The High Cost of Teenage Drama: Educating Essex Episode 5 | Up Close

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:01]This week, it's a girls world. [music] Carrie and Ashley are at the heart of the biggest and loudest clique in school. People actually do think we look stuck up.

[00:00:12]Everybody think we think we're better than everyone else and we don't. I've got a wedgie. I swear I'm allergic to them.

[00:00:19]They like [music] to think they are the popular girls. Shut up.

[00:00:23]And most of them [music] just expect boys to fall at their feet.

[00:00:30]But when they fall out with each [music] other, the aftershock is felt by everybody. Oh my god, shut up.

[00:00:36]What's the problem? He won't stop asking [music] me questions.

[00:00:38]>> Don't talk to her.

[00:00:40]It's very, very tough to chew when a friendship group [music] is broken. It it has a huge effect on school. Massive.

[00:00:47]I don't even want to be associated with her. Everyone is going mad.

[00:00:53]Do you understand what I'm saying?

[00:00:55]Yeah. Good.

[00:00:57]Right.

[00:00:58]My problem with some people in the class is that they don't seem to remember stuff.

[00:01:06]So you need to remember the area of a circle formula. You need to remember the circumference of a circle formula. Area of a circle is What is pi?

[00:01:17]10 Where did it come from? Sir? Yeah.

[00:01:20]Who made up pi? I told you last lesson where it came from. I don't really pay attention to that.

[00:01:26]>> to you at break. Don't worry.

[00:01:28]>> Oh. Yeah?

[00:01:29]Good. Right. You are going to do some practice questions on area of a sector.

[00:01:35]Fun, fun, fun.

[00:01:36]>> Please remember. I'll wait, Carrie, yeah?

[00:01:39]It's not funny.

[00:01:42]James, James, James, James, James. I'm bored with it. Carrie. You're here to work. You're here to learn maths, yeah?

[00:01:49]I'm just really hyper. I don't care. Can you just do work? I am. It's taking you nearly 5 minutes to open a book. Come on.

[00:01:57]When I'm messing around, I don't actually know I'm messing around until like I get into a small argument with the teacher or something like that.

[00:02:03]But I do actually want to get good grades and I don't listen. How many questions of those four have you tried?

[00:02:08]The day. None.

[00:02:11]I think with Carrie, she's a very social person and she seems to think that she can talk to people across the room.

[00:02:18]And I don't think she considers what it's doing to other people in the class.

[00:02:23]With Ashley, she does care about doing well. She always wants to get the questions right. She always wants to help when she's going wrong. 3.14 She wants just the one-to-one and I think sometimes she forgets there's other people in the class. I cannot write the whole thing out in my book.

[00:02:42]Okay, behind your places, please.

[00:02:45]Will you stop throwing things at me?

[00:02:49]Punching the phone.

[00:02:52]When was it that we had a massive argument? Year nine. And then we just hated each other for like 7 months and we hated each other and it was bad. And then halfway through the >> down the corridor giving each other dirty looks and that. We hated each other.

[00:03:05]I was like, why did we even fall out?

[00:03:07]She was like, I don't know. And like we sat outside laughing.

[00:03:13]It's after school and the pair are getting on so well that Ashley's trusting Carrie with a girl's most treasured possession.

[00:03:21]How long will my color last?

[00:03:23]Our exclusive color seal conditioning gloss adds intense shine and helps seal in beautiful, natural looking color for 8 weeks. If it goes wrong, I'll actually hate you. Have you ever dyed someone else's hair before? No. I've dyed my own hair. That's harder.

[00:03:38]It's harder to dye than it I think so anyway.

[00:03:43]Do you think it's funny?

[00:03:45]It's ammonia, I think. We What? You're putting wee in my hair? I think it's wee. Ammonia is wee, ain't it? Oh, but it stinks.

[00:03:56]Oh, it's gone up up my nose.

