Episode 3 Tough Young Teachers

School can be tough...

There's people with their heads on their desk.

-Not because they can't be bothered, just because they're too tired from all the thinking and that.

-Er, boys!

..and not just for the students.

Get out of my classroom.

50% of teachers leave the job within the first five years.

James, you need to put these away. James! Go away... Go away!

But some of the country's top graduates...

-Morning, on this fine day.

-..are determined to give teaching a go.

-Don't think you want to do well, or not?

-Well!

I've always wanted to make a difference and try and...

help people and change things.

-LAUGHTER

-No. Right.

Maybe slightly naively.

-Morning, what's your name?

-Ben.

-The catch, they've only been given six weeks' training...

-This is where the work begins.

Keeping quiet.

..before being let loose on the kids.

BALLOON POPS, SCREAMING

'It comes down to me. When they come into my classroom,'

they expect to leave with something,

and if I'm not delivering, then I'm failing.

'What's the worst that can happen? Somebody told me that someone threw'

a chair at them, on their first day.

But are they up to the task?

We're in Year Eight. We're going to be drawing naked women.

And can they change the lives of their pupils?

Can't breathe!

This is someone's maths book.

They're not even doing English in my class.

I'll be Prime Minister one day. You'll see.

Great lot, from Cranwood School.

-All right, nice to see you.

-Nice to see you too.

-First, let me tell you, so this is for graduating.

-Six teachers...

I knew he was posh. I knew it, I knew it, I knew he was posh.

-..three schools...

-Look at my face, you got a C.

HE CHEERS, SHE LAUGHS

..one unforgettable year.

Get in there!

-This week...

-Who's still talking?

..it's the countdown to the end of term.

I was thinking, oh, look at all these lines,

I have to fill up all of these lines.

And, you know, I just couldn't handle it.

-No, put the chair down.

-No.

'It has crossed my mind that, like,'

my school would fire me. I feel like they're that disappointed in me.

I have marked your test. We'll be going through them

tomorrow, OK?

I'm going to say, they were not fantastic.

Six young trainees are on Britain's toughest graduate programme,

run by the charity Teach First.

They train on the job for two years,

in schools in deprived areas in London.

Did you remember your book?

-Yeah, I've got it.

-Good boy, well done.

They've been on the job for two months.

-Pens down.

-It's another five weeks before Christmas...

-You're champs, excellent.

-..and their first proper break.

You should be standing behind your desk!

Wait, who's talking?

What would you do differently, then, Dena?

If we could start from a clean slate, what would you do?

Not teach.

-Caleb, I need you to stay at the front.

-Why?

Because I need you to pass your exam.

I look at so many of the kids,

and you're, like, you're just going after it, you want a conflict,

you want to have an argument, you want to have a fight.

And you sit at the front, or you leave the classroom.

I mean, kids have no problem calling you a BLEEP!

HE LAUGHS

Yeah, just turn the page, Harry, it's on the back.

'I have a few classes that I absolutely love to teach.

'In those lessons, I stand there and I think, I could do this forever.'

But then I'll equally have lessons where I think, Oh, God,

I can't do this, ever again.

Get me out, when's this hour going to end?

Ah, look at this, he's nailing it.

They're all working towards a teacher qualification.

But at this stage in the year, some are progressing faster than others.

One of the things that has

stuck out for me is, to really be exceptional,

you've got to care persistently about your kids.

Archie, this is amazing. People, I'm really impressed. How's it going?

But at the Harefield Academy, one trainee, Meryl, has fallen

seriously behind.

Can you tuck your chairs in under your desks, please?!

She's had the roughest ride of all the trainees so far.

This is someone's maths book.

They're not even doing English in my class.

Her life-long dream is to be a teacher.

My ambition is to do teaching,

for the rest of my working life.

But she can't control classes.

They're not working or paying any attention,

they're colouring in, doing what they want.

And despite all her training...

The more time you spend before your lesson, the better your lesson goes.

..she still can't cope,

and the school have had to give her extra support.

-We've flagged you as a cause for concern.

-OK.

-OK? Teach First will want to talk to you.

-Yeah.

Now, I have to read something out to you

and it all sounds a bit official, but it's very important that

you understand what I'm saying, and then after...

Two months into her placement and Meryl has an official visit

from a course tutor.

So your work's been designated as a cause for concern.

This means that in the professional judgment of colleagues,

if you continue at your current rate of progress,

your work will not provide sufficient evidence

to achieve qualified teacher status by the end of the year.

If, after a further period, your work has not made the progress

identified in the improvement plan,

-you may be asked to withdraw from the programme.

-OK.

In a way, it would be great if all participants

were a cause for concern, because then you could put in

so much more support.

And I do want to say to you that I had a boy two years ago

that was on cause for concern at this stage

and ended up being outstanding.

-You have, like, 30 working days...

-OK.

-..when we will then review your improvement plan.

-OK.

We really need to see some sense of growth, otherwise we start...

I mean, we will start making plans for other things, and so on.

So, in the interest of the students...

'It does feel a little bit like an intervention.

'It's like a group of people'

sitting down and saying, you know,

Meryl, we think you're an alcoholic, and here are some steps to help you.

I'm obviously not an alcoholic.

Step one on the road to recovery is Year Ten bottom set English,

observed by Rachel, a Teach First coach.

Meryl wants to show a video in class,

but no-one's paying any attention.

Jordan!

I'm going for a time-out, Madam!

Shh.

I know that Miss,

and a few people here, are ready to watch the video.

