Fixed-rig cameras, no narration and a different host each year let the pupils do the talking as they arrive at a new secondary school and work out who sits where, who fancies whom and how to survive a science lab without setting fire to their ties. Since 2014 the show has decamped annually, starting at Conyers School in Yarm and most recently occupying Badminton School in Bristol, with each 22-30 minute episode built around a single event: the first dance, the cross-country debacle, the supply teacher who doesn’t know the fire-alarm drill.
The format, borrowed from Twofour’s Educating… franchise, keeps adults on the periphery; heads and teachers appear only when they block or rescue the action, so the emotional arc belongs to the children. From series five the age range widened to include Year 8, stretching the timeline from terrified induction to cocky prefect-in-waiting. A 2019 spin-off, Our School Summer Camp, corralled returning pupils with headteacher Shirley Ballas for outward-bound humiliation and redemption.
Eight runs produced 113 episodes between 2014 and 2022, with specials revisiting earlier cohorts as they sat GCSEs or opened dubious results envelopes. The rotating voice-over roster, Jonathan Thoburn to Diane Morgan, matched the regional shift each year, maintaining the conceit that this is the pupils’ story, not the BBC’s.
Production Details
CBBC / 8 Seasons / 113 Episodes / 2014 - Present
Producer(s): Vanessa SinghNatasha CoxMatt GroschCher AdamsonChris ChapmanJamie McLeish
Main Cast
