mop head.

And I was fat. I got called The Incredible Bulk.

Not great, then! And how was it for rock star Guy Garvey?

I didn't have the best time at school.

I wasn't cool and also, my ears stuck out. I had really big ears.

That was something people picked on.

Some people couldn't get enough of school.

I was quite good, I think. I managed to achieve the post of head boy.

I've got my head boy badge there.

He still wears it today!

I used to love school.

I used to be there until half five every day.

But you had plasma TVs in your school,

so of course you're going to love your school.

One good thing about going to secondary school,

there's more people and you're likely to find people like you.

And I did.

My worst subject without a doubt was French.

I can't speak English properly, never mind French!

-Je suis pantalons. I am trousers!

-Exactly! Good.

I hated IT because the teacher was so scary.

And if you ever pressed one button wrong, an alarm went off.

It was so embarrassing because the class knew you'd done it wrong.

One thing we had was woodwork.

I decided to make a pair of stilts.

I was only two feet 11.

I was probably thinking they'd be handy.

But as far as woodworking goes,

there's not really much skill involved.

It's a stick with a bit of wood bolted to the side. That's it!

I spent a whole term doing that!

I remember I used to love English and Japanese.

What? Japanese!

Japanese!

Plasmas at school. Japanese lessons!

Can we all please just calm down! OK.

Sometimes it is the simple things that give the greatest pleasure.

Ah, happy days!

I remember being 12, getting a new exercise book and covering it.

You got some wallpaper from home

and the pleasure of getting a new exercise book was just immense.

One of the best things about being 12 and moving to secondary school

is being able to buy a whole new stationery set.

Oh, my gosh!

All the new stationery, your new pencil cases.

I got this 101 Dalmatians one. It was a proper sick pencil case.

It had a bit for your rubber, a bit for your sharpener. Amazing!

I'd love that pencil case now.

I used to throw my rubbers. A little game. Don't do this.

No, don't do this.

We used to saw off bits of rubber with rulers

and then throw them at each other.

-It was a good game.

-No!

-Mr Tomes didn't like it.

-No, I bet he didn't.

Mr Tomes wasn't impressed!

But what did the teachers think of our other celebs

when it came to report time?

Every school report I ever got said the same thing,

"Does not work to her full potential."

"Really excellent work," it says,

"often spoiled by silly, immature behaviour. Guilty?"

Guilty.

And did Olympic athlete Iwan show any early promise?

"A quite outstanding athlete.

"I am confident he will represent Lincolnshire

"at the England School Championships. Good luck! Well done!

I once got such a good school report,

my mum and dad bought me a tent. Which was nice.

"Rebecca is always enthusiastic and works hard. However,

"she does tend to chat a little too much in class". OK.

Exam results were rather disappointing.

Yeah, always in trouble for talking. I think it's still the same now.

Whether they were class clown or star pupil,

one thing they all had in common was school uniform.

I did like having a uniform.

I liked it because it because it meant you could

throw your clothes on straight away and go out.

We had a nice purple uniform which obviously, we hated.

But looking back on it, it was quite nice, really. A nice shade of lilac.

The school uniform consisted of black trousers, white shirt.

I'd usually wear a vest underneath.

That's cool, isn't it? Wearing a vest.

We had a tie that was red and black stripes.

I'd pull threads out of the red bit to make tramlines across it

and try and personalise it a bit more.

You could only take out so many tramlines before you had to admit

you'd done it yourself and you were ordered to get a new tie.

-It wasn't cool to have a long tie. No, no, no.

-Oh, yeah!

-You had to have the shortest tie possible.

-Which is really not cool.

In the end, everybody's ties started to look like Dickie bows

because it was getting smaller and smaller and smaller.

I used to have it about there supposedly saying,

"I'm kind of out there, but not so much that I'll get in trouble".

My mum would never let me have cool shoes.

Some girls would have little ballet pumps with bows.

No, I had thick heels with plain black lace-ups and I had really

small feet so they'd just look like little bars of soap, plodding along.

I looked ridiculous.

-Did you ever wear trainers?

-At school?

Yeah, trainers with school trousers always looked so cool.

I always felt cool and you could do it if you had a foot problem.

-What?

-So long as you had a note.