It would be really nice if I could hear it,

-and be part of this lesson with you.

-Thank you.

LAUGHTER James.

-There's no need to laugh, James.

-James, get out, please.

-No!

-No, get out. Get out!

-You are embarrassing yourself.

-How?

Why are you laughing? It's not even funny, not even funny.

Not even funny, James.

I mean, the way, how she speaks is like, "Now, guys,

"I want to be a part of this lesson,

"and I really want to watch the movie.

-"And I'm sure..." You can't say it's not funny!

-James.

-HE LAUGHS

-You can't say it's not funny.

The only thing that's funny

is the fact that you are on course to fail your GCSE.

-Jordan... No, put the chair down.

-Go.

Jordan, do something, like your work.

Watch these three now, watch 'em attack, watch, watch, yeah?

Are you watching, madam?

-Did you see that? Did you see that attack?

-Take a seat.

-Jordan.

-Bloody idiot!

Hi, Sir, would you please... Jordan...

Meryl follows the school procedure and calls a stand-by teacher.

Why am I in the stand-by?

He was... You clearly saw him throw something at me.

What is wrong with you?

-Ryan, no...

-That weren't me!

-Let's get you down.

-No, that weren't me.

You need to get your planner out, nonetheless.

'They're not nasty kids, and they do, you know, have time for Meryl'

and want to hear what she says, and respond to her when they,

she talks to them on an individual basis.

Melissa, have you got your work to do?

'It's just about nurturing the environment'

in which they can do that. And, yeah, I think...

I think there's a lot of potential there

for the kids, you know, the kids to really embrace her, and her lessons.

So he's trying to make it out as though

he doesn't want other people in this room.

And really, they're not allowed in this room cos he's black.

All right, let me help you out, superstar group, yay!

-I've had a shit day, guys. But I do have...

-Shit happens.

-How was it?

-That's not very...

-And it happened today.

-Shit happens.

-Continue, sorry.

-How dare you interrupt my shit day story!

-Go.

-I had a feedback session from my head of department.

Then I had feedback, after school, from the head,

-for an observation on Tuesday.

-From the head?

-And then... Yeah.

-It's so stressful, being observed.

I just had a really awful last session, as well, which had to be

the one lesson that someone from Teach First came in to see.

Three of them started throwing books around, not bothering, just, like...

-It's not your fault.

-I can vouch that this class...

Meryl, it's a nightmare. I know some of the guys in it.

Meryl's got this, like, cause for concern thing. Can I just say...

-What?!

-But get a load of this, like, this is Meryl's feedback.

-Like, here are 20 things you've got to improve... Thanks.

-What?!

You'd never do that to a kid.

You'd never give a kid 20 targets for improvement.

-Yeah, exactly.

-You'd give them three...

-Maximum.

..cos that's all a human being can focus on at once.

I think they have a concern that I'm not going to pass the year.

We're nearly at Christmas, believe it or not.

And this is the hardest stretch.

Have you thought about dropping out?

-Has it crossed your mind?

-No.

But it's crossed my mind that, like, my school would fire me.

I feel like they're that disappointed in me.

We're now doing the four feedback sessions for Meryl.

No, no, it's true.

Like, I know, it's just cos we want to help, but it's true.

Like, we've just got to shut up.

She just needs freedom, to become a teacher,

and not, people not to tell her what to do.

That's what I think. Do you not think? You know best what you need.

Look who it is. You all right?

Like Meryl, Nicholas also works at the Harefield Academy.

Becky, get on with some work.

I can't do it. What do you have to do?

Yeah, you can. You haven't even tried.

The school are pleased with his progress.

'At the end of the day,'

I think we'll all agree that kids are just quite annoying,

and if you can't deal with that and you can't go beyond that, you do

just end up not liking them, because they are so annoying sometimes.

Becky, that's my pad.

-I don't really appreciate you doodling on it.

-What?

-Look how sick that tree is.

-'It's a part of it.'

Just to be able to love their innocence.

Love their stupid questions, and be able to laugh at it,

and not let it get to you every time.

You speak really posh. You, like, pronounce all your letters.

-Like, wat-er, but-ter.

-Yeah, very good.

You should try and speak like that, cos that's proper English.

Do you talk like this, do you go like this,

-when you say bye, do you go, ta-ta, ta-ta?

-No, I don't do that. Come on.

So far, his only problem is getting 13-year-old Becky

to stop taking the mickey out of his accent...

-Come on, get on with it.

-'He's posh.

'Oh, let's go get some crumpets, and...'

I reckon he's from a high place of, like, the country.

..and motivating her mate Zach to actually do some work.

So, put homework at the top of the page.

Zach, can I have the elastic band?

-No, you can have the paper.

-No, no, the elastic band.

Zach, I'll count to five, and I'll call stand-by if you don't give me the elastic band.

Five, four, three, two, one... Thank you.

He's, like, posh, and I'm not.

So, I'm never going to be the same as him, so...

But do you think he might share any interests the same as you?

Doubt it.

-Come on, Zach. How we doing?

-Stressed out.

-You're stressed out?

-Yeah.

Can we try and forget and just do some work?

-Come on.

-What work?

This work. We've got to do this.

Everyone's understanding, and you're just not doing anything.

Let's try it together. Two times something equals six.

-What's the something?

-Two times three.

Good. OK, X equals three. OK? I'd like you to try the next one.

If you get this one done, then you don't need to do homework.

-Oh, is that the end of lesson, then?

-That will be almost the end.

