Episode 4 Tough Young Teachers

School can be tough...

You can see 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.

Dave, you need to put these away! Dave! Go away! Go away!

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

Morning on this fine day.

..are determined to give teaching a go.

-Is it something you want to do well or not?

-Well.

I've always wanted to make a difference

and try and help people and change things.

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.

..before being let loose on the kids.

THEY SCREAM

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 could happen?

Somebody told me that someone threw a chair at them on their first day.

But are they up to the task?

Year Eights, would they be drawing naked women?

And can they change the lives of their pupils?

I 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!

-A great lot from Crown Wood School.

-Hi, nice to see you.

Nice to see you too.

Let's have a toast. 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 own face. You got a C.

-Magic!

..one unforgettable year.

This week...

Good morning, Year Eights.

..it's the new year and the start of a new term.

I have marked your marks...

and I'm concerned.

After a two week break for Christmas, it's the start of the spring term.

The routine has begun when my alarm went off this morning.

I've kind of being doing nothing for two weeks.

I'm quite excited actually. I have a purpose in life again.

I can't see.

Where are my glasses?

I feel like I've grown so much since September.

So I think it's good to start as an amateur.

I'm still an amateur but it's good to start as a real, real,

real amateur and make mistakes so you can learn from them.

The end of last term was really rough.

I,

I don't know, I was tired all the time, I had no energy.

I was really snowed under with work.

I got really kind of overwhelmed with everything.

What would I do differently?

Everything!

I don't think the school realises the sacrifice I've made

in learning to drive just so I can work here.

Is it quarter to? Oh my gosh!

I think the first term, I didn't really know what I was doing at all.

There's a massive part of me

that feels like I was acting like Miss Williams.

It's been tough and I think it's developed a certain resilience.

Hi, Victoria. Are you all right? How were your holidays?

When you're a student, no-one relies on you

and all of a sudden I've got a job where, you know,

around about 100 people rely on me to be teaching them

and that's a lot of responsibility.

Morning, Ethan.

Do I feel like a teacher yet?

Like, yes and no.

I think we're getting close to herding time.

I'm actually quite a chilled out relaxed person.

All right, boys, start heading in.

You haven't got long left otherwise you're going to be late.

'But in school, I'm quite highly strung.'

It's January and exam season is in full flow.

The rookie teachers now have to work out

how they can make a real impact on results.

Good morning, Thomas. Good morning, Kieran.

Your books.

'With a lot of classes now,

'I've reached a stage where I want to see results now

'and I want to be in the nitty gritty in that change stage

'for them. And I think that's what I want to focus on,'

just making them get to those higher levels,

cos I think they're all capable of doing it.

It's just a case of finding a way to get them there.

We should all now be listening. Troy, eyes on me.

The school has set a target of at least 52% of GCSE pupils

getting a pass at grade C.

But Chloe's troublesome Year 11 class are nowhere near.

What does it say about green space?

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

'and at their next year'

they're going to find themselves in a position where they're stuck

and they don't know what to do.

Last term they had their mocks.

No-one can ever be ready for an exam, you know,

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

That's what happened to me.

And today, the results are in.

I have marked your marks

and I'm concerned.

In two and a half weeks

you are going to sit your exam.

That means we have five lessons

including today's to get ready for it.

At the moment, you are not ready.

If you want to do well in this exam,

I don't have time to waste.

You certainly don't have time to waste.

OK? I hate starting our first lesson back after Christmas like this,

but unfortunately we just don't have the time.

I'm going to hand round your exams now.

Try and keep your volume down, OK?

I need to talk to you.

I'm expected to get results from them

and I want to get results from them.

Show me your paper with that big fat F on your paper.

It stands for failed.

I feel bad.

-Right, two more minutes to do that please.

-Dumb.

So Jonathan, you never once used the word sustainability.

-Did I have to?

-Obviously, it's about sustainable living.

The worst thing is for them to be like,

"Oh, I tried really hard and I still did badly."

So I think a lot of them will think,

"What's the point of me putting the effort in

"if I'm going to fail anyway."

And they don't want to try really hard and still fail,

cos that's crushing. It's horrible when you try really hard

for something and you still don't do very well.

Chloe and Charles teach at Archbishop Lanfranc's school,

an overcrowded compressive in Croydon.

I would say it was a challenging school, yes,

because of the background pretty much of the parents,

you know lots of one parent families in the local area.

It's an area of social deprivation.

And all those issues come to the school with the children.

Over the half the students at the school come from a family

where English is a second language.

One of them is 15-year-old Walid.

I'm waiting for you to give me the answer so I can write it down.

OK, Walid, I wasn't joking about calling your parents.

Can you just finish this off?

We're going to have a good lesson today, aren't we?