"I've got six toes, so I need to wear these trainers".

Nixon! Rhodes! Concentrate!

That's right, it's exam time.

Good luck!

Exams were one of the worst things about school for me.

I always used to put a lot of pressure on myself, which sometimes

worked me up too much and I became really worried and panicked.

School exams were a tough time for me.

I was very hyperactive.

I didn't like to sit in one place for too long.

I'd be the kid looking out the window thinking "What time's break?"

The worst thing is, everyone turns the paper over

and you're all reading it.

Everyone around you seems to go, "Oh, yeah."

They write ten to the dozen for minutes.

What? I've not even read it yet!

How are you doing that?

What I did love in exams, you'd get stressed out

because you had homework and revision to do.

You'd be so stressed, come the exam day and it's a multiple choice one,

I can't tell you the pressure that got lifted off my shoulders.

Oh! That's good, though!

I knew there was a chance I might get it right

without having to use my brain.

I hated the fact that everybody used to pretend they hadn't revised

when they had.

"I've not done any revision". Of course you have!

We all have. Nobody wants to get bottom marks.

I'm quite self-critical, which was silly, because I did well at exams.

Most of the time if I got 97% or 98%

I'd be like, "That's not good enough!"

Wow! And if you hadn't revised like clever clogs, Kirsty,

would you ever be tempted to cheat?

You can definitely spot a cheater in an exam.

Maybe drop a pen a bit further than they should.

And then it's...

"Ah! Got my pen!

"I'll write that down!"

You'd see the odd person giving a sly look in the exam room itself.

But you'd just...in case you got incriminated.

That was the fear.

If you talked, if you did anything wrong, your paper would be gone.

You'd see people with writing all down the insides of their hands.

They'd walk in like that.

I didn't ever dare.

I was so nervous I'd get caught and I'd be mortified

so I never once cheated, but people did.

And yes, she's talking about you, Newsround's Ricky Boleto.

I did cheat.

I remember we could take our French dictionary in

and I wrote a few things in my dictionary, which is really naughty.

And I should never have done that and I still only got a C!

So I must have been really bad at French.

But I do not endorse cheating. Don't do it!

-I was looking at somebody's work in a test.

-Ooh!

-I didn't...

That's naughty!

Hey, I don't think it's a good idea to do,

but algebra is hard, man!

I'd have built a forcefield around my work with my textbooks.

Would you? I wouldn't have copied your work, mate. To be fair!

From copycats to cool cats, with exams behind them

you could let your hair down, put on your dancing shoes,

and bust out some killer moves.

It's the school disco!

# Disco inferno... #

I liked school discos.

It was great fun.

We had a table that had crisps and juice and tuck shop and stuff.

One lot of kids up this side of the room, the girls,

and then the boys down that side of the room.

You'd have the geography or French teacher being DJ

pretending he was cool.

-Mine was PSE teacher, Mr Hunt.

-Oh, no!

That was the time you got to wear whatever you liked.

You would try and go a bit more outrageous than maybe you

would at school. Make up and things like that.

I used to love pink glitter all about us.

You want to wear your best outfit,

your best pair of jeans that makes you look a bit down with it.

Do I wear the white trousers?

That was very in in the '80s. White trousers and white jacket, oh!

Unbelievably, it was!

As demonstrated by pop megastar Michael Jackson.

But one part of Jacko's image didn't work quite so well for Sam.

Michael Jackson, for some unknown reason,

used to wear white tape around his fingers.

# As you came to the window

# Was the sound of a crescendo... #

So, it was the night of the disco, I'd got home from school.

I said "Mum, I'm going to the disco. Have we got any masking tape?"

And I wrapped my fingers with masking tape and went to the disco.

Why did I do this?

Don't ask us, Sam, some things are just beyond explanation.

I was waiting all night for a Michael Jackson song to come on.

Did it come on? No.

-Brilliant!

-Not at all.

# A smooth criminal. #

I think it's for the best, Sam. For the best.

Waste of time.

If Michael Jackson wasn't on the playlist,

what were the other top tunes our celebs were dancing to?

Cha Cha Slide was quite a big one at the time when I was at school.

# This is something new # The Casper Slide part II

# And this time, we're going to get funky

Dum dum-dum!