You've got ten minutes to get that done. OK?

'Anyone who's decided they're disengaged needs a lot of work

'and time and love, and all these things, to show them something different.'

To show them another choice that they've got to make.

And that... That really is big.

It's not something I can just do by going at it half-heartedly.

All right, guys, listening very closely... Three, two, one.

Face this way.

25 miles away is Lanfranc School, in Croydon.

Two, I don't want to hear any more voices, and three,

you should all have bums on seats and you should all be listening.

Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.

Chloe teaches Geography.

She's in her second year at the school.

So far, she's excelled,

and the school are hoping she stays long-term.

So in January, when you come back after Christmas,

you will be sitting your first exam -

your first exam that counts.

Her Year 11 class are her biggest challenge to date.

They face their GCSEs in a matter of months.

What you should have... Dominic, up. Sit up.

All the way up. Now lift your head. There we go. OK. Open your eyes.

Thank you. OK. So, what...

'There's a few in particular that I worry about, Cos I can see

'they've got potential, but I don't know if they'll follow through,'

and do the revision and do the work,

and get the grade that they should.

This is our last lesson going through your resource booklet,

before you sit your mock.

'Some of them don't see the importance of getting these C grades,'

and that then next year, they're going to find themselves

in a position where they're stuck, and they don't know what to do.

Green space. What does it say about green space?

Argh... What does it say?

'I have this horrible image of them turning up at school,

'on results day and opening their envelopes

'and just seeing really disappointed little faces.'

Oh, I couldn't handle that. That would really upset me.

Today, she wants to try and make

her Geography class more relevant to them.

Why do you think your view of London is so different to my view of London?

You don't live in Croydon. Understand? Understand?

If you were to live in Croydon,

you would understand what we're talking about.

But because you live in the north of, like... You live in Clapham,

don't you? So obviously, it's more of a different experience

to what we see and to what you see. You come here for a period of time,

and we are pretty much here all the time.

You don't see all, like, the gang-bang bangers, yeah?

So, like, yeah, our generation, we're more used to, like,

the gun crimes and little black boys getting stabbed up and that.

I would never walk home late by myself, at night.

No, I don't get scared when I see a group...

-Because I, you know, because of where I work.

-I doubt

that young people are going to approach an adult, I doubt it.

-But do you not think...

-Adults do get smacked,

-I'm not going to lie.

-Yeah. If I was walking home, by myself, at night,

and there was a group of boys at the end of the road,

white or black, I would feel... Or Asian...

-THE KIDS SHOUT OVER EACH OTHER

-..I would feel vulnerable.

But I don't have the same perception of London as you do.

All right, boys, listening again. Drop it now, come on.

Go home, read the resources, practise the questions,

again and again, that we've done in class... Sit down... OK.

Take your books home, revise.

Link everything you write to sustainability.

Dominic, when are you going to come and get this? Tomorrow...

They just said that, like, when I asked

what they thought of London, the first thing they said was crime,

and murder, and little black boys in gangs, getting stabbed.

They didn't think of the kind of things I would think of.

And even though I, you know, there is, you know,

I do associate London with crime, it wouldn't be the first thing

that would come into my head, kind of thing.

Whereas for them, it is the first thing, for some reason,

I don't really know why.

But I guess they've grown up here, whereas I didn't, I moved here.

As a little girl, she was always very dutiful, wasn't she?

She was always very dutiful. Very conscientious.

She was always quite motherly.

She was never in trouble, that I can recall.

Not that we were aware of, anyway.

Yeah, it's really changed.

Chloe grew up in Sussex,

and went to a private all-girls' school in Brighton.

-I haven't been here in ages...

-No.

-..in years. Since before university.

-18, you...

Yeah, so five, nearly six years now.

Happy days, happy memories.

I don't think there's many similarities.

Lanfranc's very nurturing and very caring,

but I think the way the lessons are delivered,

and the way the school's kind of set up is quite different.

And they come from much tougher lives, a lot of them.

You know, they're sort of... They don't necessarily always have

a safe place to go home and do their schoolwork, and things like that.

-You have a different clientele.

-Yes. A very different clientele.

OK, everybody should have a book, and everybody should be reading.

The books are here, if you haven't got one.

Also at Lanfranc is fellow Teach Firster Charles, who teaches RE.

Excellent, lots of people reading. Who's not reading?

'The school is in one of the most deprived areas of the UK.

'The school itself is falling apart. It's not really fit for purpose.

'I think that makes it challenging.'

But the teachers do a fantastic job of making do.

Charles has got into the spirit of Lanfranc.

He's introduced compulsory reading in his tutor group, to help

improve their literacy.

Sky can go, Mohammed can go, Hussain can go, Alex can go, Andre can go.

Today, he's also running an after-school session

for GCSE students who have fallen behind.

Caleb and classmate Joel have been two of his most

challenging Year 11 pupils.

Joel, I think you know how to get full marks.

You could think of a history example.

-You could think of, for example, The Treaty of Versailles.

-Yeah, that's it.

I'm doing that as well, Treaty of Versailles.

That would've made sure that you got all six marks.

At the moment, it's probably about five marks.

After ten minutes' revision, Caleb's decided he's had enough.

You've got to have higher standards for yourself.

Someone's waiting for me, I gotta go.

Caleb, got to have higher standards for yourself.

-But you asked me to do...

-What's your target?

-I don't even know.

-What's your target?

-I don't know, I didn't...

It's a B. You need about 16 marks, OK?

At the moment, we've got one, two...