[00:03:58]It's dripping down my face, Carrie. Oh, crap. [laughter] Well, he said to wash it out straight away cuz it's poison. Oh my god, it's burning my spot. Yeah, it did.

[00:04:07][laughter] I bet it'll be enough dye. Why are you so complaining?

[00:04:14]>> [music] >> Do you reckon it's going to go ginger?

[00:04:17]No. What? No. You're lying, ain't you?

[00:04:21]>> [music] >> Your mom's going to kill me.

[00:04:27]I'll ring you back in a minute cuz I'm actually dyeing my hair.

[00:04:32]Who is it?

[00:04:33]Brad.

[00:04:37]Brad [music] is Ashley's ex.

[00:04:39]And they sit next to each other in top set science.

[00:04:43]Guys, I want you to get your books out, use the revision guide, work your way through these things. I've got green revision sheets in the front as well.

[00:04:51]But this is independent learning. I'm going to come around and help you individually, but you've got to be revising. I'm stuck on the first question.

[00:04:58]Fluorine has How in the hell do I know that? Well, you can't use a revision Fluorine has protons.

[00:05:05]>> 19, 9 and 19 again. I don't want you to tell me cuz you ain't going to be telling me in the test. Harsh your gums, blood.

[00:05:14]People think you can't be in love at 15, but you never know unless you're like in a long-term relationship. This lot.

[00:05:22]She was in love with Brad. Yes, she she was.

[00:05:26]Yeah, you was.

[00:05:30]What are you doing, guys?

[00:05:31]Okay, you need to make sure you understand those things. Yeah, you went through them. But make some notes on them. All right.

[00:05:38]I'm north to the east to the west to the south.

[00:05:42]You all know when footsies about. Oh, shut up. That's the only line of words you know.

[00:05:46]>> I know the whole song, bro. I'm not your bro.

[00:05:49]I think at first it weren't really that serious, but it got more serious.

[00:05:55]And were you in love?

[00:05:57]Yeah.

[00:05:58]I would say that I was.

[00:06:01]And we went on and off for like 3 months. And how are things now? Are you are you on and off? Off, completely.

[00:06:09]Yeah, we talk sometimes, but as mates.

[00:06:14]Nah, blood.

[00:06:16]I'm not reminiscing the past. Really?

[00:06:19]Really. [music] Not anymore.

[00:06:24]Fluorine's at top.

[00:06:25]Man is going to be honest, live up to the truth, but man I can't do that.

[00:06:32]Why does fluorine have nine protons, Ashley?

[00:06:36]Um guys, next week next week are your mocks.

[00:06:41]Yeah? Then it's Christmas holidays. Then you come back and you actually do the exam for real. Watch my path. I guarantee she says something just so she can hear it.

[00:06:50]Are there lots of relationships within school or is it Better our relationship out of school, to be honest.

[00:06:56]You don't see them every day. You don't like people can't [ __ ] stare at you and stuff like that.

[00:07:01]So if you were given a question like this, Vinnie. Yeah.

[00:07:04]Where you been? Um day five. Why are three everywhere?

[00:07:09]Right, you haven't been here though. No, I haven't been here. Took a sick. Where?

[00:07:13]Vinnie is Brad's best mate and is in top set maths with Ashley and Carrie. Oh my god, I'm so confused.

[00:07:20]But he's less interested in geometry than Brad and Ashley's on-and-off relationship. Get that copied into your book as it is from there.

[00:07:29]You got to copy that.

[00:07:31]28 Yeah, but he's confident. It's usually quite a lot.

[00:07:35]Confusing. No, but you are boyfriend and girlfriend.

[00:07:37]>> No, it's You don't understand.

[00:07:39]>> Wait, so you've told him yes, so he thinks No. Oh my god, shut up. Shut Shut up. But you don't want to go out. Can you ask him to shut up? Okay. What's the problem? He won't stop asking me questions.

[00:07:49]>> Don't talk to her. Why does she get what she wants?

