I Can't Do It... Yet Our School

In Firth Park Academy, Sheffield,

three students are facing their fears...

If you fall in, the water is going to be cold.

..as they take on a new sport.

You guys, go to the side!

But who will sink?

And who will swim?

Find out in Our School.

Meet our new year seven.

Sick bucket!

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

Haircut, sir?

They're all starting here together.

That level of noise, absolutely disgusting.

Yes!

This has seen better days.

You stink, sir.

CBBC have filled the entire place with cameras

so you'll get to watch year seven every step of the way.

-Stop waving at me.

-Yeah.

Hello, I'm Mr Jones.

I'm a maths teacher at Our School, and every time that you're here,

I'm going to be here too. Right now, I'm late for a lesson.

Excuse me.

Come on in.

# Our School! #

Boom. Mic drop.

SCHOOL BELL RINGS

Off we go, come on.

Very good. Slow down on the widths.

Year seven is all about finding out what you're capable of.

Come on. We are sprinting as fast as we can.

I think you can go faster than that.

Right now, in the sports hall,

that's exactly what PE teacher Mr Cook is trying to work out.

That's really good, young man.

Working hard.

I feel shattered just watching this.

Come on, let's go. Hit the corner and go.

I'm really feeling tired

cos everything is really fast.

I'm not very used to running

and since I'm not very used to running I am quite tired.

Aaron may be one of the smallest in his year,

but he's not letting it stand in his way.

I'm actually quite fine with my height.

It's just me and if I were taller, it just wouldn't be me.

Push-ups.

So, who are you then, Aaron?

My name is Aaron and this is my family!

My family is my mum,

Charlotte.

My stepdad, Andy.

And my two sisters Faith and Lily.

Lily.

Are you going to say Aaron.

No.

Lily is a big part of my family, I love her very much.

I'm into things like video games,

my phone, and my tablet.

That's a lot of tech, Aaron.

I only get an hour, but I say that isn't enough.

My mum said that it is enough,

and I can get quite annoyed.

Aaron loves getting into stuff, he's very focused.

So here I have my Skylanders.

These are my traps.

The one thing that I'm really interested in is lizards and snakes.

Because they are very cool creatures.

He's forever telling us things and we go research it

to double check that he's right.

And nine times out of ten he's completely spot on.

And luckily for Aaron, we had zoo animals at our job fair.

If there was a rattlesnake there, if you walk up screaming and things,

that would just make it worried

and it will go at a very quick speed and bite you.

And within 24 hours you will die.

Unless you get to a hospital.

Which would be very bad if you died.

Back in PE, Mr Cook's teaching year seven basketball.

When I see you shoot, I want to see your feet,

I want to see your knees.

One hand underneath the ball shooting into the basket.

Let's go.

The rest of the class are doing OK, but Aaron is struggling.

It's the one thing I could never do in primary.

Shoot the ball.

It's so tricky when you're small.

Come on then, Mr Cook.

Any advice?

Bend your legs. Here we go.

It's going in, I feel it. Go!

Hey! Good work!

Grab the ball, Aaron. Dribble to the next hoop. Good, Good, Good.

When I scored, I only scored once, throughout the whole lesson.

-Which is not bad.

-Yeah.

The teacher we had, Mr Cook, the time I scored,

he said he believed that I would score, and I actually scored,

so it's quite surprising.

Nice one, Aaron. I guess we've all got our own challenges to face.

Good morning.

Morning, morning, morning.

Stop there, young man. Line up.

Come in, guys.

In today's assembly...

Good morning, year seven.

-ALL:

-Good morning.

Sit up straight, please, guys.

..year seven have a guest

who's proved that nothing needs to hold you back.

We have with us a proper celebrity,

not wannabe celebrities, a YouTuber,

Claire Cashmore.

A round of applause for Claire to come up.

APPLAUSE

Paralympic swimmer Claire won gold and silver in the pool in Rio.

And now she's here to talk about her achievements.

So a lot of you may be wondering where my arm is.

Now, when I was five years of age,

I was with my sister on the beach and swimming in the sea

and the next thing,

I felt something tugging at my arm.

And actually it was a shark that took my arm.

