Episodes
| Episode | First Broadcast | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | 20190225 | Alan Johnson, the former Education Secretary, tells the story of English education over the last 140 years through the prism of one school - St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell.
Over the decades, the school has undergone many transformations, including names, in response to changes in policy, but its purpose has remained constant - to provide decent and free education to local children.
The story is told through original documents - from headmasters' logs and inspection reports - and the testimony of the children and teachers who went there. It is as much a social history of inner-city life down the ages as it is a study of our attempts to educate the children of poor families.
Episode 1
Alan Johnson finds the beginning of the story of this school site in Camberwell in a collection of log books, reports and other documents which were saved by the current school on the site Ark All Saints Academy. He also visits the London School of Economics where the poverty of the area is illustrated in Charles Booth's Victorian poverty maps and notebooks.
Presenter: Alan Johnson
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
Alan Johnson on 140 years of education through the prism of one school in Camberwell. |
| 02 | 20190226 | Alan Johnson, the former Education Secretary, tells the story of English education over the last 140 years through the prism of one school - St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell.
Over the decades, the school has undergone many transformations, including names, in response to changes in policy, but its purpose has remained constant - to provide decent and free education to local children.
The story is told through original documents - from headmasters' logs and inspection reports - and the testimony of the children and teachers who went there. It is as much a social history of inner-city life down the ages as it is a study of our attempts to educate the children of poor families.
Episode 2:
Presenter: Alan Johnson
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
Alan Johnson on 140 years of education through the prism of one school in Camberwell. |
| 03 | 20190227 | Alan Johnson, the former Education Secretary, tells the story of English education over the last 140 years through the prism of one school - St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell.
Over the decades, the school has undergone many transformations, including names, in response to changes in policy, but its purpose has remained constant - to provide decent and free education to local children.
The story is told through original documents - from headmasters' logs and inspection reports - and the testimony of the children and teachers who went there. It is as much a social history of inner-city life down the ages as it is a study of our attempts to educate the children of poor families.
Episode 3:
There are many entries in the headmaster's log book lamenting poor attendance , pupils even staying off school because they have no shoes or their boots have so many holes they won't stand up to the rain. The attendance medals, which spanned Queen Victoria's reign through to the post World War I years, were substantial bronze awards for attendance, punctuality and excellence.
He also visits the school archive to discover the impact of the war years and read the roll of honour. Former 1930s pupil Iris Kimber remembers how hard those years were and, as a four year old, walking several miles after school with her older sister to get food from the "relieving office" - the equivalent of today's food bank. But she also recalls the measures taken to improve pupils' health including lining up for "dollops" of malt extract every school morning.
Presenter: Alan Johnson
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
Alan Johnson on 140 years of education through the prism of one school in Camberwell. |
| 04 | 20190228 | Alan Johnson, the former Education Secretary, tells the story of English education over the last 140 years through the prism of one school - St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell.
Over the decades, the school has undergone many transformations, including names, in response to changes in policy, but its purpose has remained constant - to provide decent and free education to local children.
The story is told through original documents - from headmasters' logs and inspection reports - and the testimony of the children and teachers who went there. It is as much a social history of inner-city life down the ages as it is a study of our attempts to educate the children of poor families.
Episode 4:
Presenter: Alan Johnson
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
Alan Johnson on 140 years of education through the prism of one school in Camberwell. |
| 05 | 20190301 | Alan Johnson, the former Education Secretary, tells the story of English education over the last 140 years through the prism of one school - St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell.
Over the decades, the school has undergone many transformations, including names, in response to changes in policy, but its purpose has remained constant - to provide decent and free education to local children.
The story is told through original documents - from headmasters' logs and inspection reports - and the testimony of the children and teachers who went there. It is as much a social history of inner-city life down the ages as it is a study of our attempts to educate the children of poor families.
Episode 5:
Presenter: Alan Johnson
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
Alan Johnson on 140 years of education through the prism of one school in Camberwell. |
| 06 | 20190304 | Alan Johnson, the former Education Secretary, tells the story of English education over the last 140 years through the prism of one school - St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell.
Over the decades, the school has undergone many transformations, including names, in response to changes in policy, but its purpose has remained constant - to provide decent and free education to local children.
The story is told through original documents - from headmasters' logs and inspection reports - and the testimony of the children and teachers who went there. It is as much a social history of inner-city life down the ages as it is a study of our attempts to educate the children of poor families.
Episode 6:
In the past, St Michael's pupils would have taken CSEs (the Certificate of Secondary Education) which was introduced in 1965 for pupils considered less academic, many of whom were leaving school without qualifications. Alan Johnson considers the pros and cons of the more liberal comprehensive system. He uncovers the original foundation stone and meets former pupils and teachers, including those from St Michael's who benefited from the opportunity to go on to sixth form, and then to university.
Presenter: Alan Johnson
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
Alan Johnson on 140 years of education through the prism of one school in Camberwell. |
| 07 | 20190305 | Alan Johnson, the former Education Secretary, tells the story of English education over the last 140 years through the prism of one school - St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell.
Over the decades, the school has undergone many transformations, including names, in response to changes in policy, but its purpose has remained constant - to provide decent and free education to local children.
The story is told through original documents - from headmasters' logs and inspection reports - and the testimony of the children and teachers who went there. It is as much a social history of inner-city life down the ages as it is a study of our attempts to educate the children of poor families.
Episode 7:
Richard's family story illustrates how the Butler Act 1944 changed lives. His grandmother was a domestic servant in a stately home and his mother was one of the so-called Butler girls who gained a place at grammar school before going onto university. She encouraged Richard to even greater success.
This was AMR's golden years - and not just academically, but also in sport with talented footballers like Tony Gale. He left school at 16 and was signed by Fulham. The 80s were a time of change and nowhere more so than in education. But Margaret Thatcher's Britain was also a time of civil unrest in inner cities. The Brixton riots were virtually on AMR's Camberwell doorstep.
Presenter: Alan Johnson
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
Alan Johnson on 140 years of education through the prism of one school in Camberwell. |
| 08 | 20190306 | Alan Johnson, the former Education Secretary, tells the story of English education over the last 140 years through the prism of one school - St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell.
Over the decades, the school has undergone many transformations, including names, in response to changes in policy, but its purpose has remained constant - to provide decent and free education to local children.
The story is told through original documents - from headmasters' logs and inspection reports - and the testimony of the children and teachers who went there. It is as much a social history of inner-city life down the ages as it is a study of our attempts to educate the children of poor families.
Episode 8:
In this episode, Alan Johnson goes through the Southwark News archives and considers the impact on AMR of violence and gangs in the surrounding neighbourhood. He looks at how headteacher after headteacher tried to keep these problems outside the school gates with measures such as an on-site police officer and two undercover police officers posing as students in the sixth form, as well as providing discipline, inspirational role models and opportunities such as the benefits of technology college status.
Presenter: Alan Johnson
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
Alan Johnson on 140 years of education through the prism of one school in Camberwell. |
| 09 | 20190307 | Alan Johnson, the former Education Secretary, tells the story of English education over the last 140 years through the prism of one school - St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell. Over the decades, the school has undergone many transformations, including names, in response to changes in policy, but its purpose has remained constant - to provide decent and free education to local children. The story is told through original documents - from headmasters' logs and inspection reports - and the testimony of the children and teachers who went there. It is as much a social history of inner-city life down the ages as it is a study of our attempts to educate the children of poor families. Episode 9: It's 2010 and there's criticism from deputy head Katharine Birbalsingh at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham that schools are failing poor and black pupils. Her comments, calling for more robust discipline and traditional teaching methods, may have gone unnoticed in South London but for the fact she'd just joined the senior leadership team of St Michael and All Angels. (The school had reverted to its earlier name a couple of years previously when it had gained academy status.) Ms Birbalsingh's speech was another nail in the coffin for the school's reputation - driven home by a hostile media. In this penultimate episode, Alan Johnson examines punishment from Victorian times to the present day and meets children only too happy to push the boundaries. He looks at attempts to rescue the two consecutive schools on the site from special measures, falling rolls and poor reputation. Changing the name or even the leadership team wasn't enough, even the best-ever recorded GCSE results and a glowing Ofsted report failed to save the school. Presenter: Alan Johnson Producer: Sara Parker Executive Producer: Samir Shah A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4 Alan Johnson on 140 years of education through the prism of one school in Camberwell. |
| 10 | 20190308 | Alan Johnson, the former Education Secretary, tells the story of English education over the last 140 years through the prism of one school - St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell.
Over the decades, the school has undergone many transformations, including names, in response to changes in policy, but its purpose has remained constant - to provide decent and free education to local children.
The story is told through original documents - from headmasters' logs and inspection reports - and the testimony of the children and teachers who went there. It is as much a social history of inner-city life down the ages as it is a study of our attempts to educate the children of poor families.
Episode 10:
The Ark All Saints Academy opened in 2013, when the previous St Michael's was demolished. Gleaming glass and modern brick, it is built with pupil safely in mind. There are no hidden spaces, even the toilets and lockers face out onto the corridors. It is built on a quadrangle system to give 360 degree sight lines for staff to check for trouble, and a large pastoral team are on hand to sort out any problems in or out of class.
In lessons, discipline and attention is focused with clicking and clapping, which give approval and reward correct answers and good behaviour. Even the distinctive purple uniform is cherished by pupils, who are called "scholars". If they misbehave badly enough, the jacket and tie are taken away until the scholar is ready to be part of the school community again. After school, staff make sure the children get home safely, standing at the bus stop in their hi-vis jackets and patrolling the estates.
Ark All Saints Academy looks like a school of the future - whether it will continue with its success, only time will tell.
Presenter: Alan Johnson
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
Alan Johnson on 140 years of education through the prism of one school in Camberwell. |