Who Am I? Our School

BELL RINGS

Meet Year Seven.

Awesome!

Pa-choo!

It's the most important year of school so far.

You're not here to have a laugh and a good time.

You're here to learn.

LAUGHTER

With so many changes...

new friends...

Es, have you got a cloth?

..and new teachers...

You are a Greenwood boy.

..it's an exciting world to discover.

Wow!

It can be fun, but sometimes it can be tough.

There are different challenges for everybody.

We're in Year Seven, we're acting like three-year-olds.

We've rigged another secondary school with loads of cameras...

Is this what you see when you look through a camera?

Cos this is awesome.

..so you can find out exactly what happens.

You're on report by my request.

I'm Trev.

Ha-ha ha-ha! I used to go to school here,

but now I'm one of the teachers.

Last question, cos you're going to run out of time.

Welcome to Our School.

-I need a wee!

-BELL RINGS

This time on Our School, we're looking back at the past...

This is your grandad's school now.

This is where he would have met your great-nan.

..and forward to the future.

Ah, that's what I'm talking about.

LAUGHTER

No, they haven't invented a time machine in Design and Technology.

Not yet, anyway.

We'll be checking in with Spencer...

This is scary.

..and Charlie.

HE BURPS Charlie!

Yes, you, Charlie.

They'll be delving deep into their family history...

It was interesting, learning about what my great-grandad did.

..to see what shaped them...

You got a lot of the cheekiness in you,

and that's what your grandad had.

..and what part it may play in their future.

Really good. Like, I want to work here now.

We'll also be meeting Dominique,

who has a big decision to make about her future...

This is the main library at the college, OK?

So, if you was to come and study sport,

this is one of the areas that you might want to come and study.

..if she's to achieve her huge ambition.

I would like to be, hopefully, at the Olympics.

Have you ever really thought about where you live?

Every town has a story to tell.

Castle Vale, home to our school, has quite a few.

OK, hands up who knew its old name meant "woody woods"?

What?

No-one?

Nearby is a place called Pimple Hill.

Ooh!

Didn't know that, did you?

Or, that the area was once a sewage farm.

OK, that stinks.

Don't worry, they got rid of it.

Well, actually, Castle Vale does have

one huge historical claim to fame.

ZOOM!

Back in the 1940s,

it's where many of the legendary Spitfire planes were built -

an iconic fighter plane which helped us to victory in World War II.

It just goes to show, major historical events

could have taken place right on your doorstep.

ZOOM!

And one way for Year Seven to find out...

..is in period five - History with Mr Saunders.

This here, the whole history will take on the form of

a local history project.

A local history of Castle Vale.

Who is excited about this?

-Sounds great!

-Come on, let's go for it!

Let's take up the challenge.

Well, they seem keen to learn about the past,

but would they have liked to live in it?

I think the worst thing about living in the past would be, like,

without, like, no phone.

There would be no Wi-Fi and the doctors weren't that good.

I have to have Internet for my iPod.

The worst thing would be, like, no Xbox.

What do you mean?

We had video games.

What's so funny?

And great music.

MUSIC: Everybody by Backstreet Boys

Can I Google it?

In the past, you have these long shoes

that, like, curl there, don't you?

Like, do you know them pointy ones, that go pointy,

that you have for, like, a wedding?

I'd hate to wear them, cos, like, you had no choice.

It was either them or, like, some really, like, weird trail.

Stop laughing! You're making me laugh.

The fashion was horrendous as well. Like, no.

What do you mean?

We had some great looks back in the day.

Check this dude out.

OK, back to you, Mr Saunders.

What's the next step in the local history project?

What you need is a team name.

So, organise a name for yourself, please.

Mixed Illusions.

Mate, that is sick.

Sir, can we call ourselves anything we want?

-Yeah, if it's...

-Mixed Illusions?

Can we call ourselves Mixed Illusions?

Probably, yes.

-Yes!

-You can, but I would like that we can link to history

and the local area.

Spitfire.

-Oh, very good!

-Spitfire, yeah?

-Really good.

-Spitfire Illusions?

-No.

Spencer's keen to start researching and, this being secondary school,

he must use his initiative to get out and about to discover the facts.

-Sir?

-Yes?