Cos I know you're capable of that. Yeah?

Excellent.

Although he's a promising student,

Charles is tired of his constant clowning around.

There are rules in life. You've got to obey the rules.

If you don't obey the rules, what happens?

You get in trouble with the police.

If you don't obey the rules at school, what happens?

Exactly. So it's like mini life.

-So you can't call my parents home today.

-I will!

How? Don't man, don't...

Cos I want to give them an accurate account of what you're like.

Please don't do that. Don't, don't.

Working with people is a challenge.

It's difficult.

Relationships are difficult. People are difficult.

Walid, don't go that way.

Walid, come here now!

Walid, leave!

Sorry about that, Miss.

I've given him a little too much leeway.

I need to crack down.

Parents' evening is a good opportunity for Charles

to tackle Walid's behaviour.

Hi, Walid.

But Walid is one step ahead.

Hello, nice to meet you.

There's advantages of your mum not being from this country

and there's disadvantages.

That she might not know what the teachers say.

She might think it's a good thing,

because the teacher won't show angry facial expressions.

They'll show quite calm ones.

What did you get in your assessment, Walid?

That's the exam paper.

No. I got 16 out of 24.

I did get half. I got more than half.

Talking in class is the big one.

So I've had to send you out of my class sometimes,

because you're disrupting the class too much.

But I know Walid's a very capable boy and he can definitely succeed.

-OK.

-Thank you very much.

Bye-bye. Nice to meet you.

She understood half and half.

No. I'm happy cos of that.

Like half of them don't even understand what I'm saying.

And I knew he was just going to translate like whatever he wanted,

so...

I think that's half the problem really, isn't it, with him?

There's no way of them knowing how he's doing.

Anyway.

Bye. See you tomorrow.

Last term at the Harefield Academy

Meryl couldn't control her bottom set classes...

Jordan. No, put the chair down!

..and found them impossible to teach.

A few students were deliberately challenging her,

trying to undermine her and so on.

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

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

-Have you thought about dropping out?

-Has it crossed your mind?

No. But it has crossed my mind that my school would fire me.

I feel like they're that disappointed in me.

But she's back from the Christmas holidays with a new attitude.

I'm optimistic, I really am.

Like, I know I could have been quite cynical before,

but it feels good to sort of think that, yeah, this is a new term,

fresh start, everything is just going to change.

And the first change just has to come from me.

I have to change my attitude, so hopefully,

hopefully, we'll have a better half term.

But it's only lesson one and the head has already come to check up on her.

Unless Meryl improves, she could be out of a job.

Meryl's had lots of feedback, lots of support.

She's been doing a lot of thought and a lot of planning

over the Christmas, so I shall be keen to see if

the work she's been doing behind the scenes is now making a difference.

So what I want you to do is,

using this booklet you'll notice at the centre

is gothic horror, and that's a title of the unit

that we're looking at this half term.

Lenny, for this exercise could you move to the back table

so you'll be working with David and Jordan.

Thank you.

So I've made some changes this term in terms of the seating plan.

Sometimes I see it a bit as divide and conquer because

if you can like, sounds terrible,

if you can like spread out your

"naughty" kids or the kids who tend to pick up the behaviour points,

it just helps to keep them on isolated pods, if that makes sense?

Think about, what do all of these have in common?

Vampires, vampires, Ann's family, we've got vampires...

They're all scary people and different than normal people.

'The role of a teacher is so vitally important.'

A kid's entire life can be affected

by what they leave with at school and what they take away from it.

It's so important to me that every student I teach

leaves with what they need to get to in the next stage of their life.

I mean the room was ready, they had dictionaries out,

the rulers were out. There were a lot of really positive features

at the start of the lesson and the students I think generally

are keen to please. They are prepared to work on the lesson.

But, yeah, you know, let's see what happens with a few lessons on.

How are you enjoying being back in school, Charles?

I like January. January's a good month.

Two of my Year Eights asked me what an orgasm was

and they are like top set and I was like, "Ask a science teacher."

And then I went to their science teacher and was like,

"Are they doing like sexual reproduction or anything like that?"

And he said, no we're learning about organisms and I thought...

THEY LAUGH

I didn't say anything.

Having spent at least a full term in school,

some of the six teachers have got closer to the kids.

I feel now, like with my Elevens especially,

they're talking to you, "Miss, I'm behind in this, this, this..."

and like, "What can we do?" And, like,

I think that's when... yeah that's when you kind of realise that, OK,

you are raising aspirations and you are making an impact in their lives.

And that's when it becomes so much more, I don't know, real, I guess.

I think you need a degree of separation.

If you don't have that sort of degree of separation,

I think it's unprofessional.

You need to maintain the student/teacher relationship

of authority and respect.