[00:07:51]>> Cuz I want you to stop I want you to stop asking me questions. Cuz if you don't talk to her Ben, the trouble is if you ask her questions, she's going to get upset.

[00:07:57]>> fair enough.

[00:08:00]I would say I would say Ben, why has Ashley said that you're not going out?

[00:08:03]It's nothing to do with you.

[00:08:06]You would have told me then, wouldn't you? It's nothing to do with you so you don't have to get involved. Look, I've stopped asking her questions. I'm going to ask someone else something.

[00:08:12][laughter] Ben. There's not a teacher in the country who teaches teenagers who doesn't know that feeling of oh god, they had a row. Right, how am I going to deal with that at the start of the lesson? No, we haven't done any of that.

[00:08:23]Do I allow them to talk about it and get it out of the way for 2 minutes? Do I say, right, I'm not interested. You know, this is about lessons, not about your social life and plow through it, really. If he starts again, don't shout.

[00:08:34]Yeah? You tell me if he does it again.

[00:08:36]Yeah? I didn't even do anything. I asked her a question and she's like Go away from me.

[00:08:41]>> [laughter] >> What's that?

[00:08:42]Oh my god.

[00:08:44]Does my head in, actually does.

[00:08:46]She's obviously gave him some indication to say that he's they're going back out.

[00:08:50]I'm like, Brad, what you going back out with Ashley? He's like, yeah, we're going back out. I ask Ashley, she's like, no, we're not going back out.

[00:08:56]Harsh.

[00:08:57]People aren't happy unless there's drama.

[00:09:00]And the more drama, the better.

[00:09:03]And as long as the drama's not on them, they don't care. So they're just going to carry it on.

[00:09:10]>> [music] >> It's lunchtime and it's not just Vinnie Ashley has to deal with.

[00:09:16]>> [music] >> Carrie and a group of the girls are gossiping and they've stopped talking to her.

[00:09:21]She has no idea why.

[00:09:24]But the school's virtual [music] grapevine is buzzing.

[00:09:28]It's very simple to gather a crowd, even though it's [music] a virtual crowd.

[00:09:33]Probably 60, 70% of all the issues that we have around kids and broken [music] relationships between each other at some stage has been played out on Facebook. [music] One thing comes out and then by the end of the week, every week, yeah, everyone knows everything.

[00:09:50]Instead of [music] a problem being in isolation which you can then deal with, now the problem happens in a pond and the [music] ripples spread out.

[00:10:09]You just think you've got your mates and then they start calling you names. It's not not the nicest feeling in the world.

[00:10:16]That was jokes.

[00:10:18]Everyone It's like slight Ashley day, I swear.

[00:10:21]Girls are very powerful and can be very nasty and [ __ ] >> [laughter] >> I think especially as I get to year 10 and [music] 11, the group splits and then they're competing and challenging and girls hold [music] a grudge.

[00:10:37]Ashley's been [music] isolated by some of her friends.

[00:10:41]So, Ashley came to us.

[00:10:43]So, we accepted her fine.

[00:10:45]I don't change my opinion on her.

[00:10:47]She's a nice girl, still my mate, so I'm going to stick by her.

[00:10:52]She has to go to a class where she doesn't know if Carrie will speak [music] to her.

[00:10:57]Today is your last lesson planning and producing and making your campaign. Very last one. Well, maybe we'll do that.

[00:11:04]>> Ask yourself what you and your group want to achieve by the end of the lesson. Continue planning your campaign with your group and take advantage of having the ICT room. All right? The posters look fantastic. They come out really really well, guys.

[00:11:23]I feel a bit sorry for her. She hasn't got anyone. She can't She ain't even got anyone to sit with.

[00:11:29]Wait, Shannon. Everybody knows something. Is that the secret everyone knows or not?

[00:11:34]I'm not allowed to know nothing about it.

[00:11:36]You pissed him off and then he was like sitting there texting me in the classroom.