Originally popular in fitness classes,

this number one from 2004 was released in 1996

and took eight years to cha-cha slide to the top of the charts.

You'd get in rows and stuff.

Slide to the left!

Slide to the right!

I remember other routines as well, like the Macarena.

#... alegria macarena.. #

Recorded by two ageing Spanish blokes who called themselves

Los Del Rio,

this unlikely pair topped the charts the world over

with the irritatingly catchy Macarena.

# Hey, Macarena! #

I loved the Macarena. I can remember it to this day.

Even now, I take it quite seriously.

Right! Head, hips, wiggle, jump.

No, you're off. You missed it. Get back in line and do it properly.

Sorry, Helen!

I was a pain in the neck, wasn't I?

But we took it seriously. The girls had to do it right.

The boys never joined in.

I did. What about you, Ricky?

I was very good at the Macarena, yes.

Me too, brother. Me too.

Duh-na-na-na. Macarena.

No-one knows the lyrics to it. They just do,

da da-da da da-da da, Macarena! Hey, macarena!

It's all about the moves, mate! The moves.

But there was one party song whose lyrics were easier to understand.

You just needed to follow the simple instructions.

There was one song I remember. I think it was called Superman.

Amazingly, Superman, by mullet-haired pop duo, Black Lace,

only ever reached number nine in the charts,

and yet it's been filling

school disco dance floors for nigh on three decades.

It was fun because you didn't have to be good at dancing to get involved.

Yeah, that was it.

# Hitch a ride. #

Nobody hitches rides.

# Sneeze. Achoo. Achoo! #

Go for a walk.

Da da da da-la-la-la.

# Spray! #

Maybe I'm using a roll-on? He didn't think about that!

Roll-on! It doesn't work as well, does it?

It wasn't a dance or a song, it was a list of instructions.

OK, so you've combed your hair and applied some much-needed deodorant.

Are you ready for the grand finale?

Everybody would stand on a chair and go, Superman!

It's the one dance that the boys can do.

Not strictly true, Helen, and as the school disco drew to a close,

there was always that last slushy tune that got the boys

shuffling awkwardly towards the girls.

The slow dance.

# Close your eyes, but don't forget... #

It would either be the best time or the worst time

because that's the moment you think,

"Am I going to have a dance at the end of the night?"

I was always the last girl picked because I had very frizzy hair.

I would sit there with, like,

balloons stuck to my head with static. The other boy left

would be the kid who'd turned up in his school uniform

because his mum thought it was the smartest thing.

You'd dance like this, wouldn't you?

As far away from the person as humanly possible

and you would just sway from side to side.

Chris De Burgh's smash hit smoocher, The Lady in Red,

topped the UK charts in 1986,

and it's been a slow dance favourite ever since.

# Never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight... #

Bit weird, this!

# I'd never seen you shine so bright

# You were amazing! #

You know the two people who had the awkward dance in the middle? Yeah.

-Like this.

-Yeah.

And because I was short, my hand was right on their bum

and my head was on their chest.

I was the female in the relationship.

Aw! Bless!

Still to come, we'll find out what classroom dramas

our star pupils enjoyed.

Grange Hill was naughty television, wasn't it?

-What am I supposed to be looking for?

-Exam paper, dummy!

The Demon Headmaster was terrifying.

Look at me!

They were wild. And you wanted to be part of their gang.

But first, our celebs remember when schools hit the headlines.

Tomorrow, MPs will decide if corporal punishment should be

retained in any of our state schools.

The year I was 12, 1986, corporal punishment was banned in the UK.

It seems hard to believe now, but back in the '80s,

corporal punishment meant that teachers were allowed

to hit naughty pupils using slippers,

canes or even belts. Ouch!

I remember the headmaster, he was a big bulldog of a man,

whacking a leather belt on, like, a lectern at the front,

"You will behave when at this school" and all this

and terrifying all these kids.

That's no good, nobody wants to be scared at school.

So in the '80s, the government decided that teachers

in state schools should no longer strike pupils.

If there was the thought of getting whacked around the hand or leg,

you couldn't concentrate if you want to be creative.

I think we're better off without it.

So with the cane now back in the drawer for good...

Can I have a word with that young lady...

..how were our naughty celebs punished

when they stepped out of line?