And you're not their father,

you're not their brother, you're not their uncle.

It's just, that's not how it is.

You've only known these kids for how long?

A term and a half nearly, not even a term and a half

and you see them for what, a few hours a week?

It's amazing how quickly you build up those relationships.

-It's amazing.

-It's true.

Well done, guys!

High-five!

That was a good sound.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

It's been a bit too positive.

Charles, you're just jealous cos you haven't made any relationships.

THEY LAUGH All my kids hate me.

Good morning, Year Eights. It is 2013.

Happy New Year, Eights! It's the first time I've seen you.

-Happy New Year.

-I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas.

Last term at Crown Woods, Claudenia's tactic

was to be the loudest person in the room.

Year Eights, who's still talking?

The way you came into this classroom was disgusting!

It has to get better.

It felt as if she'd lost control.

That lesson was so, so, so bad.

It was just a bit crap.

With the new year comes a new strategy to get results.

I wanted to show you my new

lovely crowns that we got over the Christmas, OK.

If you say something that's going to really impress me,

you will get a crown, OK? You can impress me with your homework.

You can impress me with your answers.

You can impress me with your attitude towards your work in class,

OK? You can impress me with your grades.

-Is everyone clear what the crowns mean?

-Yeah.

OK, so can anyone tell me how does a wind turbine

actually give us energy?

I think...

there's positive praise, I couldn't get my head around it at the start,

but now I'm really seeing the benefits of it,

and it makes me feel better about what I'm doing

and I feel happy to go into school and happy to go into my room.

Why this bulb is going to be more efficient than my old school bulb.

Because it will probably last longer and is cheaper.

Oh, fantastic. All right, that's what we're talking about.

The first half term I would say I was dropping a lot of eggs,

now it feels like I can keep a few up.

So, Alf, do you want to come and collect your crown?

CHILDREN SING

OK, well done.

Still, you know, not everything's there yet.

But I feel more comfortable in my role

and I kind of feel a bit more confident being Miss Williams now.

Cos I AM Miss Williams.

That's it!

Yeah, that was quite cool.

It gets people enthusiastic more when they work in science.

Like lessons like that, days like this make me feel positive.

Thursdays used to be so hard for me.

They used to be so hard!

So today I was literally like, I went to lunch happy.

Today, Oliver has organised an inspirational trip

to Greenwich University for his Year 12 class.

Well, what are you hoping they're going to get out of today?

That they will be interested in a future career

in accounting or just a future career in business.

Oliver is particularly keen to open their eyes to new and different prospects.

He himself got a degree from Birmingham

and studied at the prestigious Cornell University in New York.

I want them all to reach and surpass their targets.

If you're able to engender great relationships with the kids

and to be able to get to a level where they feel close enough

to trust you and engage with you outside of class, that's brilliant.

I mean that's what I think creates the best results.

Two messages. They're texting me now.

All I get is, "Going to be late, sir, sorry"

No name, only a number.

So, Zach, Ashley, Connor, ten minutes late.

Mildred, Tony, Lilly, 20 minutes late.

If they don't take this seriously, what are they going to take seriously?

Good morning. Are we in the right place?

Yeah, basically...

-She's there.

-Oh, she's there.

I've had nine calls of people who are late.

Hi, I'm just wondering if you know where Henry is?

He's supposed to be coming to the accounting trip today.

This is Mr Beech. I was wondering if you know if

Molly is on her way to the accounting trip today?

How far away are you?

You know you need to be on time. This is...

OK, there's four.

Sorry, we're been stuck on the bus for over an hour.

The lecture started at 9:00am,

but by 9.30 the students are only just trickling in.

I parked in the car park, but it's about a ten minute walk away

or you can park at John Roan School.

-Yeah, all right.

-Drive safely.

Safely!

Sir, you should have seen the traffic!

Should I say I'm disappointed or can you tell from my face?

-We can tell from your face.

-The traffic was terrible.

-OK, you're going in there. See where Miss Young is?

-Yeah.

And she'll tell you where to go.

Thanks, George.

Is everybody here now?

Enough.

In Walid's world, it's always something.

But we'll see what he's got to say for himself.

Charles has run out of ideas with class clown Walid,

so he's called in reinforcements -

Mr Lowles, the deputy head.

Thank you, Walid. Take a seat, please.

Take your bag off.

Now, what do I know about you a - you are intelligent,

b - you are a pain in the backside.

OK, that's what I know about you, but do you know what,

what I want to know about you in the future is we've started to move on.

What else do I know about you?

-Parents?

-Yeah.

-Supportive?

Look at me! Very supportive, yes?

Do you know how lucky you are compared to some people in this school?

Do you know what's really important about your parents,

that they both know what's going on.