My nan, I'm going to ask her to help me with this,

cos my nan's lived in the Vale,

like, late 1950s and early 1960s, so...

-Absolutely fantastic.

-And she still lives on here now,

so it'll be good to ask her for good information.

Fantastic, that's what we need.

Better hurry up then, Spencer, as you've got just a few weeks

to research your family history and present it to the rest of the class.

Spencer's keen on history, but he's a little out of tune

with his famous composers.

Beethoven is, like, the most famous musician of all time.

Yeah, he's a dog, he's a dog.

He's not a dog.

-He is a dog.

-Beethoven's a dog.

But before he was a dog, he was a famous composer.

So, he was a musician, then he turned into a dog?

How does that work out?

Very funny, Spencer.

Smooth dog!

I'd probably describe myself as, like...funny.

Ha-ha-ha-ha!

'And, like, jolly, in a way, because...'

there won't be a day in school

where I'll come to school moody

and not laugh, or make at least one person laugh.

And when he's not delivering a punchline,

he's delivering a punch.

I like training on the punchbag and I like sparring.

Even outside of school,

history and tradition play a big part in Spencer's life,

as he follows in the footsteps of his boxing grandad.

My grandad wanted me to get into it

because he didn't want me to get picked on in school.

Spencer's family have lived in this area for generations.

I live with my mum, my dad,

my brother Jake, Alfie,

my sister Ruby and my sister Daisy and my sister Poppy,

so there's eight of us in our family.

See, what... Don't fight.

It's actually good, because you get more Christmas presents...

Like, money for your birthday.

Spencer loves spending time with his family,

and with his grandparents living just around the corner

it means he can spend lots of time there too.

I'm really close to them.

I think that is because, like, I just get along with them so well.

-See you later.

-See you.

-Watch how you go.

All right.

So, with lots of family ties to the local area going back many years,

there should be a hoard of history right on his doorstep.

I reckon it's going to be quite interesting,

because, like, my mum used to live on Castle Vale...

..all of my parents, like my grandparents and family,

they're all from Castle Vale.

Spencer's clearly looking forward to looking back in time.

But some of Year Seven have a bit of trouble concentrating

on the here and now.

Take Charlie.

Boom boom ba-da boom boom ba doom boom.

Charlie can sometimes get a little distracted at school.

# I'm on the edge. #

I am cheeky.

If you turn up and you're not being sensible Year Sevens...

Naughty.

Behave like a...

..little child sometimes. Act like a three-year-old.

-Can I throw it?

-Ahh!

Boom!

For Charlie, family means a lot.

Hello!

-Good day?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-No detentions today, then?

-No!

-Good.

What kind of a lad is Charlie?

Oh. I think as soon as he was born and I looked straight at him,

I thought, "Yeah, he's definitely a cheeky Charlie."

Charlie's family are also from the area,

and his mum knows just how much things have changed.

What was it like back then, and then now?

It was a lot stricter back then.

You wouldn't get away with half the stuff you get away with now.

Like?

In fact, kids your age probably would have been

frightened of their teachers.

Because they was worried of the consequences.

Things have changed a lot.

A lot.

Mum's hoping the history project will show Charlie

he has more opportunities than his parents and grandparents.

I want you to go to school, get an education, get a good job,

have a nice home to live in.

-Have a nice family.

-Have a nice family.

Get a good career behind you. Have some money in your bank,

so you don't have to struggle.

And that's what being...

Going to school is the most important thing about it.

-I want what's best for you.

-Mmm.

You see, Charlie, discovering the past

could make a big difference to your future.

It's after school, and Spencer is keen to find out more

about his family history and Castle Vale.

Cos you've both lived on the estate for quite a while,

I was thinking, would you be able to help me with it?

Yeah, course we will.

Having lived in the area all their lives, who better to interview

than his grandmother and great-grandmother.

When we came to live on this estate,

the place was all mud and potholes around.

It wasn't finished as a whole.

Castle Vale wasn't finished as a whole when we moved on it.

So, we were one of the first people on Castle Vale.

On Castle Vale, yeah.

You must have been lucky then, that you actually got a good house.

Yeah, yeah, we was, yeah.

Learning all about his family history

is making Spencer appreciate life is so much easier today.

There was cars built then, weren't they?

Oh, yeah, cars were built then! Yeah!