When we got in trouble, we used to get detentions and do litter picking.

We went to a big field next to the school playgrounds at break

and lunch and we just used to pick up rubbish.

The teacher would stand and watch.

"There's a bit there and there".

Everyone's having fun and you're just...

Picking up litter. Dog do-do. Who let their dog in the school?

It was embarrassing. The worst punishment.

Picking up rubbish was all well and good for minor misdemeanours,

but in 2000, the government was worried about a bigger problem,

and truancy hit the news.

On any one day across the country,

50,000 pupils who ought to be in school are playing truant.

What's more, in most cases, their parents know about it

and have given permission.

I remember when I was about 12,

because truancy was such a big thing, it wasn't just the kids

getting into trouble for bunking off.

It was more the parents getting into trouble as well.

We have a number of parents here who, unless there's pressure

put on them, they won't get children to school.

If we have a policy with some teeth behind it, we know it will work.

The government decided that bunking off

didn't just break the school rules, it was also against the law.

Excuse me, gentlemen.

And one mother was sent to jail

because her two teenage daughters skipped school.

As soon as that story came out about that lady,

because it was national news, people started to be a bit scared.

My school, after that story, really knuckled down with truancy.

These tough new rules weren't supported by everybody,

but at the time, they did seem to have an impact.

This morning, teacher unions said truancy rates are now falling

as a direct result of the threat of prison to parents.

I could never skive.

I remember I got a certificate in front of the whole school assembly

for 100% attendance.

You could tell as I'm walking out to the front,

everyone's just going...(SNIGGERS)

Every day!

The thing is, though, we've obviously found each other.

-I got 100% attendance as well.

-Did you?

-Yeah.

-Nice.

That shows you. Stay in school, guys.

Wise words, fellas.

And it wasn't just punishment and truancy issues making the news,

in 2005, it was the turn of dodgy school dinners to go on trial.

This is Newsround.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has said school dinners are horrible

so he's calling on the government to spend more money on them.

I remember Jamie Oliver doing his school dinners.

There was a lot of fuss in the papers.

A man who's made his millions from cooking and supermarket adverts

says meals served up at schools are rubbish and need improving.

Before Jamie Oliver launched his campaign

school dinners weren't as healthy as he would have liked.

Tell me your favourite school dinner.

Pizza, chips and beans.

Pizza and chips. Probably.

And it wasn't just these kids who loved their stodgy food.

Turkey burger, chips and beans. Yes, please. And a pudding.

-No greenery?

-No. I had no greens for my lunch.

I loved my school dinners.

My favourite dinner was cheese and onion tart with chips and beans.

Sometimes I would get a sausage roll, chips and beans.

-Oh, how nutritious!

-Healthy.

Sometimes, when we got away with it, we used to go out of school

and buy a pie sandwich in an entire loaf of bread.

Pie sandwich? Not for me, Melanie.

We used to have these delicious things

-called Turkey Twizzlers at school.

-Yeah, delicious.

They were so yummy and then Jamie did his campaign and they did

a whole episode on how bad they were and how there was no turkey in them.

Then our school stopped serving them.

Yeah, I'm all right, thanks, Tiger.

And he wasn't the only one upset by the new healthier options.

Some parents and children rebelled against healthy menus.

In Rotherham, a handful of mums tried to smuggle in fast food.

I could see what all the fuss was about, but then again,

he only cares, Jamie. He cares.

Now let's find out what school TV shows our celebrities were watching

when they were 12.

Grange Hill was naughty television, wasn't it?

Grange Hill was a gritty CBBC drama about a comprehensive school

in London that ran for an incredible 30 years.

I wasn't really allowed to watch it officially.

So when you put it on and heard that music and saw that sausage,

you thought, "I hope Mum doesn't come in now

"because she might say turn it off."

My mum and dad banned me from watching it

because it was full of naughty people.

And one of the naughtiest kids at Grange Hill...

Do my shoelace up while you're down there.

..Was cheeky young scamp Pogo Patterson.

He was a bit of a wheeler-dealer.

He's got lots of schemes going on. There was always something like that

at school as well. So you kind of related to the character.

Hapless Pogo was far more interested in his money-making schemes

than his maths homework.

-What am I supposed to be looking for?

