Episode 1 Goodbye Year Six

When you get to year six, you are the top dog in school.

I'll never be 11 again.

It's a year packed with emotional highs...

OH! Oh, my gosh!

ALL: Yes!

-..and dramatic lows.

-I'm not going to sit next to him.

Oh, really? That's the wrong attitude.

Aw!

They are going to take me to hospital

because my hand is hurting and I can't move it.

And, as year sixes start their last-ever term at primary school,

-there is a lot to look forward to.

-Well jeal'!

The limos, the glamour

and the party of their lives at the end-of-year prom.

The challenge of stepping into the spotlight

-and showcasing their talent.

-THEY BEAT BOX

The adrenaline rush and wild nights of the first trip away from home.

Pillow fight!

But this is also a time when their life changes for ever.

'Year six is about getting them ready to move on.'

Moving on up until that next stage.

For the first time, exams loom large.

-I almost felt like crying.

-I was so stressed out!

And year sixes get ready to become the new kids again

-as they have a taste of secondary.

-Well done.

-Yes!

Leaving everything you know can be nerve wracking.

I don't want to sit here. She's the only person that I know.

But it can also be the start of something exciting and new.

I didn't think I would make new friends but I have made at least one.

One thing is for sure - the final term at primary school

will be like nothing they've ever experienced.

SHE SCREAMS

There is so much still to learn...

I don't want to mess up for anyone and I want to do my best.

..and to laugh about.

And, after that, it is time to say, "Goodbye Year Six".

Hip-hip! ALL: Hurrah!

Coming up: class clowns and rapping partners

Patrick and Giovanne have a showdown.

Get some tissue!

HE RETCHES

Year six cope with their fears and nerves

when they first visit their secondary school.

I had kind of nightmares but, yeah, I did get to sleep.

And best friends Kelsey and Serrenur face being separated for ever.

I spent five years trying to find a friend as good as her.

There are 500 pupils at Heavers Farm Primary School in South London.

From the youngest three-year-olds of nursery class

to the eldest 10-and-11-year-olds

of year six classes, Amethyst and Aquamarine.

Happy birthday!

It's a school full of big characters and talented performers.

The 60 year-six pupils will soon be leaving behind the school

where they have enjoyed over half their lives.

BELL RINGS It is the register.

Sh, quiet! Tatiana! I know it's difficult.

-Rio?

-Good morning, Miss.

It's Monday's registration

at the start of year six's last ever term at primary school.

And, with only ten weeks left before the end of term,

the classmates are nervous about leaving behind

everything they know and love about their school.

It feels weird now because we are on top

but then, after being on top, we go back to the bottom.

Like reception all over again.

Year six is the best year I have been in.

I like the school. It's so nice.

Even when I get told off, I get told off in a nice way.

-In year six you get benches, iPads...

-Oh, yeah!

-Look what I've done to Alfie.

-Look what I've done to Patrick.

-I am going to miss, um...

-I'm going to miss my brother.

-How can you miss your brother when you can see him at home?

-Oh, yeah!

The children from Heavers Farm are moving on

to different secondary schools all across London.

All the parents of year sixes

have to apply for a secondary school place for their children.

Although they can ask for a particular school,

there is no guarantee they will get it.

So next year, with the class going their separate ways,

it means one of the best things

about primary school is about to change.

-Friends.

-Friends. That's it.

# Cos we are your friends... #

And whilst they know they'll make

great new friends at secondary school,

at the moment all they can think about is the ones they already have.

Rehim. Chayi, Deehip...

um...um...

Autumn. Nicole. Megan. Molly.

No, not Megan and Molly. I'm just making that up. Giovanne.

Everyone treats me nicely.

Even the bad people. They're like,

"Hi, Glen, you want to join us?" And I'll say, "Oh, yes."

We're like a big bunch. A big, happy family.

As these year sixes are not going to the same school,

it means friendships will be tested.

Some friends will be moving schools together, others will be separated.

Some friends don't know yet and can only hope they will be together.

Hello.

Patrick and Giovanne are best buds

who next year face the prospect of going to different schools.

For now, though, they are still an inseparable comedy double act.

Hold on, I'll tie them.

You continue eating your chicken.

Patrick, since when did you start doing Giovanne's laces?

PATRICK LAUGHS

-No!

-Ah! Patrick Prankster!

And it is not just practical jokes that tie them together.

They are also a talented musical duo.

They may be a double act but there are some things Giovanne does

that Patrick does not find funny.

Come on! Why do you have to be so nasty

and spill all the juice? Urgh!

Urgh!

HE RETCHES

Get some tissue!

RETCHING CONTINUES

Move!

Even though Patrick and Giovanne are enjoying

their last few weeks of seeing each other every day,

they know next year they are really going to miss each other.

-Giovanne is like a brother to me.

-Brother from another mother.

I wish he was my brother for real though.

But it will take more than a change of school to split these two up.

A future of fame and fortune awaits them.

In year five and onwards, we have been winning talent shows

for wrapping and beat boxing.

In the future, I hope to be famous.

-Yes, me too.

-He can be my...

-Partner.

-Yes.

Patrick and Giovanne are determined to be friends for ever.

And so are Tanarj'e and Julia.

They have been best friends for six years.

-She's my best friend.

-Yes.

Although it doesn't always seem like it.

She can be annoying, yeah.

-Sometimes she will just come up to me and hit me for no reason.

-No.

-Wait!

-You had a bug on you, man.

All their classmates can see, with this friendship, opposites attract.

-Tanarj'e can be feisty...

-TEACHER: Tanarj'e.

Tanarj'e, she has attitude but seriously she is so nice.

..whilst Julia just likes to have fun.

She is always trying to lift up people, tickle people.

She is funny. She is cool. She has attitude as well.

-I do not.

-Yes, you do.

-I make people laugh.

The bickering best friends don't like to be separated

and are delighted to be going to the same secondary school,

Harris South Norwood.

She wanted to go to Harris South Norwood.

Then she didn't get accepted but then she got on the list

and then the computer decided to put her in Harris South Norwood.

I was pretty excited because that's my school.

-Hallelujah.

-Hallelujah!

But year seven at Harris South Norwood

is three times the size of year six,

so the girls are desperate to be in the same class

and soon they will find out if they are.

But when it comes to the very best friends of year six,

there are two names that leap out.

-Kelsey P and Serrenur.

-Serrenur and Kelsey P.

Kelsey P and Serrenur.

SHE SCREAMS

-I don't know. Someone squashed that here.

-That is dead. Urgh!

They are constantly together.

It is like they cannot move from each other.

Throughout the whole year, I have never known them

to fall out or to argue.

They have such a respect for each other, I think,

and that is quite rare. It is really sweet. It's sweet. (Sweet.)

Serrenur and Kelsey have known each other

since Serrenur joined the school in year two

but they became close after Kelsey stood up

for Serrenur when she was being picked on.

I felt sad, lonely.

But then Kelsey told me not to worry, so I didn't.

I was just being her friend, really.

Because everyone else was being rude to her and I thought it was unfair.

And now they really are BFFs.

'She is a good friend.'

She likes making people happy when they are upset.

Kelsey, she is very shy. She is the best friend I have ever had.

She is good at being a true friend

and being a good sister to Bethany.

For Kelsey and Serrenur,

the end of year six will put their friendship to the ultimate test.

At the beginning of the school year, their families applied,

along with everyone else, for a place at secondary school.

A few weeks ago they heard back

and whilst Serrenur knows which secondary school

she will be going to in September,

Kelsey is a lot more uncertain about where she will be.

I was really hoping to get into the school I wanted to but I didn't.

'I was upset because they offered a school I didn't want to go to.'

None of my friends are going there. No-one I know goes there or anything.

And Kelsey's mum knows how worried and upset Kelsey has been.

It is such a horrible thing to go through

when she has all of her other friends saying,

"Ooh, I'm going to this school and that one."

Kelsey is, "Well, I don't have one."

Everyone in the class is talking about having a school

and I feel left out, really.

I want to feel like that as well. All excited -

knowing I have a school and everything.

I do work really, really hard

and I think I do deserve a school I want to go to.

Kelsey's mind is made up.

She doesn't want the school place she has been offered,

so she and her parents have decided to go through the appeals process

to try and get a place at her preferred secondary school.

The appeal is due to be heard in a few days,

so all Kelsey can do is cross her fingers and hope.

Lunch-time in the hall and it is time to break open

the packed lunches and scoff the school dinners.

As usual, best mates Julia and Tanarj'e are sat together.

I've got apple juice.

I've got Sun Bites and Fruit Flakes.

Let me see it. Don't touch me, man.

There is plenty of treat-swapping going on.

Everybody is talking, sharing food, swapping, black market, like!

"I'll give you two packs of Fruit Flakes for £1.50,"

or I will do this or that.

I'm like, that is a rip-off. That is a rip-off.

Everything happens in the hall, really.

And, most importantly, there's gossip.

Gossip about children, gossip about what they watched on TV.

And then they make fun of the teachers, like, acting like them.

So funny. "Oh, look at me!"

Oh, no.

Thanks.

Hi, Mr Reid.

But there is one hot topic on everyone's lips,

who is going with who to the end-of-term prom.

No-one has asked me so I am not going.

I am not even sure.

Glen wants to kiss her.

No, I do not! He is lying.

-I might go with a boy.

-Who?

-If a boy asked me.

It's not me. No, no, no.

The prom is the party to end all parties.

It is quite a big deal.

They really enjoy it. They look forward to it all year, the prom.

You got some chicken.

And ladies' men Patrick and Giovanne have a cunning plan

on how to get themselves a date for the prom.

She is on the bench and you just move up. And then you move up again.

You say, "How are you?" And she will say, "I am OK."

And then you ask her out

and then she will say she will think about it.

Then, next day, you find out you are going out with her or not.

That is wrong.

This is the "Patronic" start. I go up to them, I play it cool.

Just take it easy. Start talking to them

and talking to them and talking to them until I say,

"Do you want to go out with me?"

And then they say,

"I will think about it, Pats. I will think about it."

-Then the next day, they say yes and I say all right.

-Hallelujah!

You go, "Hallelujah, praise the Lord!"

Patrick has the romantic advice sewn up

and is aiming high in his plans for the ideal prom date.

I was dreaming about, like, I get famous

and then be friends with Willow Smith.

I like her attitude, the way she sings.

She will never go out with you.

You must...

-You don't know. You don't know.

-OK.

He wants me to do a rap about Willow Smith.

Imagine if she doesn't like it.

Giovanne, though, is a bit more cagey.

# La, la, la. #

-No, I do not have a girlfriend.

-Don't lie, don't lie, don't lie.

-I do not have a girlfriend.

-Don't lie. Don't lie.

-OK, I have a girlfriend.

-Exactly. What's her name?

-No-one.

-Say it on national TV.

-No.

-J-U-L...

-You really do not need to tell them.

-OK.

Do not tell anyone who my girlfriend is.

How long have you been going out, Giovanne?

-Like, for two weeks.

-(Three weeks.)

Yes. It is a long relationship.

(It's true love.)

MUSIC: "Kung-fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas

They may have only been together three weeks

but Giovanne had better not upset his potential prom date, Julia.

-She is the school tae kwon do champion.

-All: Huh!

But there is no time for thoughts of the prom for Kelsey.

She has been too upset after finding out

she is not going to school with her best friend Serrenur.

Today, her parents have a meeting

with officials from her first-choice school

to see if they will let her in.

'They are trying their best

'and trying so hard to get me into the school I want.'

If I do, I'll be really, really happy.

It went all right. It went OK but you never know, you know.

There are so many parents appealing,

so at least we have given it our best shot

and Kelsey knows that we have given it our best shot.

For now, they just have to wait for a decision.

Once you get to secondary school, you always have to have start again

and find those good friends.

'It took a long time for me to find a really good friend.'

I'm going to miss the good times with Kelsey.

It's the last session of the day and year six's favourite, music.

In this school, everyone loves to perform,

have their chance to shine and show off their talents.

And today the class have divided up into groups to compose a song,

something that is normally Patrick's and Giovanne's speciality.

They are best buds, a musical double act,

and desperate to enjoy the last few weeks together

before they go their separate ways to different secondary schools.

-He's more like a brother to me.

-Brother from another mother.

Come on, Patrick, do something.

But today Giovanne has chosen to join the girls' group,

rather than stay with his beat boxing buddy.

Knowing they only have a short time left together as a musical duo,

has meant Patrick is feeling uninspired.

I wanted Giovanne in there cos, like,

in the group they weren't really doing anything.

They were just doing crazy things.

THEY HUM AND CLAP

'Then they were starting to mess around.'

Patrick!

-What is going on?

-It is not my type.

-Not your what?

-It's not my type.

It's not your type? What is your type?

Come and show me what your type is. Come and show me.

Come on, show me.

To help sort out the boys' musical differences,

Miss Kelly has to step in.

Giovanne, sit down.

ALL: Yes!

And with Patrick and Giovanne back together,

it's time to make some sweet music.

THEY BEAT BOX

For now, at least, the dream team are back together.

We don't need any girls. No girls.

Kelsey has been worried,

as she has not known which school she is going to next year.

I really hope to get into school. If I do, I will be really, really happy.

It is a few weeks since her parents appealed

and today they have found out

if she will be going to school with her best friend Serrenur or not.

Basically, I asked my mum if we won on appeal

because she does not want me to get upset

but she knows she has to tell me.

I asked her and she said that we did not win.

She has not got into the school she wanted

and she won't be going with Serrenur.

I have spent five years trying to find a friend as good as her

but hopefully I will find a friend like that again.

But it's not all bad news.

She does have another school to go to.

Then she told me that we got offered Edenham, so I felt a bit better.

And Kelsey's cousin Megan, who is also in her class,

is going to Edenham as well so Kelsey is more than happy.

We are really close. We can tell each other everything

and it is good to know that if I went to the school

and it was hard to make some friends,

I can hang out with her until I find the right friend.

Leaving the school they have known for seven years

means a new start for year six.

Next year, they will be in different schools with different rules,

new friends to make and new lessons to take.

Today, Serrenur and ten of her classmates

are visiting their new school, Harris South Norwood,

to get a trial run and become year seven for the day.

And now Serrenur knows she won't be going to school with Kelsey,

she is determined to make the most of today by making new friends.

I am feeling very excited. This morning, getting ready,

my cheeks were really red because I was so excited.

I had kind of nightmares but, yes, I did get to sleep.

It does feel like my new chapter

because I'm going to leave year six and come to secondary school.

I will meet new friends and do new lessons.

But it is not just the challenge of new friends on year six's mind.

Harris South Norwood has nearly 1,500 pupils

and the building is huge -

three times the size of their old school

and they are all worried about finding their way around.

I am nervous that I will get lost and be late to my lessons.

They will have homework to do, an extra hour of school a day

and, most challenging of all,

with the oldest children at school being 18, they'll be the youngsters.

Good morning, year six. It is lovely to see you all.

We had this event last year

and it was lovely. The year sixes loved it.

We want you to familiarise yourself with our academy,

so you will be moving around the building

like you will do when you come to join us in year seven.

And, for the first lesson, it is in at the deep end with maths.

OK, try and do that one. Try some others.

The step up to secondary school means much tougher lessons

and year six is struggling.

Oh. This one could be that one.

No, definitely this one.

I am glad I went here but it is a bit hard.

We've got it, we've got it!

-See.

-Really? It looks like that from the side.

-Now, does it look like that from the front?

-No. Oh, no. It does. It does!

SHE FEIGNS SOBBING

Next up, it's science

and the girls get a real taste of what it is like at secondary school.

-Excellent. Well done.

-Oh, that is really pretty.

And before long, Serrenur and Marina

are in a team with a girl called Katie from a different school.

I think you are burning it too much.

-She is putting something into a plug in the wall.

-No.

I don't know. I can't work this one out.

Lunch time, and it has been a good morning for most people.

But best friends Julia and Tanarj'e are not feeling so positive.

They have always been excited about coming to secondary school,

as they thought they would be together.

-She is my best friend.

-Yes.

But today they are upset as they have been split up

and put in different classes. They don't even get to sit together

for their favourite part of the day, lunch.

I don't want to sit here.

She is the only person that I know.

I am sad because Julia is not with me because she is my best friend.

And I do not like being separated from her.

While old friends Julia and Tanarj'e

are finding the reality of secondary school tough,

the day is going pretty well for Serrenur.

Her and her new friend Katie are getting on famously.

I spoke to Katie and she is very friendly.

She is from Greek.

Yes, we are kind of friends now.

With her new friend looking on,

Serrenur has a nice surprise at the end of the day.

Serrenur, if you could come down for best teamwork award.

APPLAUSE

Three and smile. Nice one!

I thought I was not going to make any friends

but I made at least one today.

-Awesome, wicked.

-Good, cool.

-Excited.

It is going to be different because we have seen this big school

and we know what it is going to be like.

Going back to Heavers is going to seem really little.

Best buddies Tanarj'e and Julia have been reunited

and even though they are in different classes,

their visit has inspired them

that secondary school really is their natural environment.

This morning I felt like a leaf dropping from a tree.

Now I feel like a tree.

I felt like a bumblebee and everyone else was like a moth.

But now, I feel like a moth. Everyone else is a moth.

I don't understand it.

The class may be looking forward to their new schools

and it may feel like the end of term is just around the corner.

By the time we leave,

it will feel like my whole seven years of being here has flown by.

But there are still weeks of excitement

and challenges to come for this year six.

And that fear of losing touch with old friends?

Well, Glen has got the answer.

By that time I will have a Blackberry Curve.

I will be getting everyone's number and calling.

Hey, guys, how you doing? Are you ready for the summer holidays?

Coming up next time:

Will new boy Jerry pull it together when it really matters?

Jerry, please don't do it in the test because it's not working for you.

Nerves threaten to destroy the end-of-year-six talent show.

I can't do it.

HE RAPS: Look at me, you look like Bugs Bunny.

Patronic in the place. Cor!

And will year six crack under the pressure of the dreaded SATs?

I had a dream that I did not pass on them

and then when I went to secondary school I was in the low group.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd