Some of the staff and students from the series. Left to right Standing: Avani Higgins, Hazel Turner, Emma Austin, Nulufer Yildren, Michelle Winter, Emma Hillman, Alex Palumbo, Christopher, Ayesha Choudhary. Seated: Tawny, Lemar, Acacia, Summer and Ida.
Educating Walthamstow Some people might think a fly-on-the-wall documentary of an east end community school would be grim, revealing a dysfunctional world beset be insurmountable problems. Channel 4’s Educating the East End this autumn showed the truth to be anything but. Jenny Smith and Avani Higgins, Headteacher and Assistant Headteacher, from Walthamstow’s Frederick Bremer School tell the E List what it was like to be filmed and to be part of such an inspirational piece of TV.
The Decision We were chosen from a shortlist of 30. The directors talked to the staff and students to gage whether this was the sort of place they would want to portray. When they saw the warmth and commitment amongst the staff and pupils, they couldn’t resist. We went through an extensive consultation with parents before we agreed to take part. Our parent governors visited schools previously used in the series, and we held consultation evenings with the production company where parents could ask questions. We did not agree until we had the support of all stakeholders. The production company visited over 300 homes in the 16
weeks before filming to speak to parents personally. Every pupil who was featured had extensive support throughout the process. Safeguarding checks were meticulous. Getting prepared The production company was on site for eight weeks before filming to get to know the pupils and staff. They watched every aspect of school life, discreetly and sensitively, to get an understanding of the areas they might focus on. During the February half term, 72 fixed cameras were placed throughout the school. Cameras, lights, action! The first couple of days were very strange, and certainly everyone was slightly more dressed up than usual. But within two days it was completely business as usual. You never completely forget the cameras are there, but there is no time to let it affect how you deal with things. They filmed for up to 12 hours a day every day. Only three cameras were filming at any one time so you never knew if you were being filmed. 15 staff and pupils wore microphones every day. They finished with 2,000 hours of footage condensed to 8 hours of television. Non-teaching staff play a massive part in our school. Our pupils have a range of complex issues that they have to deal with, which sometimes
Photo © Paul Tucker www.paultucker.co.uk
TwoFour, a production company, first approached us in September 2013. They were scoping schools around the country to include in their on-the-wall documentary series. At the time, they did not particularly want a London school as it was felt it would not do as well in the ratings, however they were interested in featuring a female Head. We did not set out to take part, but felt it would be a great opportunity to show how good our community schools are, and how brilliant its young people are. The producers and Channel 4 loved the diversity of our school, the strong relationships and the humour which underpins it. We felt it was a great opportunity to change the perceptions of both our community and community education.