All Episodes 2015

One-off edition of the documentary charting life at Gascoigne Primary School in Barking, east London, this time during the hectic build-up to Christmas. The pupils of Year 2 have been given the challenge of putting on the nativity play, while kitchen manager Mary has the unenviable job of preparing for the biggest meal of the year for nearly a thousand hungry children, with a wide variety of cultural and dietary requirements to be satisfied. Teachers try to improve the lot of 10-year-old Taylor, who fears almost everything about the big school and newly qualified teacher James struggles to help seven-year-old Faisal, the only child at Gascoigne with Down's syndrome.

This first episode looks at how the school machinery manages with such a high turnover of often vulnerable pupils. Children arrive from chaotic backgrounds, including war-torn countries and economic destitution. They have often faced huge trauma and it is up to the school to settle them in and create what may be the only calm in their lives.

The schooling of young boys is known to throw up its own challenges, but at a supersize school like Gascoigne with over 500 young lads, the issues are multiplied. Charismatic and cheeky, Year 5 pupil Cleyson regularly gets good grades, earning him a place on the ʻgifted and talentedʼ list. However, he battles with his ʻred mistʼ and is never far away from trouble, especially in the playground. He has recently been temporarily excluded for hurting another pupil, and Gascoigne is keen to help him avoid a repetition of bad behaviour that could jeopardise his education or even lead to exclusion. When he is asked to be part of the team entering a schoolsʼ poetry competition, will Cleyson finally start listening?

This week's episode looks at how Gascoigne helps children navigate the ups and downs of their playground relationships and follows the staff as they prepare to teach a brand new Sex Education programme to children aged five plus. Ten-year-old classmates and BFFs Kierran and Elsie are in Year 5. The pair bicker like an old married couple and have recently started calling themselves boyfriend and girlfriend. Will Kierran be able to keep hold of his relationship with Elsie when a cool new boy starts at the school?

It is nearly the end of term, and the Year 6 head must get enough children to achieve basic SATs requirements before they leave or the school could face a fresh Ofsted inspection.