She told us that and loads of people in the hall

just looked at her like...really?

People were like...

Don't worry, Claire's joking.

Now, I love all your faces, it's absolutely brilliant,

because this is a complete joke.

I was born like this.

I didn't lose it to a shark attack.

You're meant to laugh at that, that's my biggest joke of the day.

Well, it certainly got their attention.

How many of you in here have ever been told you can't?

You're not good enough.

You'll never be good enough.

You're too small, you're too tall.

Yeah, I see,

the majority of the people in the room are putting their hands up.

I have never, ever seen myself as disabled,

there's nothing I can't do.

And Claire has four bronze, three silver,

and a gold Paralympic medal to prove it.

How long can you hold your breath for underwater?

So I can do two lengths holding my breath.

So two lengths of a 25 metre pool.

And I hate holding my breath,

I get so scared that I'm going to drown,

which is a little bit ridiculous for a swimmer.

I thought Claire's assembly was amazing because it gave off

a really inspirational vibe,

like she wasn't telling people if you try once and you fail,

you should just give up. She was telling you that if you try

and you fail, you keep trying and you keep failing

until you get it, until you achieve what you want to achieve.

If you really want it deep down, anything is possible.

One of the things that I live my life by

is the next time you say, "I can't do it,"

add "yet" to the end of that.

And it really is true,

because actually you really can do anything you want to do.

Claire tests the determination of three of our students

with a one-handed challenge.

Ready, go.

I can't!

Yet!

I can't do it yet.

Basically, we had to put swimming caps on,

which you'd think it would be the easiest part, like.

This is so hard.

But then she said there was a twist.

Do you think I'm being a bit too mean?

-Yes!

-Do you think I should let them use,

like, half an arm so it's like me?

I'll let you guys use... So you can use your elbow.

Come on.

Come on, you stupid hat. Just go on my head.

Should I show them how it's done?

-Yeah! Here you go.

-OK.

No, I'm not giving up. I'm not giving up. I'm not giving up.

OK, I give up.

George, Abdul and Nimra struggled

and then she got the hat and then put it on.

It was like it was easy-peasy for her.

Round of applause for Claire and our volunteers, guys, please.

Claire Cashmore made me think about, like,

when people say, like, "You're not good enough."

Like, you can do anything you want, basically because, like, she...

She got told she, like, couldn't do it, but she still...

She still won a gold medal.

That's pretty brave.

So, come on, year seven.

How can you compete with that?

The bravest thing I've done is when I stood up to the boys

in primary school in football.

Well, I think the bravest thing I've ever done is...

-Hmm...

-Shall I come back?

Probably...

When I went in hospital when I was young because I got pneumonia.

And I could've died.

One of the bravest things I've done is probably went on Boomerang in

Pleasure Island because Boomerang's like a really fast ride.

Bravest thing I've ever done is held an anaconda.

On your own?

With, like, 16 other people.

Grabbing onto a dog's nose when it's trying to bite me.

Oh, my days!

That's the first I've heard of it.

Sounds terrifying. Nimra?

The bravest thing I've ever done is eat Chinese food.

The bravest thing happened to me is coming to secondary.

Coming to secondary school is one challenge,

but staying out of trouble is another.

That can take a lot of guts, too.

Hi, I'm Ella.

-Ella.

-What?

Your eyebrows... On fleek.

-I know they are.

-On fleek.

On point.

I would describe myself, funny...

How is this supposed to fit me?

Chatty...

Two, one...

I think Ella, she's very vocal.

Like, she doesn't keep things in her head.

Like, she likes to express things.

Why is this on my chair?

Will you put it over there, Nimra?

Sometimes, annoying, because if I get too loud,

then I get on people's nerves.

Or I just get carried away and talk too much.

Right, it made my neck crack.

You never heard that, people.

I'm like in the middle of gobby.

Like, I'm like gobby when it comes to, like, talking to people.

Unfortunately, Ella's talking is starting to disrupt the class.

Sir, my lipstick exploded in my bag.

Has it? Well, it'll survive. Let's chuck it in the bin.

Sir, have you got any tissue?

And I'm now going to give you a C1.

You're talking over me at this point.

This, and her attitude, is getting her in trouble.

I don't care!

Yeah!

Very hard, innit?

Ella, put that away.

-Away.

-It's away, sir.

Take your hand out of your pocket.

Sir...

It's not very hard.

-It is for me.

-It's hard sometimes.

Ella, why's your book shut?

Cos I'm tired.

I promise you I'm quite tired, as well.

Ella. Ella, I'm talking to you.

-Whatever.

-I'm not...shouting at you or being rude to you.

I'm talking to you, so you look at me when I'm talking to you.

Like, my reputation at primary school, I was, like,

getting done for talking over teachers

and I was always getting into trouble and just messing about

and I don't really want that for secondary school, at all.

-Sir, can I go?

-No, you've got two minutes.

It's been longer than that.

Looks like there's still a long way to go, Ella.

Someone who has never been in trouble here is Olivia.

She's not put a foot wrong.

Right leg!

Back!

Away!

Olivia, what do we do first when we've got a sum

that looks like that?

3 times 6 is 18.

-Yes.

-Plus your one...

-Is?

-19.

-19.

Boom, boom, boom.

Everybody thinks I'm weird because I like school.

I just like to learn and I like to learn new things so I can,

when I grow up, I can use all my knowledge to do some good things.

And those good things aren't just inside the classroom.

Keep going, you're doing a good job.

It's nice to help out, if you get what I mean?

School, for me, and education is really important

because, when I'm older, I'm going to aim high.

I want to be... I want to have, like, a really good job.

That's actually quite factually accurate.

Well done for that, Olivia. OK.

You know, I want to, like, be up there because I don't...

I don't like being second best.

I like to be the best.

Can anyone suggest one thing from one person

to basically help us to live side by side with different people?

-Young lady, yes.

-Being open-minded.

So, like, not judging anybody.

It's like looking at somebody...

-Perfect.

-And not thinking, "I don't like them" because you can't just

-judge a book by its cover.

-That's exactly right. Brilliant.

And it's also...

She's certainly impressing us teachers

and we're not the only ones.

I don't think she's ever got a C1.

She's got zero behaviour points.

So, Olivia, will you collect in the books, please?

She's basically like a teacher.

Like, she helps you with everything.

She so kind and caring and everything.

Olivia, I'm going to put some achievement points on for you

because you're being a superstar.

Being a good role model is brilliant.

But Olivia is concerned that's all people can see.

I'd like to show the school that I'm not just a goody-goody

and that I can do fun things and I can let my hair down and all that

and that would be nice.

So, then, people would understand what the real me is like.

Meanwhile, for Ella, her behaviour is going from bad to worse.

Who's in charge of this room, cos it ain't you?

Ella, stop. Now!

Right, you've got to have your ears and your wits about you today.

60 seconds, you will be picked on.

Let's go!

I think that Ella has so much potential, but at the moment,

Ella seems to be getting very cross and doesn't quite like

the boundaries that are in place in my classroom.

Right, Ella, I think we're going to move, sweetheart.

It's not working yet again, isn't?

She's very bright, but she's being very lazy.

And when she's challenged about that, she'll...

"But such and such hasn't done it."

Wait outside, please, Ella.

Muttered to somebody else.

Excuse me, Jovante.

Thank you, Jovante.

Aaron. Thank you.

What children don't often understand

is that the benchmark is set by them

and their capacity and their ability,

not by Freddy next-door who might not have written quite so much.

Are you happy?

Are you happy with how you're behaving?

No. Why not?

I don't know.

How were things for you in primary?

-All right.

-All right?

-Did we behave?

-A bit.

A bit? Do you want to be that primary Ella?

Or do you want to be somebody more mature?

More mature.

Gives people and gets a lot of respect.

I felt like...

Like, disappointed in myself when I got in trouble,

because I didn't want, like, to let, like, people down.

And I felt like I'd let myself down.

Can I ask you an honest question?

Are you upset because...

you think "I'm not getting any of this right. I'm being rude."

Or are you upset I'm about to ring your mum?

Then, like, Miss wanted to phone my mum

and then, like, she said,

"Well, I don't have to if you improve your attitude

"and your behaviour in my lesson."

And I said that I would.

Ella got a little bit emotional

and I think that that's healthy

because it shows that Ella does care.

I'm going to give you one last chance before I pick that phone up.

All right?

But I need to see that you've committed,

that you want to make it better.

Yeah?

You know, we made some agreements and we've set a time scale

for things to improve, so hopefully, that will happen.

So you're going to think about it?

-OK.

-And we're going to talk Monday.

All right. Clear off.

Have a lovely weekend, my dear.

-You, too.

-See you later, then.

Bye-bye, Ella.

One of the great parts of secondary school

are trips away to try new activities.

Today, some of year seven

are heading to the Peak District with me and Miss Hammond

to learn how to canoe.

And Olivia and Ella have been paired up together.

-Have you ever been canoeing?

-No, not really.

I've never been, but I've always wanted to go.

Same. I don't know how to do it.

PANTING

Are you guys excited?

Yeah!

I don't want to get wet.

At all. Cos otherwise,

I'm going to be wanting to go home straight away.

Yeah, this might not be a very dry day.

I do not want to get wet.

Not to worry, Aaron, you've got your canoe.

Canoe is basically like one triangle stuck to another triangle.

-What?

-Stuck to a square.

Anyone else?

-Circle, triangle.

-It's a weird shaped boat.

Basically, it's like a banana boat.

Just to confirm, this is a banana,

this is a canoe.

So then you get, like, these little wooden things

and you have to push along in your boat.

Wooden things? Do you know what they're called?

-Paddles.

-Oars.

-Paddles.

Paddles!

OK, guys, we're nearly there. Get ready for your big canoe day!

CHEERING

The man brave enough to teach us all

is Martin from Thornbridge Outdoors.

First things first, what do you think we have to do

before we can take the canoes off?

-Untie the rope!

-Untie them.

-Go for it.

I can't reach any of them.

No, no, no, no, no. You take this off first.

So, come on, team.

You canoe do it. Get it?

When I saw the canoes that we would be using,

I thought they were a bit small.

I thought they would have been a bit bigger.

They're plenty big enough for Farid and Ibraheem.

I think I've lost a bit of stones.

I lost 5st!

My life jacket has added a bit of extra weight.

Do you want to swap, Aaron?

-No.

-Are you sure?

Yeah.

Better to be safe than sorry.

If you fall in, the water is going to be cold.

It's going to be colder than the swimming pool.

-HE GASPS

-Yeah. Exactly.

It's going to take your breath away.

You're not in any danger, but it's just going to be a bit of a shock.

When I saw the water and heard that it would take my breath away,

I was really scared.

We just slide it into the water like that.

Aaron faces his fears head-on.

I'm going to hold it while Aaron and Ewan get in. OK?

-Cheers, mate.

-Nice one.

When I was getting in the canoe,

I was actually quite brave.

OK, go for it.

Farid, Ibraheem, let's get you guys in next.

-There we go.

-Now belly. Grab my belly.

-And mine.

Safety equipment well and truly tested.

It's time to get in the water, boys.

Getting into the boat was a little terrifying.

Whoa!

Once we're all in...

..Martin get us practising how to steer in a straight line.

-Doesn't fit.

-Get out the way!

And then we do the other way.

Now, I push forwards and you push backwards.

-Yeah.

-And now we go.

Teamwork.

It's all about teamwork.

Wait. Ewan, stop. Stop. Just stop for a minute.

I have to push us away from it, man.

Little. Little.

That's what you're supposed to do, Aaron.

We tried to do it, but I didn't know what I was doing.

I was turning the boat in circles so it's going like that.

Yeah, come on. Keep paddling back.

-Watch the ducks.

-Guys, you need to move out of the way.

That just flew over my head.

I thought ducks couldn't fly.

Yeah, they can fly.

Oh, guys, watch out.

I'm trying to get Aaron to turn it around, but he won't do it.

-Aaron!

-Oh, my.

It was quite hard, because we didn't exactly

know what we were doing and we weren't very coordinated.

Paddle forward.

Maybe Olivia and Ella are getting on better.

We're doing it. We're doing it.

It was really important to talk to each other because if we didn't...

Then we would have just, like, been like Farid and Ibraheem.

Yeah!

No, don't stand, you idiot.

Stop stomping, you giant!

-We were think...

-You're going to fall off because of him.

Shaking the boat.

I was pretending, shaking the boat and he's like, "Please stop!"

Mess around too much, though, and there are consequences.

Do you want to swap sides?

LAUGHTER

Did someone fall in?

Me and Miss Hammond had a little accident

but that wasn't entirely our fault.

Miss Hammond was like it was Titanic.

She could just grab the boat and then was holding on to it.

It wasn't as romantic as the Titanic.

I think it was more save myself and Miss can sort herself out.

Grab it.

Mr Johnson nudged our boat so I nudged theirs, but Miss Hammond,

she rocked sideways and the boat just completely tipped upside down.

Yeah, she jabbed us with her oar and it unsettled us a little bit.

And me and Miss went overboard.

And panicked quite a lot.

It was so funny.

Oh, my!

I feel... I feel really sorry for them.

Sir, do you want my towel?

No, thanks. But I may want revenge.

I didn't do anything. I'm sorry! I never did anything.

Exclusion. She's gone.

-She'll have to find another school.

-Yeah.

-I think she needs to move.

-Yeah.

-Troublemaker.

-Not having that.

-Somebody else needs to have her.

Not having that.

Right. That's enough practice.

Time to see what they can do on a run down the canal.

Olivia and Ella get away first.

Forwards, forwards.

And after a bad start...

..Aaron and Ewan are working as a team.

I was very surprised that we actually managed

to go in a straight line.

And Aaron's found that sometimes

it's worth trying stuff that scares you.

I am very proud of myself because I kind of like achieved

something by actually getting in the canoe and actually using it a lot.

Watch out, boys. Coming through.

Now we're going.

Seems like everyone wants to get in front.

You guys, go to the side.

Especially Olivia.

Olivia was great on the day and she was working with Ella

and they got pretty competitive in the end.

Three, two, one, paddle.

We are powerful rowers. We can do this.

Today's been a bit of a breakthrough for Olivia.

I think it showed a few people that I'm not just, like, into school.

-Work, homework.

-Yeah, work, homework,

work, homework, sleep, school.

And that I actually do like to have fun.

Come on! Wait, I'm steering.

Canoeing's been a hit all around.

I'm a proud that I've achieved learning to canoe, as well.

Because, like, I've used my energy in a different way.

Like, I've done something more productive with my time.

Back in school and it seems like Ella's found a new focus.

Her classes are starting to go much better.

Why did he keep his shoes?

Ella.

He, like...

Like, Clive Livingston was like his role model.

Excellent point.

Clive Livingston was Stanley's role model.

How do we know that?

Because he had a poster of him in his room.

Good girl. Excellent detail.

He had a poster up in his bedroom window, didn't he?

It looks like progress.

I've made a promise to keep myself quiet and, like, talk

but not, like, shout.

But what does Miss Tomlinson think?

Can I tell you that today you were fantastic.

Fantastic. I saw, today,

a young lady that wants to work hard

and that's got a hand up and that actually has got a super brain

in there that we can share with others and help,

really help push the classroom forwards

instead of dragging it backwards. OK?

Ella's a good kid with a big heart.

And has to be careful because she...

she might sell herself short.

Yeah? Best English lesson yet by far for you.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

Good work. What have you got now?

Erm, Geography.

-Geography?

-Yeah.

With who?

Enjoy yourself.

Ella, be good.

Year seven can be a bit scary.

Full of changes and new challenges.

But it doesn't matter if you make small steps or big.

The main thing is to give it a try.

And you never know. You could be saying, "I can do it."

sooner than you think.

Next time, we find year seven's funniest form.

Where should a 500lb alien go?

-I don't know.

-On a diet.

PHONE RINGS

-Farid!

-Is that you, Farid?

-IS somebody calling me.

-Who is it?

-That's mine.

-Who called?

I don't know.

Turn it off. We'll answer it later.

I'll say, "Can't talk now."

Who is it? Is it my mum?

I don't know.

-Turn the phone off.

-I'm going to.

PHONE CHIMES

Shh! Edit that.

Don't include that.