Part Two The Highest Classroom on Earth

straight to a special programme now, the highest classroom on earth. Jane

Hill reports on youngsters with behavioural problems who took on a

life changing challenge last year. 11 British teenagers with serious

behavioural problems this will be a gruelling, physical test. The

youngsters, selected from special schools across England have

completed the first part of their trip. They spent up to nine hours a

day hiking and climbing and are now nearly 5000 metres up in the

Himalayas. But they face the worst seasonal weather in the region for

nearly 20 years and the whole expedition is now at risk. If the

weather doesn't improve, it will be the end of the trip and it will be a

safety decision I will make and we will go down. Morning. Their goal is

to climb another 1000 metres. But with just three days left to do it,

the timetable is very tight and the rate of ascent only just within the

margins of safety. It is extremely tough. You cannot take your glasses

off without it turning the back of your eyes. Will they succeed in the

final push of this Himalayan challenge?

Day seven. The group has spent the last two nights and a day in a

house. Their whole track is delayed by heavy snow. And although it has

now stopped snowing, the team leaders take the decision to spend a

second day here. The mentors are doing their best to combat cabin

fever with the youngsters trapped inside. I can look back at my career

now and say I gave everything. As an individual and to my team`mates. It

has been a challenging journey so far for the team. Richards, who has

asked Burgess and ADHD is showing symptoms of altitude sickness. I

have got a bit of a headache. I have got to keep drinking through it.

George is coping well, despite his obsessive disorder and anxiety. It

is crazy, basically. It is just so unsafe. Jack, who also has asked

Burgess is missing home and is anxious about altitude sickness. ``

Asperger's syndrome. But the oldest in the group who was excluded

several times from mainstream schools is relishing the challenge.

And the youngest in the team, Dominic, who has ADHD is discovering

a new confidence. It is not too bad, quite easy to be honest. So

far, they have climbed about 1700 metres. Now their final journey is

to track another six miles, but going up about 1000 metres close to

Everest base camp. Despite the deep snow, the pupils and their mentors

manage to leave today for a short acclimatisation walk. Going up 100

metres and back down again. This helps to raise team spirits and

despite a ban on snowball fights, they cannot resist the temptation.

Oh no! Day number eight and they finally on their way. They are

hoping to break the 5000 metre barrier and it will be the hardest

day of the expedition so far. Morning. They will be going up

another 500 metres and are heading to a teahouse. I think we were all

starting to get cabin fever. The jokes were becoming the same, but it

is good to get walking again. Been told today we will have a five`hour

trek. It will be snow and cold. But it will be one of the hardest days.

They would not call it the easy classroom, would they?

All starts well with a clear trail through the snow. But now they are

facing another danger, avalanches. Go down from the peak. There have

been local reports that three days earlier for people were killed in an

avalanche in the Everest area. And the lack of oxygen in the air at

this altitude is taking its toll on most experienced team members. It is

becoming much more difficult to breathe. We haven't lost anybody

yet. We have had two people listening to the avalanche. The

other side of the mountain. The weather is really warm, 28 degrees

at 4500 metres. We have heard a couple of small avalanches this

morning and the group is doing very well. We have lost two people with

altitude sickness over the last eight days. But we have followed

protocol, looked after them, lowered them, fluid intake and the group is

altogether. We are the highest classroom already. They stop for

lunch and Dominic says it has been one of the hardest days so far. It

has been tough, but everybody has pulled through as a team, so it has

not been bad. I have learned a lot of experience of looking after

myself. I have learned about different cultures with the Sherpas

and stuff. I have met loads of new people. It has changed me. I am

doing great, thank you. This morning we have come up about 300 metres. We

were told to be set for the snow and rain so we come out with waterproofs

on. I am now in shorts. I feel ill because I am so hot. We are now at

dirty six degrees. With temperatures soaring, new problems are starting

to arise. It is extremely tough. You cannot take your glasses off without

it turning the back of your eyes. Despite the three medics on the trip

advising everyone to put on sun block, sunburn is becoming an issue.

I have got factor 50 are now, three lots and I have still burnt my arms.

There are also altitude problems as the team has gained about 500 metres

in less than a day. They are now approaching 5000 metres. This was

always the plan and the doctors will not objecting, but will it prove too

much for the team? One medical kit with them, please. Cole is in

trouble. One lad started to feel sick and is describing himself

feeling weird. He will be going down shortly. I am just about to tell him

that. With acute mountain sickness score of six, he will be descending

down the mountain accompanied by an experienced Sherpa, his mentor and

also a doctor. This scorecard looks up by different categories of

headache, appetite, nausea, how your guts are, how you are sleeping and

how fatigue you are. There is mild to moderate in each category and

anyone with a score of three or more, the advice is to descend once

appropriate treatment has been given. You can sense he is gutted.

He wants to carry on but he knows deep down it is not the right

choice. I think he feels this could be the end. It is bad luck the Cole,

but it is estimated altitude sickness affects between ten and 25%

of people when they go above 2500 metres. The best solution is to

descend. But an hour back down the trail, Cole's condition approves. He

is reassessed and given the go`ahead to continue. This is a day of

ex`Greens. I am so cold. The sun is about to go in at any minute and it

is going to be freezing. `` extremes.

As the sunshine dips below the mountains, the temperature plummets

40 degrees two minus ten in a matter of minutes.

Even before they reach the teahouse, quite a few of them are struggling,

including our cameraman. It means our producer has two take on the

filming. After eight hours walking, it is a low point for the whole

team. Jack arrives wrapped in a space blanket suffering from the

cold. The medics and his mental are trying to calm him down. `` mentors.

It is becoming clear and not everyone is able to go on. Richard

is having serious doubts and records his thoughts in his video diary that

night. We are not making it. None of us are up to it.

Next morning, it is not just Richard who is struggling. The decision has

to be taken about who can continue. I think everybody is suffering

physically and mentally. Especially some of the young boys. They have

pushed themselves hard to get here. Unfortunately, not all of them are

going onwards. But this is Everest, this is the highest point, so

congratulations to all of them. The doctors have decided some members of

the team should not go any further, while others have taken that

decision themselves. In fact, more than half of the youngsters, some of

the mentors and even our cameraman are unable to continue. They will

either rest all head down the mountain straightaway. One of them

is Jack. After the long climb yesterday, Jack, we went from 37

degrees in the sunshine and then minus ten in about six minutes. And

we went to the tea room but Jack went down very quickly. He had cold

hands and was in excruciating pain, which led him to collapse. Myself

and the doc as did an incredible job. It took us about three hours to

get him to calm down enough to get his temperature right and his

breathing under control. He did an incredible job of there and it must

have been such a scary environment to be unwell in. It has been an

experienced, to be honest. It has been good, but uncomfortable as

well. As you can probably tell by my face, sunburn and slightly

blistered. But even though we have been putting suncream on, it has

still been getting through. This experience is going to stay with me

for the rest of my life. The express edition leader will reap

those willing to continue. `` expedition leader. Even before this

group, there has been a change of plan. The organisers have taken the

decision to abandon their mission to reach the summit. Instead, they will

send another 320 metres to the Everest viewpoint on the way to the

summit. Our producer is now filming the final push. It is a long, slow,

four hour slog to reach the Shepherd village. It is more than 5100 metres

up at the base. That Rob has my name on it. `` that'll rock. Here, one of

the boys, tired to go any further and stays there with his mentor to

meet them on the way down. The other for youngsters, Dominic,

George, Josh, and coal, continue with Callum Carter and the remaining

team. We made it. At two o'clock, they get

there, to the highest point of the expedition, 100 metres up the

mountain. Their reward is an unforgettable view of Everest. Well

done. Well done, buddy. Hello, old boy. At one point, I thought I can't

do this. But I pushed through. This will stay with me for ever.

Don't give up on things, because if you just take your time and put the

effort in, you can do it, and this is a prime example of that. My

teacher asked if I wanted to do the Highest Classroom. I wanted to give

it a go. I never thought I would have been here today. It has not

been easy at all. We would convincing local authorities that we

could take people to the Himalayas, so we have had a challenge since day

one. I have been really pleased and very proud about the way the

children have adapted to the change. The whole group did not make it to

the top. Each of those that have stopped at a point below her, they

found their own Highest Classroom. We will sit down and have a quiet

moment and realise we have got to 5200 metres in the Himalayas in the

snow. That is what I want to take away. If they can achieve this, they

can achieve anything they want to do in their lives.

Once reunited, it takes three days for the team to go back down the

trail. The team will wait for the flight

back from the tiny Himalayan airport to Kathmandu. SINGS BADLY. There is

time to relax and reflect. I have never really been proud of myself,

but making it as a group, is a big team, made me feel proud of myself.

It has made a big difference. It has made me think anything is possible,

anything can be achieved if you try. I want to be in the Marines, and

that makes me think I can do it. As long as I try. Good man. Big bear

hug. The THE journey has been hard, but the company has been amazing,

and I think it has been a great journey of self`discovery. Then

there is a final game of touch rugby, led by the sports mentors.

Great work! Time to say farewell to the Himalayas and the Highest

Classroom team. What is it called when the egg it's

been a get spinner? The youngsters who went to the Himalayas have been

home for a month now. He has been elected head boy. What lessons have

they learned from The Highest Classroom On Earth? George nearly

didn't come on the trip because of concerns with his OCD and anxiety

levels. As he conquered his fears? Yes I have. I still have anxieties,

but from being out there and experiencing the culture, everything

about the trip, it has bought my insight is down. `` my anxieties. I

still have OCD, but it does not feel like I have it. Using the techniques

out there, which was I can do this, it will not hurt me, it dissipated.

Richard believes the track has helped him get his problems into

perspective. I think the lesson I have learnt is self perseverance,

way through the toughest situations, I can get through it by putting

myself in a different place. I think I am a better person now than I was

when I first came. Things are more in perspective. I have led to accept

those around me. I think it is giving me a brighter view on life.

Back at his special school, Dominic was a presentation about how the

Highest Classroom experience has changed him. It was a big challenge

for me. He wants to pass on the lessons he has learned to his fellow

pupils. Weigh since I came back, I have learned that you have to take

it on the chin. You have to work with the teachers, because they are

trying their best for you. I've never been proud of myself, and

doing this made me realise I can do something amazing, so that is what

made me feel proud. It is not just the help and support I got, it is my

own two feet that have got me there. Are you happy to get her?

Yes! When I was young, I found it hard to cope. If someone push my

button, that was it. It didn't take much. I'm a lot more confident. I

have led to control my temper. I always come back and say, I'm sorry.

I have always been saying since I was young that I will be in the

Marines. Meeting people has drive `` driven me even further. I'm going to

sign up for it. Because I've done this, I know I can do anything and

go anywhere. In Gloucestershire, Jack talks over the expedition with

his parents and school mentor. As a young child, he was routinely

excluded from school because of his extreme behaviour. Has he changed?

Definitely. Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In And Out Of Love With

Vladimir Putin the independence, I think. I

he has come back in a different light. It solved a view of the

social problems. I really didn't think I could do this before. I

persevered and I got there, and I was amazed by it. How was that,

please? Scary. I never expected to go 5000 metres. I never would have

thought of doing that in my life. The achievement of doing this, it is

going to stay with me for ever. ALL SING 500 MILES. The reason we work

with these people is because no one else think they can do it. We love

the challenge, and we know the kids can, and look at what can be

achieved. We got the extreme cold, the extreme heat, the extreme nature

of the Himalayas. This was the toughest one I have been on, and I

have a lot of experience and struggled on this one. Having these

children put their backpacks on and take on the challenge was fantastic

to see. # I would walk 500 miles, and I

would walk 500 more #. To be that man who walks 1000 miles

to fall down at your door #. # I would walk 500 miles, and why

would walk 500 more #. Just to be that men who walked 1000

miles to fall down at your door #. What amazing pictures. We have