Oh, yeah, we had cars.

I'm not that old!

But if there weren't always houses on Castle Vale, what was there?

I can tell you exactly what Castle Vale used to be...

..because I did a project on it.

So, before becoming a housing estate,

Castle Vale was first used as an airfield in both World Wars.

When we first moved here,

the old air hangars was still there, wasn't it?

That's right, the hangars were still there.

And didn't Dad used to work there?

-What, in the hangars?

-Yeah.

-I think he did, yeah.

-He did, didn't he?

So, it turns out Spencer's great-grandad

used to work at the airfield from which all those famous Spitfires

took to the skies.

It's time like this when old family photos can reveal so much more.

That's me and your grandad when we got married.

We got married at Birmingham Register Office.

It's, like, so mad and different.

That was before we moved here.

Is that a pie on your head?

A pie?

Looking back at past family photos

is a great way to see what your parents and grandparents did.

BELL RINGS

But it can also start you thinking

about what you want to do in the future.

In ten years' time I wish to work with animals.

In ten years' time, yeah, I want to be a fireman.

I want to be a midwife, because it's...

I just like...

I like looking after people, basically.

I'll be 22 and I'll be probably a famous footballer.

I want to work in a school, for some reason.

I don't really know what I'm going to be doing in ten years' time.

And I'll be, like...

17.

You're seven?

Are you seven now?

No.

You said that you'd be 17 in ten years' time.

Oh! Um...

I'll be, like, 21.

Probably, like, a binman, cos you get good money for that, you know.

And what about you, Dominique?

Hopefully in ten years' time I want to be at sports college

or, hopefully, at the Olympics.

That's the attitude, Dominique!

Go for gold.

I would describe myself - sporty, competitive.

I would like to be the next Jessica Ennis,

because she's one of the fastest girls in Great Britain.

Like many of Year Seven, Dominique's got big dreams,

but finding time for study and sport isn't easy.

At home, I live with my mum,

my three sisters and my little nephew

and my uncle.

Dominique's mum has a condition that often leaves her

unable to keep up with the daily running of the house.

It's pretty hard, living at home with my mum,

cos of her illness, and I don't really get to play out that often.

I have to do some stuff for my mum, like washing up

and cleaning the floor

and watching the kids.

Whee, I'm a birdie! Whee!

Although life at home can be busy,

Dominique always has time for her best mate, Courtney.

We're really close friends and she's always there for me

and, like, she always helps me

if I'm ever stuck or lost with anything.

And she's one of my really close friends.

All her hard work helping Mum

leaves little spare time to herself.

But when Dominique's not with Mum, or hanging out with Courtney,

all she can think of is getting out on the sports field.

When I'm out doing sports, I feel like...

I'm free.

Sports college is Dominique's goal after school,

and she's heading in the right direction,

having just been made sports prefect.

I want to set up the warm up then,

so we're going to get the kids over from Chivenor.

Becoming sports prefect is a big step towards achieving her goal

of having a sporting career.

Yeah, so shall I tell them to get into equal lines

-and then ask them, like, why do we need to warm up?

-Yeah.

She may have just started secondary school,

but she's already thinking about where to study next when she leaves.

So Mr Davis has arranged for Dominique and Courtney

to visit a local college.

But it's no ordinary college,

it's fully equipped with the latest sports facilities

and all you need to know about sport.

So, this is the main library at the college, OK?

So, if you was to come and study sport,

this is one of the areas that you might want to come and study.

You could do a theory and a practical.

So your practical element could be the football.

I know that you girls are interested in your football.

What kind of jobs can you get from that course?

Coaching's one of our main areas that we get into.

Teaching's another area that, again,

if you wanted to get into the teaching aspect, that you could do.

Some of us go onto the physio route,

so, again, we've got a massage parlour as well,

-so we'll look at that later on.

-You got any ideas, girls,

which sort of route you'd like to go at the moment? Coaching-wise?

-I'm not sure.

-PE teacher?

-Not sure. You don't want to be a PE teacher!

OK, then, girls.

Oh, my God!

What do you think?

It's really nice and big.

-It's a bit more modern than Greenwood, isn't it?

-Yeah.

So, we've got four badminton courts.

We've got our small basketball courts as well.