How many did we get here?

We've got ten marks.

That means we need another six marks,

otherwise you're not going to get a B.

So I suggest you sit down, so that we can get a B.

Caleb.

Hey, Caleb, why you running away?

I'm not running away, but you know how bored I get.

-It's just boring.

-What about Mr Wallendahl?

Wasn't that nice for him to make the time for you guys?

He's a teacher, it's his job.

Joel also makes a dash for it.

Short attention span! Maybe at a school like this,

you do, if you want to succeed,

you do have to have a drive and an independence that's greater

than somebody at a school where everybody achieves.

Meryl is preparing for yet another observation.

This time, it's with Harefield's vice-principal, Gavin Henderson.

I'm going to be observing Meryl with a Year Nine class.

When I saw them before, the group were challenging.

She was finding it really hard to get anything effective from them.

So, today, what I'm really looking for is a bit of a step forward,

away from that position, into something where she's...

managing the learning of the majority of those people.

Students are much more engaged. When I walk through the door,

I am really hoping that she's going to be...

have taken on board the advice she's been given,

and made those improvements.

Gavin won't allow the session to be filmed, in case the cameras

affect the students' behaviour.

Hi, am I OK to come in?

Yeah, OK, thank you very much.

Where would you like me to sit?

Nick has been asked to pick two pupils to go on an outing,

organised by the school.

He's chosen Zach and Becky.

There's a real intention to be able to get closer to the kids,

not only as a teacher, as a Maths teacher, but also, you know,

as a human being, looking at other growing younger beings.

'Any human being values being loved

'and, essentially, that's what it is, really.'

Have any of you ever heard of pheasant shooting?

-Yeah.

-Do you know what it is?

-It's where you shoot things.

-You shoot things.

-I want to do that.

-What we would do is...

we'd walk through the forest, like, hitting at the sticks and stuff,

-so the birds would fly up, then the other people would shoot them...

-That's wicked.

..and then afterwards, we could...

afterwards, you can have a go firing the gun,

-if you wanted, maybe.

-That's wicked.

-Yeah, OK.

-So you're up for that, yeah?

-Yeah.

-OK, fine.

I knew he was posh. I knew it, I knew it. I knew he was posh.

Cos that's what posh people do, they're like, oh, yes,

let's go shoot some plates, yeah.

I feel it's quite exciting, like, shooting,

like, like animals in a... I feel like, it's like Bambi.

When it dies.

Did you expect him to say, do you want to come shooting with me?

Not at all. I thought it was going to be, do you want to come to, like,

-Maths Club, or something?

-I would not turn up to that!

Yeah, neither would I.

Meryl's observation is over.

It wasn't a very successful lesson. Things sort of deteriorated.

She didn't manage to get them engaged.

A few students were really quite, er, almost deliberately challenging her,

trying to undermine her, and so on. To be quite honest,

it didn't seem to suggest a great deal of progress, from last time.

So, quite a disappointment really, which is very sad.

Awful, absolutely awful. Couldn't have gone worse, to be honest.

Like, it was so bad, so, so poor, the behaviour.

It's not a great thing for Gavin to have seen,

but if I'm completely honest, I'm observed, like, half the week.

I feel that things aren't great, every lesson.

I don't know, you just feel like you're running out of ideas.

I need someone to tell me, do this with this class

and see if it works. There's a good number of kids

on my register, for that class,

who are consistently getting in trouble across the board.

Oh, my gosh, I've had a diabolical day. Diabolical!

-You're looking hot today, Meryl.

-Thank you, you too, Nick.

-You got observed today again, didn't you?

-Yeah...

You're being observed the whole time, these days.

Pretty much. It feels like it.

If I'm the only adult in the room, it feels really weird.

-Don't put any more pressure on yourself.

-I'm trying not to, yeah.

-Just don't.

-I mean, I can't physically put in any more hours...

-Yeah, exactly.

-So it's a case of...

I think you should write a letter saying,

please could you thank me for the amount of hours I put in to my job?

Because I put so many in, I'm now being paid £3.00 an hour.

-Your capacity is to be an excellent teacher...

-Thank you.

You've taught some great lessons. And also...

I know, I wish they blimmin' came in and observed some of those lessons.

No, but you've taught some amazing lessons.

You've got such a great imagination, to think up cool stuff.

Build up your confidence. Cos of having taken a hit, you're like, scared to take risks now.

Yeah, I need to find my inner teacher again.

-And that will bring you back up.

-Yeah.

Good amenities means good shopping, leisure and schools. Excellent.

'There is something really nice about Lanfranc.

It has an amazing community feeling and an amazing atmosphere.

I'd also like you to give marks and cue words,

such as...Adhan, Tarnick, Circumcision...

'All of the pupils are sort of given the best chance, I think.

'And I think that's it's real redeeming quality.'

We might not get the best results. We have the most unattractive building in the world,

but there's a really nice feeling to the school.

And I think everyone, staff and pupils,

feels quite valued there, and like they are important.

And that's a nice place to work,

and it's a nice atmosphere for children to be in.

Lanfranc are about to put on their Christmas show,

and Charles' Head Of Department, Abida, has a job for him.

Here's a challenge for you. We need an amazingly beautiful,

Arab-looking Joseph for the concert.

All his role will be is to dress up as Joseph

and sit on the stage, and be Joseph.

He hasn't got a speaking part, he's just got to look pretty.

But we want somebody to look Arabic,

-and somebody quite beautiful looking.

-Arab-looking...