[00:11:42]There's clearly something going on about me.

[00:11:44]Don't you dare.

[00:11:45]It made me quite upset because the fact is he controls people and they really can't.

[00:11:51]He's saying don't look at him. I'm going to ask Carrie now.

[00:11:57]Carrie.

[00:11:58]Apparently apparently in the toilets at lunch, she was talking about me.

[00:12:03]Saying what? I don't know.

[00:12:06]I'm asking.

[00:12:08]I'm not telling you secrets because in the cafe at lunch, it was like everybody knew something. How do you know? How do you know?

[00:12:14]Is it something about me or something?

[00:12:16]What?

[00:12:18]It is, isn't it?

[00:12:19]Who did it?

[00:12:20]What?

[00:12:25]What are you laughing?

[00:12:26]Who did it? Who did it, Carrie?

[00:12:28]I know.

[00:12:30]What? It's not my place to say.

[00:12:32]I would get it. Can you say things about me or not?

[00:12:35]And then I'll Hm?

[00:12:45]What?

[00:12:52]You can only be a ruler. I can be like really horrible people.

[00:12:57]I'll be two-faced at times, but most of the time but every every girl is two-faced. There's not a girl that would be two-faced. Even if she's a nice You think she's the nicest girl, she'll still be two-faced.

[00:13:08]I'm not being funny, yeah, but that whole group has got the hump with me now.

[00:13:11]I ain't sitting in this class no more.

[00:13:14]Actually going in.

[00:13:16]Life outside of school is a hand grenade in a lesson. You know, when it happens and things are difficult, you know, it can just trash lessons. That lingering animosity, specifically between girls rather than boys, can have a massively limiting effect on what you can achieve in a lesson. All right. I ain't actually sitting in this class anymore.

[00:13:37]Right, can you step aside for a minute, please? No.

[00:13:41]Go aside for a minute. Right, it looks bad on me. She was apparently just talking about me in the toilet. Is this true? Because you Have you got the hump with me or not? No. Who would have told her that they was you was talking about her?

[00:13:52]No one cuz you don't even Well, then how would she know you was talking about her in the toilet? I saw her actually.

[00:13:59]Everyone gets involved and I'd be a hypocrite if I said not to get involved because you do and you do have an opinion about it. If someone tells you something, you're going to have an opinion.

[00:14:08]I mean, it's quite funny.

[00:14:11]Sorry.

[00:14:13]See you later.

[00:14:14]Oh, you you need time out of the lesson, so please take it. I don't mind you taking it. I'll be out with you in a second. All right? I'll be out in a second.

[00:14:34]Ashley's in the toilet. Ashley.

[00:14:37]Come out.

[00:14:39]Some of the girls have stopped talking to her. What's going on? I don't actually know. Everyone's got some problem.

[00:14:46]What do you mean? What Well, I don't know. It was like everyone has a problem with me. No one No.

[00:14:52]People have a problem with you. It was that. Why I need to more sex sexy pictures.

[00:14:57]Come on, move your body. Sex on the beach. Wait, Carrie. Oh. What? Her BBM status.

[00:15:06]Is Is what? Can't [ __ ] trust anyone.

[00:15:10]Where's Ashley? I'll give you another minute. Then I want you back in there because But But okay.

[00:15:16]But you have to because I can't have you in the lesson in here and you need to get some some work done during this lesson.

[00:15:22]Shannon, can't you stop crying in this class?

[00:15:28]She's coming.

[00:15:30]Why did he put loads of sex pictures?

[00:15:32]Come on, move your body. Sex on the Any more news? No.

[00:15:43]That looks well good. She was crying to her staff just now.

[00:15:47]In the toilets. Talking needs to stop.

[00:15:50]Thank you.

[00:15:52]Right then, can you please save your work, those of you who are on computers.

[00:15:58]As part of your mock exam, all citizenship students will be given an hour to type up their evaluation. The [music] end is near.

[00:16:06]All okay about next week? Yeah? Sure.