Do you know what I'm getting a view about,

that at parents' evening you brought your mum

because your mum is not as able, yes or no?

Have you ever been in a situation in your class

and somebody's said, "What about..."

and you've thought, "I'm really pleased they asked that question

"cos I didn't understand that anyway."

You're the person, in my lessons in the past,

you're the person who puts up their hand and asks that question

and everybody benefits from because you have confidence.

Why do you think you end up disrupting the class?

I get bored of the lesson.

-You get bored.

-You've got to meet him halfway though.

If you finish your work, don't just sit there,

you ask, "Sir, have you got any extension work for me, sir?"

I'm sure that Sir wants you to go off to a top university.

Of course.

I'm sure that Sir wants you to be

in a position of earning money in the future.

I'm sure you want to be in that position as well.

But you got to help us, Walid.

OK, quickly get back to science.

-All right.

-Good.

-Leave it there.

-Thank you, Sir, that was very helpful.

-Well,

the proof will be in the pudding, we'll see what he's like first.

I think all students will test teachers,

even if they don't know they're doing it themselves.

They will test teachers, they will see what they can get away with.

They'll see how far they can go before they get in trouble.

-Sir, sir?

-Yeah, I'm busy.

My hand's swollen.

Sir!

Sir, Sir. I called, Sir.

-Mr Wallendahl, Mr Wallendahl.

-20 seconds.

'What's been the biggest thing you've learned so far about being a teacher?'

Um...patience.

Sir, sir! Sir!

That's something that you need to relearn every day.

Sir, my hand's swollen.

It's a glove. Look, it's a glove.

Aaaah!

It's a daily battle and it's a daily struggle to be patient.

OK, Walid, you were particularly hyperactive this morning.

-Yeah, I had that drink.

-Well, maybe you shouldn't be drinking it.

-Why?

-Because you've got far too much energy.

Just need to calm down.

How are you going to be Prime Minister if you don't concentrate in class?

I'll be Prime Minster one day, you will see.

Just keep out watch for me.

Make me want to teach you,

because at the moment you're giving me very little reason to want to.

So, how did school go today, Charles?

You didn't have any fights?

I haven't had a fight for weeks.

Charles is the middle of three boys

and he was always just a little bit different.

The headmaster tried to tell me that he had Asperger's Syndrome

at one point and I just didn't accept that.

He had a lot of problems in prep school

because he didn't like authority,

which is interesting now that he's teaching.

I don't really think that some of the kids I teach really care...

I do remember quite a few school reports, Charles,

where they would say, you know, Charles is capable of doing better.

-Why didn't you do better?

-Cos I couldn't be bothered.

So, do you now think of these kids,

do you now empathise with them saying well...

Well, the picture I get is just they're just grasping onto anything.

It gives them sort of self esteem or value or...

It's just so short term minded.

But I think it's also about not recognising

the consequences of the decisions they make now. Like that...

Well, nobody tells them, so how could they possibly know?

Well, I tell them.

But you're their teacher.

They need to have it reinforced by friends, by parents,

by basically the world they live in,

and if you're the only one saying that,

they just think...

Yeah, but he said he really wants the job,

so that shows that he wants to, he needs the job really bad,

so he'll put more pressure, more passion into it,

so then it will be a better outcome.

You're just supposed to think about your own business.

Don't you want the best for your business?

At Greenwich, Oliver's university day trip is proving popular

with his Year 12 class.

Through the door, Ashley.

-Are you having fun?

-Yes, I'm having fun.

-Enjoying yourself?

-Yes.

Nice change of scenery?

Yes.

Yes. Trying to work that out?

This is not such a nice campus?

It's all right, but I wouldn't want to come here though.

I want to aim a bit higher than here.

-How high.

-As high as possible.

-Oxford?

-No, that's a bit too much.

-If I could then I would.

-What about in the middle?

-Yeah.

It's good to get to know the kids out of the kind of habitat that we're used to.

It's interesting getting to know what their future plans are.

Hopefully I can be a part of shaping them.

-What do you mean?

-Like what's this for?

It's to get knowledge of different careers

and possibilities for your future.

What do you want to do?

There's one pupil in particular Oliver is hoping to get through to.

Matt has worked hard over the year in business studies,

but struggles with dyslexia and failed his mock exam.

OK, it's not a nice grade to look at for you

cos I know you want to do better.

Oliver has taken him under his wing

and has given him extra lessons after school.

I want to pass and I want to do A2 accountancy,

so I've got to stay behind and do the work.

What uni did you go to first, cos you went to a couple didn't you?

-I went to what?

-Didn't you go to two different unis?

Yeah, I went to Birmingham and then I went to Cornell in New York

for a year to do economics in New York.

What's the good parts,

how do you know like from the good uni to the bad uni?

It depends if you want to stay in London or...

I think it's good to move away.

Yeah, my dad said it's probably best to go away

cos you will get away from like my parents and everything

-so I don't have to keep on going home.

-It depends...

Yeah, it depends on everything.

Experience as much as you can.

Days like this is useful cos I can start to look around

and see what it feels like.

It looks more interesting and everything,

so, yeah, it's made me more want to go to university.

Chloe needs to put a rocket up her Year 11 class after the bad

mock results and she's hoping to use parents' evening to do just that.

There's no time in this class to beat around the bush.

If we're going to get grades, we need action fast.

And if it's a case of being a bit of a (bitch)

then it's a case of laying down some harsh truths to their parents.

Come on!

You were very silly last lesson, weren't you?

Last lesson? Last lesson? What happened last lesson?

You were trying to be funny and, you know, you've got your friends there.

But the problem is when you do things like this,

it wastes five minutes of our lesson.

There's revision on Wednesdays and you should be coming, Troy.

'They need a massive kick up the bum, basically.'

They're so close and they're still just waltzing around

like it's going to fall in their laps.

We don't see him do any studies at home.

I don't know how we at home can help him?

I don't know if you can help us to help him because honestly as for me,

I don't know how I'm going to help him because I don't see him do any studies.

You've got to think about where you want to be this time next year,

or this time in five years.

And if you want to be not doing a lot...

..then keep going as you are.

I was giving parenting advice!

You are one of the laziest boys in that class,

which is a shame,

because you are also by far one of the brightest.

'I really hope some of them are going to surprise me

'and pull it out of the bag at the last minute,'

but there's a few of them that, I've sort of given up on now.

I don't have time to waste on them any more, unfortunately.

Recently you're slipped.

I think you've become a bit more concerned with what's going on around you

rather than with your work and what you're doing.

15-year-old Bruno arrived in England 18 months ago from Brazil,

speaking very little English.

he got off to a bright start but Chloe's worried that he's fallen behind.

I don't want to be doom and gloom in this conversation,

but you need to realise now the situation.

This is my house where I live with my brother and my mum.

That's my mum's bed... my brother's bed.

That's my mum's bed.

My bed there.

And TV. That's the kitchen.

And that's it.

And the toilet's outside.

So where do you do your work, Bruno?

On my bed, there.

-What's happening at school tomorrow?

-I've got geography GCSE exam.

How are you feeling about it?

Bad cos I know I'm going to fail.

Troy is also thinking about tomorrow's exam.

He knows he will have to knuckle down if he's going to get

the Grade C pass that his mum and dad hope for.

I'd love to have one of those kids that really liked doing work

and we didn't have to keep on nagging and telling him off constantly,

but, yeah, we don't, so, yeah.

So tell me at the mock, how did you do in your mock?

It was like 10%.

Then I redone it.

I managed to double my score,

but that still is not good enough,

so I have to try and make sure I double that again

in this one tomorrow.

We will start this exam now at 1.22.

You have one hour. Good luck.

The exam today will account for 25% of their GCSE grade.

But Bruno has failed to turn up.

Please make sure that your name is on the front of your question paper.

Why do think Bruno... Are you upset that Bruno didn't turn up?

I'm not upset, I'm frustrated. I'm annoyed,

cos they put in a lot of hard work.

They put in some work.

You might as well turn up and try and get a few marks,

a few marks is better than none.

Oh, it's always easier to be in denial, isn't it?

It's not going to be easier come summer,

cos Bruno still hasn't done his coursework either

cos he joined late, so we've got to do that now with him.

So Bruno's just setting himself a big mountain.

But it's easier just to stay at home in denial, in bed, really.

Vicky! Vicky!

Girls, in we come.

Nick got off to a flying start last term,

but since Christmas it's gone downhill.

Ssh. Girls, that's enough,

we're going to get on with the paper now.

I'd like you to make an effort.

The best thing you can do now is make an effort.

'The intention is to praise them,'

make them feel good about themselves.

And to let them see the goal and see why I care

and see why they should care for themselves.

-You'll probably miss.

-I didn't swear at you.

-Yes, you did, I heard it.

-I didn't swear at you.

I don't care, but I heard what you said, OK.

You've subbed in the minus two into the X, OK?

'There are a lot of lessons when I get to the end'

and I'm like, "I am such a miserable git," you know,

and I just sort of got angry with everyone all lesson

and forgotten to praise them when they were doing well.

Hi there, Sir. I've got a real issue with people not engaging here, Sir,

and I've just been sworn at by one girl.

'And you just think, why am I doing this job? This is just a nightmare.'

What am I doing here?

When we're writing, I've noticed that a lot of us

are using words like "the big house", "the dark sky".

We need to try and be using... Exactly, don't call out.

..we need to try and be using more creative language,

establishing a bit more flare in our writing.

That will really impress anyone who's marking your work.

And for Meryl, yet another observation, two weeks into term

to see if there's enough of an improvement for her to keep her job.

Year Nine,

we need to make sure we're using that high level vocabulary

to push our levels up, OK.

Yes, it was better than last time.

-Yeah.

-Why? What was better?

I think establishing a bit more,

still a long way to go, but establishing a bit more control.

Definitely the seating plan helps.

We talked about most of the areas of development,

you've got to circulate more, the pace, the timing.

Learning actions in terms of pupil speed.

Again it's a way of getting them to focus and be silent.

But it was improved from when I last saw it.

You know, there's a lot of good feedback,

good feedback in the sense that

there was a lot of useful pointers to take on board.

'I need help.

'People are willing to give me help and hopefully,'

if I just keep doing what people are telling me to do,

applying these things, implementing ideas,

my practice will improve.

So I was pleased with that,

but you're still not out of the woods, really.

-No, of course.

-There's still quite a way to go with that group,

but you can win with this group. You can.

Charles has organised a school outing.

Got to get my fix of pork before we go.

He's planned an ambitious five day field trip to the countryside.

Some of the year ten students he's taking have rarely left London.

Are you not a little bit nervous

about taking a whole load of kids away?

I think it'll be funny.

He's hoping that a radical change of scenery

and some fresh experiences will have

an effect on their behaviour in school,

particularly for Walid.

-I'll have that.

-Why? I'm eating on the way.

-I'm eating on the way there.

-Well, eat them before you get on there.

-Why?

-Because there's no eating on the minibus.

We eat all the time before.

But that's what the school told me, that we can't eat on the minibus.

-So what about this then?

-You can't eat on the minibus.

I'll eat before I get there.

Get this straight now, maximum 14, no 13. 13.

Yeah?

I saw your hand.

-Welcome, kids.

-Hi. Nice to meet you.

Hello. How are you? What's your name?

-Tamara.

-Tamara, nice to meet you. I'm Jamie. Hello.

-What's your name?

-Patrice.

That's with us. Leading the way. Come on.

Set in Wiltshire, Jamie's farm was set up by an ex-Teach First teacher.

Thought you could jump.

Don't jump in there. It's like a swimming pool of poo.

Its aim is to help disadvantaged kids

or those in danger of being kicked out of school.

It's dribbling all over the place.

They have the chance to get their hands dirty on the farm and

talk through any problems with one of the counsellors who work there.

THEY SHRIEK

They are scary.

Look how big his nipples are.

That's a little scratch.

-They need you to make them feel safe.

-OK.

-Move, Charles!

-Go on. Go on. Go on.

-Charles, move.

They're very nice animals. He's going to give you a kiss.

It's disgusting.

OK. Just stroke it. Good boy.

Yes, stroking.

So what's wrong with just putting your hand under there?

I don't want to.

OK. Look after your egg. Don't drop it.

We're going to play a game with these.

-Where's our egg?

-He's got it.

It's our egg.

We're going to win. We're going to win, yeah?

-Walid, catch!

-Don't!

Very good. OK.

Now another step back.

Now this is where it gets a bit harder. OK.

Go.

Ready steady go!

Charles!

Yeah!

This is the best game ever.

-Step back.

-I can't move it!

LAUGHTER

Well done. Walid and Mr Wallendahl are the winners.

Walid, what would you normally be doing at this time?

At youth club.

I'm kind of missing it.

But this is quite... It's fun as well.

Fresh air, no harassment.

It's cool.

-Better than you thought?

-Yeah, better than I thought.

PIANO PLAYS

Yeah, it's like holiday isn't it?

It's the best weekend I've had in ages.

It's amazing how different they are,

like in the countryside to how they are in your classroom.

I think they're really valuing the kind of experience

and the opportunity and I think it's great.

KNOCKS AT DOOR

Good morning.

We're going to have a great day, Walid.

There are lots of amazing activities.

I'm actually doing them.

Excellent. Brilliant.

Shoo!

Here, guys. Come on.

They come out the most streamlined way.

Oh fantastic!

Oh, my God!

Then pinch it a bit in together.

Is that good?

-You've got flour in your hair.

-Have I?

Big slice.

You were beaten by your teacher?

Only by a bit. Only by a bit.

Your job, top set Year Eight,

is you need to sell this location to me.

OK, what did I want to do?

I wanted to get their books out so I'm ready.

'If I look to one of my goals for the year,

'it would definitely be to try and be classed as outstanding.'

And the simple reason why is cos I think we should all aim to be

the best and that's something I try and inspire in my pupils

and so I'd like to lead by example.

I'm being observed by Gavin in the next lesson.

Gavin is the Vice Principal and he's my,

I think he's called Senior Tutor or something like that.

So basically this observation matters,

hence why it's slightly stressful.

Trying to think how to do this.

Hi, Gavin.

-Oh, Mr Anderson.

-Morning. How are you?

-Very good, thank you.

-Are you all set?

-Yeah.

In an attempt to impress Gavin and gain back control of his pupils,

Nick has come up with a simple exercise

to get bums off seats and minds more engaged.

So what I'd like you do to for your question is you're going to

come to the front and try and find the answer on the floor.

OK, so everyone stand up. No, I'd like you not to write

cos you're going to write a perfect answer.

-William listen to me.

-What?

There's going to be a perfect answer on the floor.

So everyone stand up and we're going to go to the front.

-Off we go.

-I can't be bothered.

Stand up. Yeah, you can't be bothered,

but you have to be bothered. Come on.

What's the point of doing this on this thing, yeah?

Cos it's going to help you with all the steps.

Yeah, but you might as well just write it in.

Yeah, and then we're going to write it in afterwards.

-That's why you've got to find all the steps.

-That's just long.

How did you think the lesson went from your perspective?

Well, I mean, with that group it's always quite difficult to judge

cos it's so sort of erratic. It wasn't amazing.

My questions thing on the floor didn't really work.

Why not go through it with them beforehand.

These are lower ability learners remember.

You go through it with them beforehand

and give them all the support, all the material and then you say,

-"Right, everything away."

-Yeah, yeah.

"Now you're doing it on your own."

You had all the materials in the classroom for that to happen.

It's so silly, I mean that's such a basic thing and like,

I think perhaps just cos I was...

I don't know why, like, I didn't think of doing an example first.

I think if you look at Nick and myself,

I think Nick has really shone at Harefield

and, you know, he hasn't had as much trouble as I have.

But through it all, it always really helped having

support from everyone and, you know, Nick was really supportive.

That'd be great.

Oh, man, it is really tough.

I don't know why I've been feeling the pinch recently,

like with worth and realising these units of work.

And, I don't know, classes are quite difficult these days,

I don't know why. Now the bar is a bit higher, do you know what I mean?

-Yeah, definitely.

-I sort of feel I should be commanding the classroom

and if I'm not I feel it's like,

"Well, what's happened, do you know what I mean?"

-Yeah.

-Like I should be further than this.

You know when kids are like, "Maths is boring"?

Well, I would understand why they said that after my lessons,

cos I'm just like,

I don't know...

I don't think we can really beat ourselves up about

making things engaging, like we're only in our second term of teaching.

I've had a couple of observations recently.

-I'm going to sit down.

-Welcome to my world, Nick. Step into my office.

Yeah, exactly, step into the office of Madame Observationed-out-of-her-brains.

-It's been good.

-What's been good about it?

Everything. The food, farming, lambing.

-Has it made you think differently about life?

-That there's more to it.

-How do you mean?

-Where we get our eggs from, there's hens.

Where we get our milk from, cows.

I've seen the way that they're living.

Here they come! Shout at them if they come near you.

-If they come I'm going to scream.

-Shout! Shout!

-What do you think of Mr Wallendahl?

-He's a cool teacher.

Why is that?

Because he's a child. He's still 22. He's a child.

I'm really scared to pick it up.

Well done, Walid.

He pissed on me. He pissed on me.

He done a lot of work to get here.

He was stressed out everything

and I should repay him by hard work at school.

We got them in the field.

I was worried at very many points that we were going to fail.

-You love farming, don't you? You'd be a good farmer.

-Maybe.

At the farm, Walid and Charles have talked to one of the counsellors.

One of the children who I've noticed who's...

my perception of him is he's changed

and I'd be interested in what you think, is Walid.

He talked about his relationship with you, Charles,

and he's pushing to see where your boundaries are.

The way he behaves makes me just want to kind of

put him down quite a lot

and I'm just like, but that's not what he needs.

In a sense what he's looking for is the paternal influence,

which is slightly absent at times in the family. It comes and goes.

Back at Lanfranc, Chloe's results are in for her Year 11 exam.

Thank you.

the mark will account for a quarter of their overall GCSE grade.

Camille G, Kieran E.

It's not surprising.

Oh, Ahmet, oh, got an E.

I must have missed some.

Dominic got an A!

Thomas got a C!

None of you are mine, don't care if you're not mine.

Bruno didn't turn up so he doesn't get a mark.

Jen got a C!

Oh, Nelson got an A!

Two of mine got an A. I didn't think I had any As in that class.

I'm so proud.

I'm so proud, so proud.

Seeing some of these results, like Dominic's A,

Oh, I feel happier than when I got my own results at GCSE and A-level.

I feel more proud of him than I did of myself or anything.

It's crazy. I can't believe it.

I want to tell everyone.

What would you like to get?

C. C, C plus.

Like a C to a B.

I will do OK, but I don't think I will do that well.

If I can just break even on a C.

Ah, I'm scared.

I failed.

Or did I fail?

Look at me. Look at my face. You got a C.

I got a C. Magic!

Oh, yes!

You got an E. I'm really gutted for you.

Jonathan, you got D by one mark. You missed a C.

-One mark?

-One mark, sweetheart.

One mark!

Is it a D?

You're one mark off a C. You're just like Jonathan.

So imagine if you'd put in the effort,

even a tiny bit more effort and you would have got a C.

-You got a B.

-Really?

-Yeah, you got a B.

-No. Oh, my God!

-Look at me.

-Yeah.

-You got an A!

-Swear? Swear though?

You got an A!

Come here. Just come here.

You got an A! What?!

What!

-Do you want to see it?

-No way!

On paper. Don't tell anyone else, if you see anyone else's.

Oh, my God!

Oh my!

I got A!

I feel like a proud mum.

It was just amazing to see their reactions.

And there's other ones who didn't do so well.

And like Jonathan who just missed the D,

who didn't deserve those grades.

I'm just really, really gutted for them.

It's really heart-wrenching.

Does it make it all worth it for the ones that do well?

Yeah, it does. It's totally worth it.

It's totally worth it to have seen Dominic's reaction

and Nelson and Thomas's reactions today and Othera.

It's just 100%, 100% worth it.

I hope this week's been really positive for you.

-Yeah. It actually has.

-Why?

-It just is.

-Less stress.

-You are less stressed.

-Yeah.

What makes you less stressed?

Schoolwork. Football.

Doing too much thing at one time.

-Yeah, I'm much more relaxed out here, much less stressed.

-Yeah.

I think sometimes in a lesson I might just say,

"Walid, it's time to pull the handbrake as such."

-You need to have an awareness of yourself.

-Yes.

OK, but how are you going to, like, see yourself doing something

-and then think, "Actually, I need to stop"?

-In my brain, in my head.

In your head. OK.

So can you think of something you might do in order to stop yourself.

Maybe just pinch there

and then you're like "Oh, I actually want to..."

just think to yourself and you think "Oh, actually, I want to focus now."

Because I think often you don't even realise you're doing it.

It's just the way you are. It's just Walid.

Often Walid just kind of goes with it and just is having fun

-and you don't know when to stop.

-Yeah.

And I might use that verbal cue if that's all right with you?

-It's cool.

-Is that all right?

-Yeah.

-And then you know we've had this conversation.

-Yeah? Sound good?

-Yeah.

Ready? Are you guys ready for this?

GUITAR PLAYS

And Mr Wallendahl's starting.

THEY START TO SING

# We all have pain

# We all have sorrow

# But if we are wise

# We know that there's always tomorrow

# Lean on me

# When you're not strong

# I'll be your friend

# I'll help you carry on

# For it won't be long

# Till I'm gonna need

# Somebody to lean on

MUSIC: "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers

This week's been really, really good.

I really enjoyed being here and having to get to know people

and the teachers.

It's been different cos I've done so many different things

that I would never do, like holding lambs,

taking pigs to the butchers,

loads of things.

# We all need somebody to lean on... #

It's been a fantastic week.

I think it's really amazing what can be achieved

in a very short period of time,

I had to learn a lot, I think,

about kids, about how to relate

and I think they've learned a lot as well.

Another chapter in the philosophy of Charles.

Come down, come down.

-Walid.

-Your head's in the way.

-Walid!

Come on, come on!

I'd like to say thank you, Jamie!

-Thank you, Jamie!

-Thank you, Jamie.

# We all need somebody to lean on

# I just might have a problem that you'll understand

# We all need somebody to lean on... #

Did you answer the last question?

Well done.

THEY ALL SHRIEK

You missed one!

CHATTER AND LAUGHTER

Here we go.

Next time:

Awkward questions for Nick.

I can't believe it. Question, "Have you done it?" Have you done it?

I don't want to go in.

Claudenia starts to feel the pressure.

Just have them just laugh in your face, like.

I'm talking to a group of Year Ten girls - what are they 14, 15?

And I'm shaking. Like, what the hell?

And it's crunch time for Caleb.

Caleb, I need you to sit in the front.

'He's in competition for my time with...'

There are 22 other kids in this class and the 400 students I teach.

'To be perfectly honest,'

he's not winning the competition.