We've got a black baby Jesus. But it kind of fits the diversity.

We've got a white Mary. Very serene, very chaste.

We kind of want an Arab and an older Joseph to try and...

SHE LAUGHS

I'm on duty today, so what I'm going to do is get up

-and just ask a few of them.

-Get it sorted, and tell me

-who they are, by the end of the day.

-OK.

-Do you think you can do that challenge?

-Yeah.

Right, then. Don't let me down. You are finding Joseph.

You're finding Joseph. And if you don't, I'm going to cry.

Isaac, do you think you'd be a good Joseph?

-I'm not sure, at the mo.

-I don't think you're my man.

Are you Joseph? You don't have to say any lines.

You just sit there and look pretty, in your dress.

You don't look thrilled about the idea. Off you go.

Right, boys, in we go! You're going to be late otherwise.

Have you thought about Joseph any more, William?

Right, come in, please, Year Eights.

Claudenia teaches Science at Crown Woods College, in South East London.

Sitting down quiet, standing quietly behind your desks!

Take your essential four out.

Do you remember in August, you said you wanted to be an inspiration?

-Did I? Did I say that?

-You did.

I went into this to be a role model. I wanted to be in classes where

they could really be like, Miss,

-I salute you.

-Yeah, you wanted to be an inspiration and you wanted to...

The cheese just oozes out of my mouth sometimes.

Can I have silence, please, Year Eights?

But Claudenia's got to master the basics, before she can be an inspiration.

The way you came into this classroom was disgusting!

And her Year Eights aren't making it easy.

The next person I have to stop for,

the next person I have to speak to, I'll be phoning home today.

It's disgusting. It has to get better.

So, can we line up outside, quietly? Line up.

QUIETLY!

OK, come in, Year Eights, come in.

SHOUTING AND LAUGHTER

OK, it wasn't silent. Back outside, back outside.

THEY GROAN

Very rarely, you can raise your voice,

it has to be something very, very serious.

On the whole, you should just be assertive and clear.

-Ellie, hello.

-Hi, Sir...

-I am very, very busy.

-How many times did we have to line up,

before we could come in quietly?

How many times did we have to do that this morning, this afternoon?

-Yes, Alfie?

-Three.

If you can't get through the first part of the lesson sensibly,

I cannot trust you to do practicals.

And now it's the end of the lesson and we've run out of time.

And this is extremely disappointing, really disappointing,

cos you've got so much ability and you're being disrespectful,

and you're not working.

-You're letting yourselves down.

-OK.

One person from each group needs to come and bring back the power pack.

'I never, in my life,

'tolerated anyone being disrespectful to me, never.

'Like, this is a joke to me.'

Respect is a basic thing, man.

Respect is a basic thing.

I think it's, for most people, if you put effort in,

you get something back, you know.

But I'm getting nothing back.

Claudenia teaches alongside

fellow trainee Oliver, who's also her flatmate.

They're 12 weeks into their first term.

It takes so long to mark one book... SHE LAUGHS

She's very self-critical.

That's one thing I'm learning to not be, is not be too self-damning.

But I wake up in the morning at, like, 5:30

and I come downstairs, and she's, like, sitting up,

working like she's been working for hours.

And in some of the cases, some of the time, she has.

When she's sick, she still is, like, I can't, I still have to go in

because they have to work, and they have to have a teacher.

This shows, to me, their attitude towards their work.

They're just not bothered. I think they just want me to... What do you call it?

Food spoon, is that what you...? Feeds, what's that,

What do you call it? Feed spoon. Food spoon.

SHE LAUGHS I can't remember what...

-Spoon feed.

-Spoon feed!

She's definitely very self-critical, maybe too self-critical.

She should accept we're not going in perfect, we're going in as raw materials,

to become a finished product.

It's three weeks away from the Christmas play

and Abida is on Charles' case,

wanting to find out who's going to be her Arab-looking Joseph.

I found William.

They have to be sensible. It has to be in your mind now,

so you go and find them, you clear it, they're going to come.

If not, I need to know that you haven't found one,

so I can do something with plan B. The thing is, it's urgent.

-What do you think of Collechi?

-He looks like an African boy.

We were trying to get somebody that would look a bit like,

sort of a white Arab kind of look.

I don't really teach really sensible Year Ten boys.

All right, then, ask Collechi. So find out if he's willing.

Find out if he's not already involved,

and if that's the done deal, Collechi's our man.

Morning, Sir, can I speak to Collechi?

Thank you, Sir.

Are you involved in the Christmas concert?

-No.

-Would you like to be Joseph?

Flattering, but I'd rather not.

-You'd rather not?

-Yes, Sir.

I think, if I was at school, I wouldn't want to be Joseph.

-He doesn't want to do it.

-OK.

He was like, no.

Right, OK.

How do you think you might have said it, to kind of sell it to them?

There are going to be things that you're passionate about

that I might not 100%, but you are going to be relying on me,

as your team, as your colleague,

to really, like, hype it up for you and support you on this.

-Why haven't you bought into it?

-I've tried, and failed.

I find it quite hard to be false about something.

What's false about anything that I've said there?

I just struggle to have the same kind of reasons for doing things, as you do.

The whole idea of the spirit of Christmas is a good idea,

but I don't really think it's got any theology in it.

Perhaps I need to give you a kick up the bum.

In your own teaching, hopefully,

I know that you are striving for that standard, right?

Being a great teacher isn't just within the classroom.

If you want to get that extra out of your kids,

they have to see somewhere that passion in you. Smile!