[00:16:08]Right then. Stand behind chairs and each check computers. There's always rumors going around. How many of the rumors are true normally? That people will add little bits to it or accidentally tell it wrong or people make it out to be worse than it actually is. So, yeah, it definitely gets twisted.

[00:16:28]If you listen to them, they're always bitching about each other. Like you get two on their own [music] and the rest all become targets.

[00:16:35]If anyone goes behind each other's backs, that's when you realize people don't like each other. They could [ __ ] for England, the girls in our school.

[00:16:42]I swear we have got the worst ones sometimes. They they entertain me with their [music] conversations.

[00:16:51]If there's like anything wrong, they just overreact so much.

[00:16:58]>> [music] >> People did obviously think that it was unfair.

[00:17:03]I don't remember thinking >> [music] >> that it wasn't something that your friends should do. [music] >> [music] >> Ashley's ex-boyfriend, Brad, arrives at school.

[00:17:29]He finds himself in trouble before the first bell.

[00:17:34]What's going on? I'll tell you.

[00:17:35]Uh nothing bro. I'm getting screwed up by everyone. What?

[00:17:38]I cuz I drew some [ __ ] proper detailed [ __ ] on the table in L Mr. Norton's room. Why would you do that? I don't know.

[00:17:50]Ashley isn't in school. She's off sick.

[00:17:54]Her mom, who works in the school office, is worried.

[00:17:58]But she said, "No, I'm not getting up.

[00:17:59]I'm not getting up." So, just you know, get up.

[00:18:02]Then she got up. She got her uniform on.

[00:18:05]I was sick. She said that you've just been sick. She got up. I just went back to bed.

[00:18:10]How did they find out it was you? Cuz I was sitting there.

[00:18:13]Just don't tell me it was you. Yeah, I know. I sat there it was already there.

[00:18:15]I just did the pubes in it.

[00:18:17]Like you see a dick there, yeah? I just added to it.

[00:18:21]Brad, you drew the dick cuz Yeah, I know.

[00:18:23]>> [music] >> Classes have started and some of the staff are wondering why Ashley is absent. She might not be here because of the rumors and things that are going around. I mean, that would put anyone off coming to school, wouldn't it?

[00:18:41]They're nasty. It'll be destructive amongst all of them cuz they'll all start taking sides over it.

[00:18:46]A lot of it will be jealousy. Hm.

[00:18:48]Maybe, you know, fancying somebody else and they fancy you. You know how girls are. Yeah.

[00:18:54]I hope it all blows over cuz you don't want that going on. It's not nice. Makes school interesting, doesn't it? It's real life.

[00:19:05]Brad [music] and best mate, Vinnie, have just heard a rumor that Ashley's been linked to another boy.

[00:19:12]He's threatening to take [music] the boy on in a fight.

[00:19:16]How you doing? Miss Conway is head of house needs to diffuse the situation.

[00:19:20][music] What's going on then, Brad? Um ooh, Ashley was telling me uh she wanted to get back with me. Uh-huh.

[00:19:27]And she was still telling me that she loved me now. Yeah.

[00:19:31]What was that? Oh.

[00:19:32]>> [music] >> And she was still telling me to wait like after mom.

[00:19:35]I just feel sorry for him. Brad. Yeah.

[00:19:39]The only one that should be hurting is her.

[00:19:41]She deserves to be.

[00:19:43]Brad don't deserve it. He ain't done nothing wrong.

[00:19:45]Who are you annoyed with?

[00:19:47]Uh everyone.

[00:19:48]>> [music] >> Have you had a fight with another boy over a girl before. Has that happened?

[00:19:52]Yeah, definitely.

[00:19:54]Okay, my concern is obviously the fact that you're going to do something [music] stupid and you've worked far too hard to let that happen.

[00:20:07]I mean, [music] I can support you, give you some time out if you need it in the nicest possible way. It's a girl. Yeah.