We've got hockey, we've got handball, bench ball.

So, there's a number of different sports that you could take.

OK, then, girls. So that's the sports hall,

that's the fitness suite, this is the college. Are you impressed?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

And it's interesting.

Is it what you were expecting?

-No.

-I thought it would...

Like, it's better than what I expected.

Excellent news, brilliant.

Like, when I was walking around, I was looking at everything

and I just could feel that I wanted to come here.

I knew that it would be a good experience for me, but it just...

This is the first time I've been to the college,

and I think I've made my decision and want to come to this one.

Already knowing what she wants to study

should give Dominique a real chance of achieving her goal.

So, as well as learning the usual subjects, like Maths and English,

school can also be a great way to follow your passion.

-Hi.

-How's it going? You OK? Nice to see you.

'Today, some of Year Seven's budding artists

'are getting out to meet local street artist Mo,

'and see how he's turned his passion into a career.'

That's the clock tower from the pub.

That's the mosque you can see from down the road.

There's a chimney. Oh, there's a chimney round the corner there.

Again, you know, it's just to kind of capture the area a little bit.

'He's showing them some of the wall creations he's been asked to paint,

'turning the streets on which he grew up into a brighter place.'

So, what I have done here is Islamic pattern over there

and a kind of very Irish, Celtic pattern.

For the 2012 Olympics, Mo painted one of his proudest achievements -

a massive mural on the side of an old swimming pool.

The reason for this wall was... Do you remember when

the Olympic torch was going through all the different areas?

Well, it came past this building and it brought all different types...

There was, like, 1,000 people in this park at seven in the morning.

Seeing Mo's striking artwork around the area

has inspired our amateur artists to design their own murals.

So, go on, talk to me about what you're doing.

-Um, I'm doing some quotes around "hope"...

-Yeah.

..and then I'm going to do the Islamic pattern around it.

"If one person's thirsty, the whole world's thirsty."

Yeah. Write it down.

Put that on the side of a massive building.

But you design it on paper and say, "There's my mural."

'We know you've got potential, guys.

'We've already seen what you've created on the Our School wall.'

Oh, yeah, the CCTV camera. Now, what you could do...

It's the weekend, and Charlie's asked his grandad Colin

for some help with his history project.

He's, like, a really fun grandad to have.

A really fun person to be with.

To help bring history to life,

Charlie's grandad has arranged a visit

to where Charlie's great-grandad Albert used to work.

I'm surprised. I thought all this would have been demolished.

Wow, it's massive, isn't it?

Could you imagine yourself working in a place like this...

as it was then?

-No?

-No.

-No.

Wouldn't like to get your hands dirty, huh?

Cos your great-nan wouldn't let him in the house

he was that filthy.

Next, they're going even further back in time.

This is your grandad's school now.

This is where he would have met your great-nan.

It's nice.

And if it weren't for them two, I wouldn't be here today.

Yeah.

-And if I wasn't here today...

-Yeah.

..you wouldn't be here today.

So, how did that go again?

If my great-grandad never met my great-nan,

my gran won't be there.

And if my gran won't be there,

my mum won't be, and if my mum won't be there,

then I won't be there.

What were the teachers like?

The teachers were very, very strict.

It was to the headmaster's office and it was the cane.

Sometimes on the backside and sometimes on the hand.

Ooh, nasty.

What do you think, Charlie?

If I walked into school in the old days,

I wouldn't bother getting in trouble,

cos I don't want the backhand with the cane.

What did grandad look like?

Ah, I've got a little surprise for you.

I've got a couple of photos.

Is that him?

That's my dad and that's your great-grandad.

When I seen him in the photos, he looked a good person.

He's got a little bit of you in him.

-I don't know.

-No? I do.

I think he's got your ears.

So, Charlie's learnt a lot about his family, and it's got him thinking.

Would I be grandad's favourite?

There's every chance you would have been his favourite.

What's made you ask that?

Cos I reckon I've got a lot of him in me.

Do you? You've got a lot of the cheekiness in you,

and that's what your grandad had.

I felt a bit sad, cos I didn't really get to meet him,

I didn't know what he sounded like when he spoke,

I don't know what he used to react like.

Do you think you've got to know your great-grandad a bit better?

-Yeah.

-Eh?