'I'm just puzzled by his lack of excitement.'

I expected him to take, want to take over the reins a little bit.

OK, come in. Put that basket in the cupboard.

'At the moment, Charles is a teacher, standing in front of the classroom.

'I want Charles to be Charles standing in front of the classroom teaching.'

That's what he has to build with the pupils, for, you know,

to get to that level, really.

It's the morning of the pheasant shoot.

I am going out with Zach, we're going to go beating,

which should be fun. Which basically is walking through a forest,

hitting trees and making noise and stuff.

I do believe there is a link between liking your teacher

and wanting to work for him.

What would be great today is if, you know,

Zach and I were able to chat, and he opened up a bit,

and he sees a side of me that he hasn't seen in the classroom.

I think it'd be great.

In the end, Becky missed too much school to be allowed on the trip.

-Hello.

-Morning.

-Hiya, I'm Charlene.

-Hi, Charlene, nice to meet you.

Just waiting for Zach, he's just on his way down...

Zach's lived with his sister since his mum died six years ago.

What are we doing?

You'll see. We're going to be walking through forest.

You'll see, it's quite fun. I think you'll enjoy it.

-Is there anyone else coming?

-Yeah, there'll be some other boys

that are in Mr Heizer's class.

-Thanks a lot, Charlene.

-Right, Zach, have fun.

-All right, I'll see you later.

-Got my Ferrari parked up here.

-Your Ferrari?

-No, it's not a Ferrari, I'm afraid. HE LAUGHS

Right, Zach, I've brought you a hat, cos I thought you should fit in.

You brought me a hat? Oh, wow!

Do I look a bit different from when I'm at school?

-Yeah.

-Yes, looking good.

-You made it.

-You all right?

-You OK?

-Yeah.

The day out's organised by Harefield's Head of Science,

and crack shot, Mr Heizer.

We take the opportunity to bring some of the youngsters,

and give them a real-life experience.

A lot of them have never done it before and it's...really good...

MAN SHOUTING

GUNFIRE

I got that one. It's a runner.

And there's the dog going after it now.

So if you see a bird, try and hit it.

-I've got to hit it?

-Yeah. Well, just try and, like, scare it.

-GUNFIRE

-That was a shot.

-Did he get it?

-I dunno. There's one.

Off he goes. THEY SHOUT

You've got to shout over, so that they know it's coming.

He got it, did you see?

Yeah, look... It hit the floor. That's sick.

-That's so sick.

-Put your stick over your shoulder.

Now you look the part, Zach.

'Number one, he's a boy.

'He could really do to be on a day out, amongst men.

'So, like, his teacher and that...'

extra effort with him inviting him on something on his own time, got nothing to do with school.

GUNFIRE Missed it. Ah, pathetic.

But then again, they're new teachers, how vulnerable are they?

I mean, they don't train policemen, give them basic training,

and then put them out on the streets straightaway to be riot police,

they don't do that.

So, here we go, we train teachers, they're fresh out of university

and they have 30 students in front of them, with no experience.

It's not easy, it's not easy, so, yes.

But we try to support them as much as we can,

cos if you don't, you lose them.

And there aren't enough good teachers.

So, do you like school? Do you enjoy school?

Yeah, it's all right.

Do you like the teachers?

-Most of 'em.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-I don't like not liking people.

-That's interesting. I don't either.

-I don't like not liking people.

-There's no point in having enemies.

-Yeah, and it's hard work, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Like, when people get on my nerves, I'm just like, I'm sorry,

-but can you just go away? I don't want to argue with you.

-Yeah, I know, you always do that.

-Yeah.

-You know, I'm now angry, can you go away?

-Yeah.

I think it's quite good when you do that, cos then it's just like...

then you just know, then it's better just not to do anything.

-Are you going to put it in?

-Yeah.

That's my little carving, secret talent, Zach.

-Would you have ever known?

-No.

-HE LAUGHS

There we go. Go and see what Mr Heizer thinks of that.

You're not allowed to tell anyone at school I made it for you, OK?

-All right.

-There it is.

-It actually is! Does it look good, or what?

It looks good, yeah, it does, it looks like, quite,

it looks like, you now look like one of those sort of, like,

funky travellers, who, like, wears like...

GUNFIRE

-Primary school.

-Primary school!

All right. Ah, yes, now you look the part, Zach.

You look proper good now... This is mine.

-He's got a halo round his head, with a sword through it.

-Yeah.

And on one side, he's got angels, and on the other side, he's got

-demons, and they both run at each other.

-Where's your dad?

-When I was younger, my mum kicked him out.

-Mm-hm.

And then he lived in the area, but he didn't really bother with me.

-Now he lives in Clacton.

-Does he have another family, or not?

Yeah, yeah, he's got...

-like, a girlfriend and she has two kids.

-That must be quite difficult.

Wow.

Does your sister care about, like, you being good in school?

-Yeah. She hates it when I'm not good.

-Really?

-Yeah, cos she wants me to like...

-Do well.

-..yeah, do well for myself and...

-Yeah.

-I don't...

-Do you find it hard to motivate yourself?

Yeah, I don't try as hard as what I could, in school.

I was the same, at your age. I just wanted to have fun.

Yeah, that's what I'm like.

Put the back part up.

OK, so when you look down the gun, you see the green thing, right?

-Yeah.

-So what you're going to do, as it's going away,

you're going to put the clay about there. OK?

-Pull.

-Shoot. GUNFIRE

Did that hurt your shoulder?

-That kicks back.

-LAUGHTER

Good, well done. How did it feel?

It was all right, actually.

GUNFIRE Was that a bit better?

-GUNFIRE

-Very good.

OK, well done.

-All right, thank you.

-Well done, sir.

-Cheers.

Well done. Good, so we'll see you next time.

All right, thank you.

It's 7am, on the first day of Lanfranc's mock exams.

Right, I don't understand what makes

the leaders of the world decide

to put children through this stress,

cos it is emotional stress.

Caleb has a tutor now.

He said he needed help, I've given him help and support.

-That was your idea.

-His response is, I'm lazy.

That was your idea, to have a tutor.

I didn't say, Mum, let me get a tutor.

-What 15-year-old boy would say that?

-The results will actually kick him into reality.

-Hey. I was looking for you everywhere.

-Were you?

Yeah, to help me revise.

While Caleb sits RE,

Chloe's Year 11s have got Geography to contend with.

I think it's become quite glaringly obvious, particularly over the last few weeks,

who's prepared to put the work in, and who's not.

I'm nervous about the future of the school.

I think the results are going to dip this year, with our Year Elevens,

which is demoralising for the school.

It doesn't look good in terms of the magic five A Stars to C.

You just have to hope that people don't get demoralised

if our results do go down this year, and don't give up.

It's quite an uncertain future.

It was shit.

This is the question that I said,

are humans smarter than animals?

Tell me what that has to do with God!

I just feel asleep, what the heck.

Why am I going to answer that foolish question?!

How pleased do you think Miss Shaw will be with you?

I'm not sure. It's just for her to mark first,

and then she'll know whether to be sure, well, to be pleased with me

or not, but I'm sure she will be, after all the work I've put in.

What grade are you hoping to get in Geography?

I want to get a B, B plus, or A, A minus, something like that.

-I didn't revise.

-Why didn't you revise, Bruno?

I don't know, I forgot. And I woke up late.

No-one can ever be ready for an exam,

no matter how much you revise, you will not be ready for an exam.

-That's what happened to me.

-I was thinking, ah,

look at all these lines that we have to fill up, all of these lines.

And, you know, I just couldn't handle it.

I remember doing a lesson where we had the maps,

and I saw that in the exam as well.

In that lesson, I wasn't really paying attention

and I didn't even know what to do, so I had to skip passed that question,

cos I wasn't understanding the part of it.

-Do you think you're going to try and pay a bit more attention in some lessons?

-Yeah, definitely.

What would I do differently?

I would stick to a marking timetable,

so that my marking doesn't pile up.

I would have been stricter

with the kids. I would set more detentions.

I would call more parents. I would not have stayed until 9:30

at work, every day.

Hindsight's a wonderful thing, isn't it?

In case you forget your lines, but I know you won't...

Stanza two.

'At least I want to feel the confidence

'and the buzz that I had when I started teaching this year.'

WW, I'm expecting good things. Stanza four.

A few days before the end of term,

Meryl has rehearsed her Year Eights for a poetry reading...

Please remember the person before you. Stanza seven.

..determined to show the head what she's capable of with her top sets.

She's praying for a word-perfect recital of

Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven.

I think the audience is ready. So, when you're ready to begin.

"While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

"as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."

"It was in a bleak December,

"and each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor."

"Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door.

"This it is, and nothing more."

"But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,

"and so gently you came tapping, tapping, at my chamber door."

"The stillness was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token.

"And the only word there was was the whispered word, 'Lenore'!"

"And my soul from out that shadow,

"that lies floating on the floor shall be lifted nevermore!"

APPLAUSE

Well done, that was lovely. And imagine,

I talked about the possibility of you doing

a little presentation, but I didn't think

it was going to turn into this. It's just fantastic.

You will never forget this poem, because you've tried to learn

sections of it, and you've acted it out.

It's much better to remember it in this way.

-I thought it was excellent.

-APPLAUSE

Thank you very much.

Please retrieve your iPhones and put them away.

'I don't know if they realise'

how much trouble I'd get in if they didn't perform.

'If it's bad for them, it's going to be ten times worse for me.'

But I've really tried to take on board what people have been saying

the past few weeks, and just think, you know what?

I do need to smile more. I do need to give out more Meryl.

Who can tell me the date?

Zach, you're here, Zach. Pop yourself there.

It's Nick's first lesson with Zach since the weekend.

He's keen to see if the trip has had any effect on Zach's behaviour.

Zach, what's one fifth, plus two fifths?

Try and remember what we did, the big, the main thing we learned.

-Zach, can you put the drink away?

-It's water!

Zach, I know that's not water, so I don't want you to drink it.

I don't want you to drink it. Give me the drink.

-Don't throw it in the bin.

-I'll count to five, Zach.

-Don't throw it in the bin.

-Give it to me.

-Don't throw it in the bin, though.

-He'll throw it in the bin!

-Give it to me!

-Are you throwing it in the bin?

-I'm not telling you.

-I'm not giving you it.

-You have to.

-No, I don't have to.

-You do.

-I paid for it.

-Just give me your drink, and then it's all over.

-No, cos you'll throw it in the bin!

I've not said I'm going to throw it in the bin.

-Yeah, but he will.

-One, two, three, OK.

-If you throw it in the bin, I'll never talk to you again.

Zach, don't do that.

Well, if you get your drink out, when I've already thrown thingy's in the bin,

you put me in a pretty difficult position, don't you? Cos if I was going to be really fair,

I should've thrown yours in the bin. But I don't want to, cos it just makes it difficult.

-Ah, thank you, see ya later.

-OK, off you go.

And now that I know him, it's now just more painful

and frustrating to have to be authoritative.

OK, wait here, Zach.

'I don't really want to annoy him or make him angry, cos I like him.'

It does pose an interesting question, as to what you do.

-Hello, Sir.

-Hello, are you all right?

-OK, and you?

-Yeah, good.

-How's it going with Zach?

He's had a bit of a downhill recently, I think.

Sometimes he comes in, and he knows he's in a bad mood

and he'll just be like, oh, I'm not in the mood, I'm not in the mood.

So sometimes, it's just better just to let him do his thing,

-cos he has his issues.

-First of all, we're talking about

a student that has to cope with rejection...

-Yeah, yeah.

-OK, massively...

-Yeah, yeah.

-So, we know the background...

-Yeah.

-Mum gone very, very early...

-Yeah.

-Dad said, this is not for me.

You are now just becoming, and we are just becoming part of

-the bigger picture here, which is a fly-by-night thing for him.

-Yeah.

So, it's only minimal input.

So things like, you taking him out for a day shooting,

-well, that's just another fly-by-night thing...

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, OK.

So, to him, it's great, live for the moment, and then it's all gone again.

-This is an absolute golden opportunity for you...

-Yeah.

..by not doing much extra, by just showing him the interest

-and investment you're willing to do, so now you're going to give him something that he doesn't get.

-Yeah.

-Which is time.

-Yeah, yeah, OK.

-Does it make sense?

-Yeah, it does.

-All right, see you later.

-Cheers, see you later.

They don't prepare you for this, not with the emotional side of things.

That's what people find really hard.

Everybody makes a bit of their own luck, but I've got no doubt that he's got the full package.

Definitely. I think he can not only make it, I think

he can make it very easily, and he can do very, very well.

It's the end of term, which means a two-week break for the trainees.

-Look what the class brought in!

-It's my mortal enemy!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Ah, thank you very much, Lucy, that's very kind of you.

-It's from her.

-Oh, it's from you. All right, thank you, Annette.

Have a good Christmas. Goodbye, guys.

Goodbye, Mohammed. Have a good Christmas, Zachary. Bye, Sky.

Goodbye.

Wow, that's a lot of presents. Give them all to me,

I'll hand them out. I'll be your little elf.

Write on them the names. Excellent.

Thank you very much, Corinne,

I'm sure they'll all love their presents. Have a good Christmas.

Right, off I go.

-How you doing?

-About ready to go home.

-Ready to go home now. Has it hit you now?

-Sleep.

I told you it would hit you.

I think anyone that survives the first term has done really well.

Most, if you're going to drop out, most people drop out the first term.

-Who's that from?

-Corinne.

-She's in seven five.

-Right.

-So she arrived at the school only speaking French.

-Aww.

-She's very recently moved over from The Congo.

-Aww. Open it.

Can we just look at that wrapping paper,

and just be, like, wow, that is exceptional! Ooh.

I've done so well.

That's good, that's a good one.

I've done so well, although Corinne's stuck it to the packaging.

It's OK, it's part of growing up.

I'm really happy it's Christmas, I'm not going to lie.

I'm looking forward to two and a half weeks off.

For Meryl, the picture is less clear.

The probation period is nearly over.

Merry Christmas, Archie.

She'll have to wait until the New Year to see if she gets through it.

-It's Christmas!

-High-five!

Oh, my gosh, I really thought I was going to die today.

This term has been, like, waiting for Christmas,

or waiting for death, and I really thought death would come first.

But it's Christmas. Merry Christmas.

I feel amazing. I'm so happy.

-Are you being serious?

-You work so hard in here, Miss!

'Meryl's still gotta get through this period,'

but we came here together and, yeah, I do feel a sense of, you know, like, unity with her.

Like, we're in it together,

and we've, like, done our late nights together, and stuff.

The second they were out, it was like, oh, my gosh,

it's the end of term. It suddenly dawned on me.

And it's, like, I cannot wait.

Yeah, I know, that's so good, isn't it?

'And if she goes, I'm not sure what I'll do.'

I think it would make me ask questions as to whether I'd stay, or not.

-Yay, we did it.

-I know, it's so exciting. Meryl?

-Yes.

-Literally, we've done it!

-Yes.

Prep yourself so you can get your last two weeks...

-Yes. We've gotta come back and nail it.

-Bosh it out!

Merry Christmas, Mr Church, and a Happy New Year!

-Thank you so much, bye!

-OK, see you later.

-Yeah.

How did this bin get full? Oh, my God.

I'm a third of the way there.

I can do this, come on.

Aaron Mather's flapjacks, well, the crumbs of them.

Did he make those for you?

No, he made them, ate them in my class, and I confiscated them.

But you know what? I think my mum will appreciate this.

So, Merry Christmas, Aaron.

There are days where I do feel like, yeah,

I feel like the school want to fire me.

The way that sometimes feedback has come back to me - this is bad,

why is it bad? What are you doing that's making it bad?

And I'm like, I'm trying. I'm here so late every day.

But I do, despite it all, I hope I get qualified teacher status.

-Good morning, Year Eight.

-Next time...

-Don't call out.

-It's a fresh new term.

-Girls, that's enough.

-The exam season kicks off.

I have marked your marks, and I'm concerned.

And for some, a chance to break free from school.

Go on, Sir, get in there.

CHEERING