-An exam paper, dummy!

And it wasn't just exam scams.

Grange Hill was chock-a-block with kids behaving badly.

Pack it in, Doyle.

I wasn't a massive Grange Hill fan.

I used to find it too gritty.

There was quite a lot of violence involved.

It was educational at the same time. We were being entertained.

At the same time, we didn't realise we were being educated.

That's why I've grown up so proper!

Next up, some far from proper classroom capers

from an iconic comedy first produced back in the '50s.

St Trinian's was about what was supposed to be a very

respectable private all-girls' boarding school.

Actually, they were like wild animals.

These films blazed a trail for badly behaved school kids on screen,

and one of the most popular was The Belles Of St Trinian's, made in 1954.

When our girls leave here, it is the merciless world

which has to be prepared.

Obviously, young Jo wasn't even born then, but no problem.

These classic films have been endlessly repeated on telly

for nigh on 50 years.

It was black and white, yet you still wanted to watch it.

Most things black and white were just old-fashioned

and you weren't interested. And it was funny.

-You will be careful of that nitro-glycerine, won't you, pet?

-Yes.

They were all feisty girls. God forbid you should go near that school

because you could get barricaded inside it and never be allowed out.

SHOUTING

They were wild and you wanted to be part of their gang.

-I think that gives you a fair picture of the school.

-Quite!

So whilst St Trinian's was all mayhem and mirth,

our next school drama was a little more menacing.

The Demon Headmaster was terrifying.

The Demon Headmaster was a hugely popular BBC series from the '90s.

It told the story of Dinah,

a new girl at a school where the pupils weren't quite as they seemed.

It's down to the Demon Headmaster, isn't it?

He controls them all. Swirly eyes!

He had these glasses and when he took the glasses off,

you knew you were in trouble. He's going to get you with those eyes.

Funny that you should all be so tired.

'His eyes! No!'

You are very, very tired.

'I won't look at them.'

Even as a kid watching, you'd think,

"I don't want to look at him in the eye".

It was quite nerve-wracking TV.

Your left arm is completely numb.

You can feel nothing.

'Oh, yes I can. I can. I can.'

As I thought, pretending.

Look at me!

Yikes! And he wasn't just mean for the sake of it,

he had a sinister master plan.

-I have a master plan.

-See, told you.

-He wanted to take over the world.

-He's naughty.

Starting with a school, though. A bit weird, that.

My scheme will be the only choice people have.

-You've got to start somewhere, I suppose.

-Yeah.

Don't you understand?

He hypnotises people to get them to do what he wants.

You were on the edge of your seat week to week,

wondering what would happen and how it would end.

Good morning...

Prime Minister.

It was scary stuff. Scary stuff, you know?

Silence, both of you.

So, those were our star pupils' favourite TV treats,

but if you've got exams on the horizon,

what wise words can they offer?

If I could give kids advice for exams now, I would just say,

put the work in. That's what I did and look at me now!

Playing dinner lady at Waterloo Road. Get in!

You think that everyone else is so confident and that you're not.

The simple fact is, everyone is scared,

and just trying to do the best they can.

Everyone is in the same situation.

And what advice would they give their 12-year-old selves?

Looking back, I'd probably say to myself,

"You need to calm down a bit.

"Just enjoy it a bit more."

If I could talk to myself when I was 12 I would just say,

people who've got this colour hair, gingers, just be confident

and because people make fun of you

because you're different...

who wants to be the same as everybody else?

If I met my 12-year-old self now I think I'd just say, "Carry on.

"Yes, you're a geek, but we'll love you in the end."

My parents always used to say to me,

"This is the best time of your life at school." And they were right.

They were absolutely right.

My advice would be, if you don't enjoy school,

keep your head down, work hard,

get out of there and it will all become one memory one day.

And just in case it is the best years of your life,

really go for it!

So, what have we learnt?

Pogo Patterson couldn't even be bothered to tie his own laces.

Do my shoelace up while you're down there.

Never ever slow dance with Sam Nixon.

# ..Never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight... #

-A bit weird, this!

-Creepy!

Finally, don't take Macarena lessons from Newsround's Ricky Boleto.

Duh-na-na-na. Macarena. Eh, Macarena! Aye!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd