Double Take Our School

Each September, half a million children

begin the most important year of school so far.

Year 7.

Boom!

CBBC have rigged this secondary school with loads of cameras,

so you can see exactly what happens...

..as they make new friends

and get into trouble.

If you wish to find out how strict I can be,

then break the rules I set down.

I'm not spotting make-up there, am I?

But what they learn here...

..will stay with them for ever.

Hello there. I'm Mr Thorburn and I'm a science teacher here.

If you've ever wondered what secondary school is like,

here's your chance to find out.

This is Our School.

BELCH

How can you do that?

SCHOOL BELL RINGS

When you're in primary school,

your friends often live nearby.

But in secondary school, students can come from much further afield.

And on today's programme, we meet Donna,

who's just moved back from the other side of the world.

We also meet...

And if you're wondering -

yeah, they're related.

We're twins.

Identical twins.

In primary school, the girls were in separate classes,

but to help with Chloe's confidence,

they're going to be in the same form at our school -

one of many new experiences they'll be sharing.

My biggest fear about being in the same class as Chloe is...

Probably that people will be staring at us, because we're the same

and we'll probably be sitting next to each other.

I get quite nervous, quite easily.

I get any emotion quite easily.

Hm. She's very sensitive, in other words.

Being identical twins, it's pretty hard to tell Holly and Chloe apart.

That's Chloe on the right

and Holly on the left.

And now that's Chloe on the left

and Holly on the right.

Just, just... I'm not going to say anything,

but just look at her...

And then look at me.

Her...

Me. You kind of get the point.

It's... I don't know how to describe it,

but her nose is like...that.

And your face is just like...

that!

It's not just me that finds it tricky.

Even their form teacher, Mr Glendenning,

is struggling to get it right.

Er, Holly?

-Chloe.

-Chloe?

-THE TWINS CHUCKLE

Yeah, he just guesses which one is which

and then he gets quite annoyed if he gets it wrong.

He's "Oh, I started to get that right,

"but now I've got it wrong again, haven't I?"

My name's Chloe...

We all know that.

-Well, obviously I don't.

-CLASS LAUGHS

-And...

-(Hi.)

-Shut up.

CLASS LAUGHS

Don't... Don't tell yourself to shut up.

Yeah! Yeah, right?

It's a bit of a running joke now, how I'll get the name wrong

and even they're starting to play on it as well. It's like,

"No, it's Holly... No, I mean Chloe!" It's good fun.

Sometimes the twins use the confusion to their advantage.

I was getting told off once.

I got my name written on the board

and he went, "Right, what are you called? Chloe?" And I said, "Chloe."

-Exactly!

-She got her name written on the board!

He says that he can't tell us apart, but he can.

Holly...

They trick... She's tricked me.

I went the whole French lesson thinking she was Chloe.

And we had to spell our names out in French and I said, like,

whatever it is, spell "Chloe"

and she went, "No, it's..." and spelt "Holly",

and I was like...

-"You're Holly!" Oh...

-SHE GROANS

Oh, it's a headache.

Sir does the register and because he doesn't know who's who,

he just goes, "Chloe Holly?"

and marks them "here", straightaway.

I'm going to call you "Hoey".

Holly.

I said "Hoey", Chloe and Holly, mixed.

Holly will say "I'm Chloe" and Chloe will say "I'm Holly."

-They did that before...

-They did that to me the first time I met them.

I just say, "Hi, Chloe Holly!"

And they're like, "I'm Chloe." Then I just say, "Hi, Chloe."

I am sick of her face.

-Right back at you, Chloe.

-Not in a mean way, not in a mean way.

I'm just saying... There is no nice way of saying it.

I'm just seeing myself in the mirror, but I'm just prettier than her.

I'm not being mean, but there's no nice way to say that, is there?

At the start of Year 7,

you find out all about your new classmates.

-Are you up next, Holly?

-Yeah.

-Come on, then.

Today, 7AG are taking it in turns

to tell each other about their families -

and Holly has decided to talk about her dad.

Shh...

I've got pictures of my...nutty dad,

which has died.

I've got that one, on a mountain.

I've got that one, with my dad laying down with the dog.

And the dog is called Biscuit

and he died three days after my birthday.

-Oh.

-I know.

Thanks for sharing that with us, Holly.

Must've been difficult, but well done.

The twins were only seven when their dad died.

Chloe has a collection of photographs to remember him by.

This is a book of my dad

and some pictures of me and him.

I like this picture,

because he loves books.

So do I.

She also has one very precious item.

This is a bag

given by my dad when I was five or six

and I've kept...

I've kept it.

And I've put it under my bed and I just touch...

I just squeeze it in my hand.

Something that helps me get to sleep.

Probably the most special thing, that I would never give away.

Not for all the money in the world.

Having been through such a tough time together,

the twins share a very strong bond.

They really are inseparable.

MUSIC: You're My Only Shorty by Demi Lovato

'We're always with each other,

'we've never been apart for longer than a day.

'We've been with each other every day of our lives so far.'

# Love makes me crazy Restless, dumb and paranoid... #

Nice moves, girls.

But there must be downsides to being a twin.

'The worst thing about being twins is, we have to share things.'

Once we had to share a chewing gum.

Er, we've also had to share -

this is a bit silly, but... a pancake.

# ..Shorty

# I'm telling you the truth

# Girl, it's only you

# You're my only, you're my only You're my only one and only... #

'People think it's really cool in our class, if you're a twin.'

They want to ask us if we've got superpowers.

Say if we can, like... If we can feel pain,

if the other one is feeling pain.

But you don't.

In class 7CG, Donna has also had a lot of change in her life.

She's just come back to live in the UK

after spending the last four years halfway around the world

in New Zealand.

In New Zealand, it was really nice,

because it was all, like, scenery.

You could just step outside in bare feet,

because there was, like, nothing on the ground or anything.

And it was always sunny.

Even in winter, it's pretty sunny.

Donna and one half of her family moved back

when her stepdad's job changed.

My half-sister, Imogen, is three

and my half-brother is...

11 months, and he's turning one.

It also meant that Donna could spend more time

with the other half of her family -

her dad and new baby sister, Keira.

That sounds a little bit complicated to me,

but having two families means having two bedrooms.

This is my side of the room.

This is...

my posters.

And my favourite band is Little Mix

and I like Olly Murs too.

And then, these are my favourite animals.

Um, puppies.

I'm not sure if they are puppies, but they're cute anyway.

I also like Ed Sheeran.

But he fell off the wall.

He was there.

This is my sister's side of the room.

She likes Sofia The First and princesses.

How far do you have to walk to get the bus?

Five, ten minutes.

On the way back, I have to go for, like, half an hour.

Oh, I bet it's not half an hour.

-It is.

-Bet it's not.

We'll time you.

That's nothing for Donna.

While she was in New Zealand, her baby sister was born in the UK.

Desperate to see her, she was allowed to fly back all by herself.

The journey took 26 hours

and she had to change planes three times.

That takes guts when you're 11.

When I came back to England,

I was really nervous on the first flight

because I was by myself.

But on the other ones, I felt more...

On the other two, I felt more, like,

not afraid, because I knew that it would be OK,

because there was people on the flight looking after me.

So Donna's heading into Year 7 with all of her family around her.

Her biggest challenge now is to make a whole new set of friends.

Entrer, merci, bonjour.

Trouver votre place, merci bien.

Sometimes, schooldays don't turn out quite as you expect them to.

Entrer... Oh, quelle horreur!

Desastre! Bonjour...

There's been a power cut

and it's thrown everyone into a state of high excitement.

The kids loved it.

They were all pretty much coats and bags on, at the door, er...

unfortunately for them, it was a case of...

Got to continue with the lesson...

-In the dark.

-In the dark, yeah.

"What time are we going home, then?" I was like, "You're not."

"You're staying until the end of the day."

Secretly, you're thinking...

-"Oh, are we going home?"

-I know!

-THEY LAUGH

Whilst for some it's a minor inconvenience,

for others, it's a potential disaster.

Head cook Julie and her team

aren't able to finish cooking enough hot meals,

so they have to rush and make up sandwiches for the whole school,

before the dinner bell rings.

It's all hands on deck.

SHE GASPS Tell me about it.

That's the first time, in the time I've worked here,

that we've had that.

I can't believe that happened.

There's no food!

I was going to have Southern fried chicken, but now we can't.

Because it might be poisonous if it's cold.

I hope not!

Drink? Good lad.

No power means no tills,

which means free food -

and word spreads like wildfire.

Lads! Whoa, whoa, where are we going here? You weren't in the queue.

-No, I was...

-Join the back of the queue.

You were not there, off you go.

Give me food!

OK, listen up!

Due to the power cut,

main meals and salads this side, please.

Sandwiches only, this side.

Bend the queue to the right for sandwiches.

Bend the queue to the left for main meals.

I think we've had more children in than what we normally get.

And I think that's because it's free.

Word of mouth, it's bongos, you see, that's what it is.

Didn't get a toastie.

Which was annoying.

No paninis today.

-Aw!

-Because there's no electricity.

The students seemed to really enjoy it.

I think the idea that they were not paying for their cookies

was absolutely delightful for them

and, you know, whilst they had less choice to get their lunch,

I think they quite enjoyed

the spirit of the Blitz that was going on.

After a manic few hours,

1,300 students are all fed and watered,

ready for the afternoon studies.

All thanks to Julie and her amazing team.

We work really hard,

but we get our...

We enjoy it, we enjoy it.

But it's not just the students that are attracted by all the food.

Whoa, right there.

-Right there!

-THEY SCREAM

Why is that funny?

Butter everywhere.

Just everywhere, that's it.

Have you ever got stung by a wasp?

No.

Have you ever got stung by a bee?

No.

Grace, have you ever got stung by a wasp?

Have you ever got stung by a bee?

Have you ever got stung by a wasp or a bee?

There's a lot of wasps.

I say, "Oh, let's go look at the ping-pong."

And then we'll take them,

and then there's always one wasp,

one wasp.

And it's always on his shoulder

and he screams and runs around!

All the wasps are, like, around the bin,

where, like, the lunchroom is and everything.

They're always, like, wanting food, I'm guessing.

SCREAM

SCREAM

-It's only a fly.

-God, it's a fly!

SCHOOL BELL RINGS

After school, Donna gets straight online,

to catch up with her old friends back in New Zealand.

Yeah, I miss my friends, really, like...

I still talk to them, but I really miss them,

like, talking to them in person and stuff.

I've been Skyping them and e-mailing them and everything.

They tell me about, like, school and, like,

what I've been doing and what they've been doing and...

The most interesting thing that has happened here is probably

starting secondary, because they haven't started secondary yet.

Because they are in a school that, like, goes up to year eight.

So, they were wondering how it was different to normal.

She might miss her old friends,

but she's already making plenty of new ones in the UK.

That's Tandy, that's Lucy,

that's Lucy and that's Scarlet and there's me.

We're all pulling funny faces.

And then there's another one...

Scarlet looks evil.

No matter where she is in the world,

Donna has always kept up with her favourite hobby -

Irish dancing.

Yeah, I've been in a few competitions.

I've won quite a lot of them.

I've got loads of trophies and medals and stuff.

And I've been to Nationals and I got 9th.

I'm aiming to get really good in Nationals

and be able to go to Worlds.

Fast, fast, fast, move!

Hop, two, three and move, up, up!

I started learning it when I was, like, four, five

and I've done it ever since.

I love the music

and I love dancing,

so I think that's why I like Irish dancing.

I like the shoes and the dresses they wear

and we wear big wigs that are, like, really puffy.

Everyone thinks they're real hair, but they're not.

Pushing your heels in!

You may have spotted that Donna has a pretty unusual accent.

'Believe me, I know how that feels.'

Candle...goes oot. Canny, man.

They say I have a bit of a Middlesbrough accent

and a New Zealand accent and an Australian accent,

so it's like, I'm like, "OK..."

So it's all mixed together.

She gets a lot of words mixed up.

Er, dollars and pounds, for example.

She gets quite confused.

That, or she needs to "borrow five bucks".

All the boys kind of like...

When I talk, they always laugh.

Some of them are mocking it, but they are mocking it because they like it.

And I asked them that and they said, "Yeah, it's cos we like it",

so some of them are really nice,

some of them are just annoying.

-MOCK AUSTRALIAN ACCENT:

-What do you think of my accent then?

-Pretty bad.

-What you mean it's pretty bad, dude?

It's a terrible accent.

Australia is an awesome place!

Well, in English,

they made us, er... like, say, um...

something about us, but it had to start with the start of our name,

and I said "Dancing Donna" and ever since I said that,

everyone's been going "Dancing Donna!"

Dancing Donna.

Hi, I'm Dancing Donna!

Dancing Donna.

I'm Dancing Donna!

Candy is O-M-G awesome!

G'day, mate. Say "koala bear".

-Koala bear.

-Koala bears!

They all try to say, like, make me say "kangaroo".

Kangaroo.

I'm like, "I'm not from Australia!"

It's 7CG's turn to talk about their family.

Next in front of the class, it's Kieran.

Paint a picture for me of Mum.

My mum?

Tell me something about her.

Um...

She has purply-blacky hair...ish.

She's small...

-..Ish.

-CLASS GIGGLES

Um, she has a lot of shoes...

-..Ish.

-CLASS GIGGLES.

She's a shoe-a-holic?

Yeah.

Um...

She has a big bedroom...

-ALL:

-Ish.

No, it's really big.

-ALL:

-Ish.

And...

She's had, in her life...

-a lot of cars. ALL:

-Ish.

So what's she driving at the moment?

-Um...

-An "ish" car.

-..a Vauxhall-thingy car.

-ALL:

-Ish!

Are you the only child in the family?

-No. ALL:

-Ish.

-CLASS LAUGHS

-That doesn't make sense! No "ish"!

-Shall we leave that...

I've got a sister...

-ALL:

-Ish.

-Just leave that a minute...

-She's 21.

..while we get some information. No, leave it.

21...

Um, I have a half brother,

who's, like, 25 or something

and then my other sister is 16...

And then I'm 11-ish.

CLASS LAUGHS

Nice one, Kieran. That was funny...ish.

I'm going to have to end it.

Today, the Year 7s are off on a school trip to Beamish.

Wait a minute...Beam-ISH?

You've got to be kidding me.

Most Year 7s love a school trip,

though not always for the right reasons.

-Er...

-You get to miss lessons.

By far the best thing about it.

And it can be like a treat, if it's good.

On the journey there, our Year 7s are as excitable as ever.

But as the mobile phones come out,

the more peaceful it becomes.

What is it with you lot and your mobile phones?

-RING

-'Oh, sorry, I think that's for me.'

SHE GASPS

It's so important. You have to have a mobile phone.

I mean, I have it on me, like, 24-7.

And I've just left the house now

and I haven't got it on me.

I didn't bring it with me and I don't know where it is.

And I'm really panicking now.

All the children are a lot more modern than they used to be.

So it's like, "I need to have a bang-up phone,

"I need to have a touch-screen phone.

"It needs to be Android, it needs to be a smartphone,

"it better have internet on it."

The only reason I got a phone with internet

is so I can go on Instagram.

I can find my way around a phone,

but things like all this BBM and stuff,

I can't...I can't figure it out.

-BBM, yeah.

-Mmm! Can't live without BBM.

I use my mobile probably every break and in lunchtime.

And, um...

But you're not allowed it in lessons,

I'm not allowed to use it then.

I don't really want one, because...

..I don't really want to waste my mum's money and Dad's.

You can say...

Like, text your mum and say,

"I've hurt my knee!"

-I use Snapchat, I use Skype, I use Facebook...

-Well, I use Skype.

Phones can be good for, like, gaming and stuff.

You get addicted to them!

You're like, "Oooh!

"It's Instagram, it's Instagram,

"I've got... Oh, I've got likes and you're on it."

Once you're on Instagram, you can't get back off it.

Sometimes, when I'm, like, FaceTiming my friends,

that are girls,

like, my dad comes in and he's like,

"Ooh, you're FaceTiming your girlfriends!"

'People can just make accounts

'and then post bad stuff about people'

and then, like, it just goes on the internet,

it can't be took off the internet.

O-M-G!

-We've just been...

-Why don't we have a phone ban?

-And then everyone actually has to speak to each other.

-What?!

We are speaking to each other.

Why don't we already pretend

that we're in the times of Beamish,

when phones weren't invented.

-Aww!

-When the world was in black and white?

Yeah.

-Oh, look at the tram!

-Aw, yeah, me and you should get on it.

Beamish is a replica of an old Victorian mining village.

Our Year 7s are travelling back in time,

to learn what life was like before modern inventions arrived.

In class, these slate boards were the latest in teaching technology.

Can you imagine now, you being in school

and having to write on these chalkboards?

Why are they so hard to write on?

What do you think you'd rather have?

This iPad or this iPad?

That one, that one...

In Victorian times,

students often had to do drill at the end of lessons.

It was thought to help with discipline and keep you fit.

I might have to try that at the end of my science classes.

THEY TAKE DEEP BREATHS

To make the experience feel real, Beamish is full of actors

and they have to stay in character throughout the day.

DING DING

Libby's finding it a bit unnerving

and sets about trying to cheer them up.

Turn that frown upside down!

THEY GIGGLE

He needs to lighten up a little bit.

I think you should have a word with him and tell him to be nice.

Just try it, for me.

We'll come round and tickle you.

We'll make you laugh, you'll do a chicken dance, won't you?

Yeah.

-Bawk bawk bawk!

-THEY GIGGLE

I'm glad that you're not our teacher at school,

because you're too grumpy.

If I was your... If I was your teacher at school,

-you would get the cane.

-THEY GASP

Please will you smile, for me?

It doesn't look like you're going to win this one, Libby.

So far, this lot haven't really seen anything

that would make them want to go back and live in Victorian times.

But this tram is taking them to something

that hasn't changed too much in the last 150 years.

Sweets.

While the rest of Year 7 are in a feeding frenzy,

motorbike-mad Kieran

spots something even more magical next door.

Aw, cool!

I like that one and that one

and that one!

These amazing old bikes aren't quite what Kieran is used to,

but as a speedway fanatic,

he's obsessed with anything on two wheels.

He's like a kid in a sweetie shop.

Well, he's not, that's over the road.

But you know what I mean.

Cool!

Oh, that is cool.

I would REALLY like one of these.

Because they're old and they're, like,

they're probably worth a lot of money.

I think.

They're all having a pretty exciting day.

They've taken a look down a mine...

..been on loads of trams...

..and burnt off a lot of energy.

And some of them even get take a ride

on a Victorian carousel.

So what's been the highlight of this educational day then, guys?

-The sweet shop.

-Sweet shop.

We get to buy candy and stuff.

We got sweets, so, I mean, that was good.

The funniest thing at Beamish was when

somebody went into the sheep pen

and then they got chased!

SHEEP BLEATS

So you learnt a lot, then?

On the way home, it looks like all that sugar

has made Jessica and Poppy a bit hyper.

I wouldn't fancy sitting next to those two.

GIRLS CHANT AND SING

Don't worry, Libby, they might calm down in a minute.

Or they might not.

# K-I-S-S-I-N-G

# ..And Josie sitting in a tree

# K-I-S-S-I-N-G. #

-Move seats with me.

-OK.

We have to be first on the bus next time,

so we can sit down there.

The term is well under way,

but some teachers are still struggling to tell the twins apart.

So the girls' mum has come up with a plan.

My mum thought it would be easier for the teachers

if I...do my hair.

I'm looking pretty.

But it hasn't worked.

Talking of hair...

I sometimes plait it and then it will go all wavy,

but then what I do is, I just brush it

and then put it to the side

and then put it up like that.

I have to put gel on mine.

Some boys, on the other hand, who are trying to be

the main attraction today.

"Oh, I wash my hair in the morning and then dry it and put gel on it,"

then they need to comb it, then they need to put more gel on.

He likes putting his hair to the side

and singing.

I'm more like a headband and, like...

and bows and stuff.

I'm thinking of dying my hair, like, a reddy colour.

Just a glittery... Here. Like, a red.

What a waste of time.

Whatever they do to their hair,

they'll always be inseparable.

And going to our school together

has been a massive boost to Chloe's confidence.

To me, it feels like

a twin is more than just like a sister.

It's a best friend and a sister.

Two in one, in other words.

Yeah.

Donna has also made her mark

and has thrown herself into all sorts of activities.

With her whole family around her,

she's settled back into UK life so easily,

you'd think she'd never been away.

Well, almost.

They're saying that I've kind of lost it, a bit.

Like, my accent, but I still have...

Some of the words I say, I have a really big accent,

but then some of them, I just sound normal.

Oh, my God!

I like New Zealand, but I want to stay here now

because I've, like, got loads of friends and everything.

'I feel like I'm a big girl now.'

If I could go back and talk to myself in the summer,

I would say "Don't worry, because it's just your mind

"just worrying a bit too much."

SCHOOL BELL RINGS

Next time on Our School,

we meet three boys keen to make a good first impression.

There's football-mad Connor.

Luca, who just wants to get the bus to school...

-You won't embarrass me?

-Just because you're going to senior school,

doesn't mean you can't give your mum a kiss, you know.

..and Ben, who is on the hunt for the perfect hobby.

PFF!

No. Brrrrff... HE GIGGLES

For loads of tips about how to stay safe

when using apps on your phone,

visit the CBBC website

and click on "Stay Safe".

Two phones, for when one is not enough.

-Like...like...

-Like.

-Like.