It's been nice sharing all these special memories I've had,

and it's brought a lot of them back.

And I love you.

Love you too.

There's a good lad.

And you remember everything you learnt today.

-I will.

-Eh?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

Spencer's out and about for his history project too.

His great-grandad worked at the local car factory,

which has a very special history.

During World War II, it was used to make

over 11,000 Spitfire fighter planes.

So, who does great-grandad's job now?

Not who, it's what -

robots.

To gather more information for his school project,

Spencer's got some questions for the factory's manager.

Do the men paint it, the car?

The men paint the car.

We have a mixture of men painting the car with spray guns,

also robots as well.

Look, do you see the robot now?

He's finished working on that, so he's going to pick it up now

and move it on.

I liked seeing the process of the cars,

from starting off from a piece of metal,

to building up to, like,

a very expensive car.

And it's not just the way they built them that's changed...

the cars look a bit different too.

I want that grey one.

You want that grey one, do you?

Think that one's mine.

Something tells me Spencer likes it here.

So, what do you think of our factory so far?

Really good. Like, I want to work here now.

I did feel inspired about going to the factory,

because I would like to get an apprenticeship there.

From what I saw, it looks like a very good first job to start off on.

Oh, yeah.

That sounds like an ambition that would make great-grandad proud.

VROOM-VROOM!

And Spencer's getting the chance

to do something not many 11-year-olds do.

How about that? How's that, then?

Oh, sick!

This car will do 186mph.

Oh, that's what I'm talking about.

Like Spencer's family, this factory has been around for generations.

Perhaps Spencer will follow in his great-grandad's footsteps

to become a part of its future.

Oh, no.

That's if he ever gets out of that car.

All right, see you later. Bye.

BELL RINGS

In fact, there's so many things

that Year Seven have got to look forward to

about being grown-ups.

When I'm a grown-up,

I'm looking forward to being able to go out with your friends

to clubbing and parties and things.

I'm loving looking forward to getting my own flat

and being able to decorate it the way I want

and going out with my friends and stuff.

When I grow up, the thing I'm looking forward to doing

is getting a nice car and getting a nice house.

I would love to have my own family.

Getting my own big dog, so then I can walk it

and people will be scared of it and then nobody will touch me.

It's going to be a guard dog and it's going to bark

when someone comes into the house

and then it's going to lick them if they're good.

But if it's a robber, it's going to bite him

and the robber will run away.

It would be really good to have,

like, your own house or flat or apartment

so you can have unlimited sleepovers.

BELL RINGS

The class have been out and about using their initiative

to research the local area and how their families lived.

Now it's time to present their findings.

And with Charlie having already told a great story about his family...

APPLAUSE

..Spencer is now impressing Mr Saunders and the class

with what he has discovered.

What we done outside of school, what involves the project,

we went out to our families

and have been learning what it was like in Castle Vale.

We now know where the Spitfires were made, where the runway was.

Some interesting facts about Castle Vale -

did you know that between each tower block there was a little park

that included a slide, swing and a seesaw?

And Tim Tolkien built the Spitfire Island

to remember the Spitfires in the war

and the people that unfortunately passed.

When the estate was in the process of being built,

there was very few houses and lots of flats,

and my nan and grandad lived in one of the first houses

ever built on the Castle Vale.

I had a visit to Jaguar Land factory

and I saw that my great-grandad used to...

What he used to do nearly half a century ago.

Thank you very much. Can you give him a round of applause?

APPLAUSE Well done, Spencer.

You've proved that finding out about your own family's history

is really rewarding.

And just like Year Seven,

it can be an exciting voyage of discovery.

Next time, Year Seven are learning the rules of phones...

Give me your phone, Donell.

..and social media in the classroom.

It is a very bad thing to do

to be taking pictures of people without their permission.

And Leo reveals to everyone what makes him different.

What is it like to experience autism?

None of my friends used to understand me,

none of my teachers, no-one.

Aw.

Ah, mate, this is sick.

Would the car go

if I put my foot on the pedal?

No.

Would the engine just, like, rev?

Loads of room, then.

Got two cup-holders.

I love this car, man.

How much would this car go for?

Around about £97,000.

If I had the money, I would so get this.

Can I move the gear stick?

Did I do something wrong?