[00:20:13]Yeah?

[00:20:14]Doing it for weeks on end telling him she still loves him and that and then he'll go, "Well, I still love you."

[00:20:20]We got back together and she was like, "No."

[00:20:23]How does that make sense? [music] I'm sure it makes sense somewhere in the world.

[00:20:28]It takes a bigger man to stand up and walk away.

[00:20:31]>> [music] >> And at the moment you're thinking, "Nah, I just want to batter someone."

[00:20:36]If someone's come to you and said >> [music] >> someone said something and I'm going to have a fight with them, you have to take stuff like that seriously, yes. [music] Because that's their way of reporting it. So, you need to investigate it and go from there.

[00:20:50]Miss [music] Conway's taken a radical decision.

[00:20:52]She's isolating Brad to prevent him from having a fight.

[00:20:57]Stan [music] from student support is looking after him.

[00:21:01]I think sometimes just having someone that's on their case someone that has the time, which is what I'm afforded the time to deal with things, the time to pick them up when they're not doing what they should be doing.

[00:21:15]And I need them to actually think I'm on their side.

[00:21:18]Right, if you do this, what's going to happen when you get him back to mom and dad? I don't know what he could do.

[00:21:24]He's going to go. What's his views going to be, I mean?

[00:21:27]When he's dragged in here about you fighting in school or whatever else. Cuz that's what happened, wasn't it?

[00:21:32]Yeah, fighting in school.

[00:21:35]I'll take it you're you and Ashley are off and finished now. Yeah.

[00:21:41]Love's a wrong thing, isn't it? Yeah.

[00:21:44]Yeah.

[00:21:45]You've got it really bad. Yeah.

[00:21:48]You're not over it, are you? No.

[00:21:50]No, who you got?

[00:21:53]Who are you angry at, really?

[00:21:55]Ashley.

[00:22:01]All right, so she's showing you her ugly side. What did she say? "Go and get another bird." But that ain't going to happen, is it?

[00:22:05]But is it the end of your life? Is it the end of your world?

[00:22:09]No.

[00:22:11]And you know what? It is the end of year 11. Yeah.

[00:22:14]You shouldn't be in here chatting. Yeah.

[00:22:16]You should have your lessons working.

[00:22:17]Yeah.

[00:22:18]Onwards and upwards, mate.

[00:22:20]Yeah.

[00:22:26]>> [music] >> I think with some of them, it comes down to testosterone and some boys become young men much earlier. And I think they push boundaries and they push boundaries that we can't let go because we've got 800 other pupils here >> [music] >> and then it's bedlam.

[00:22:41]And you can't ignore the correlation between behavior and results.

[00:22:47]>> [music] >> Most staff that haven't necessarily got teaching loads at all, the time and effort that they put in is just priceless. We wouldn't be anywhere near as successful without them. Not even close.

[00:22:58]I'm not certain if we'll continue to have enough staff to do that when the government cuts kick in properly.

[00:23:03]That's a worry for the future.

[00:23:05]>> [music] >> So, for this one, I'm going to do two lots of the radius times by pi and then divide that by four. I hate pi. Are you with me on this?

[00:23:15]>> Yeah. This is easy, yeah?

[00:23:18]Not always as easy as that.

[00:23:21]Folks back to me tonight.

[00:23:23]Brad's enforced isolation has refueled the school gossip.

[00:23:27]Carrie, do you Yeah?

[00:23:29]Do you know why he's isolated?

[00:23:31]I don't cuz he's going mental about it.

[00:23:33]Oh, Vicky, do you know why he's isolated? Cuz they're trying to prevent him from going mental in lessons cuz they're trying to mental about him. I know.

[00:23:40]You know the thing about boys?

[00:23:42]They're going to beat up.

[00:23:44]Ow, Vicky, ow, do you know ow?

[00:23:46]Yeah, I know.

[00:23:47]Ow, I think I'm going to get my phone now.

[00:23:50]Vinnie found out. So, Vinnie told Abby and Adina and Vinnie three, we had a race of who could tell Brad first who apparently he's isolated cuz people go mental about him. Oh, I will see Brad. I really [music] want to talk to him.

[00:24:04]Brad told him he's going to bang him.

[00:24:06]What? Everyone's going back.

[00:24:15]>> [music] >> School gossip [music] is also fueling the weekly senior staff meeting.

[00:24:25]They got an email from parent on Wednesday Tuesday evening saying she's got a very very very concerned that my son has received an email from another junior school which shows three gay men naked in the shower, playing with each other's genitals and having sex. Could you possibly look into the matter? So, Vicky replied saying, "I'm really really sorry that this happened. I'm not in school tomorrow, but Mr. Drew will speak to you soon >> [laughter] >> about the gay naked men in the shower having sex."

[00:24:48]I then had the pleasure of speaking to the first boy about it and I said to him, "Did you send the email?"

[00:24:53]I don't know what you're talking about.

[00:24:55]"Did you send an email?" So, "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to." [laughter] With him stood by the printer like this.

[00:25:04]All right, so then I had that I phoned his dad. I said, "I'm really sorry to have to share what I'm about to share with you. And I you can rest assured that I don't particularly want to talk about it as much as you probably won't want to hear about it. But this is what your son has done." And he went, "Oh." I said, "You may have to supervise all his internet browsing for a period of time you know what I mean to ensure that he isn't viewing graphic porn on the internet in your house in your dining room, which is where he tells me that [laughter] the computer is."

[00:25:32]>> [laughter] >> The conversation turns to Ashley who has now been off school for two days.

[00:25:39]Ashley's been off and said he said that she's been very well. She hadn't been eating at all, but So, why is she why is she off again?

[00:25:45]She's off because of boyfriend issues and things like that.

[00:25:49]>> No, but the other girls in that group, are we going to have a kick off with I don't know. I don't know.

[00:25:55]She probably knows what's going on and is very emotional about it all anyway.

[00:26:00]Yeah. That's what the rumor mill's like.

[00:26:01]Who's her boyfriend now? Bradley Walton.

[00:26:03]Oh.

[00:26:04]Those two are in a lot of the same classes each other. She now needs to come to school tomorrow.

[00:26:12]>> [music] [music] >> It's three days since Carrie and Ashley fell out.

[00:26:24]And Ashley is still off sick.

[00:26:30]So, who can tell me what a polymer is?

[00:26:34]A chain of monomers. Brilliant. Thank you, Amy. Thank you.

[00:26:39]Stop. Working with chemicals is no hidden agenda. Chemicals do what they do and that's it. Whereas in a class if they're not behaving, it could be for a million different reasons. What they've had for lunch, what they haven't had for lunch, what someone said to them at break, what's happening at home.

[00:26:55]A million and one things. Could be even just the the wind. If it's a windy day behavior tends to be worse. Well, you told me you got a receding hairline.

[00:27:03]It's not this.

[00:27:05]This is his hairline.

[00:27:07]And then this is his face. That's a really good picture. You've got the beard.

[00:27:11]Right, and then you draw his ponytail and his side Shh, shh, we Guys, what that means is we haven't got time to waste.

[00:27:19]Posters.

[00:27:21]How about we make some posters about polymerization using information we've got in our books?

[00:27:24]Yes, please. The books are at the front of the class. I'm going to go and get some paper for it. Oh my god. Oh my god, I'm so talented. Oh my god, I'm so proud of myself. You could actually be on the catwalk, couldn't you?

[00:27:37]>> [laughter] >> No, you're stupid.

[00:27:41]With Ashley's seat empty, boyfriend Brad keeps himself amused with best mate Vinnie. Another bad joke to see his What? But I need another pen.

[00:27:52]There, yeah. Another pen. What? What do you mean? Left. I didn't do it.

[00:27:57]Um, Vinnie, can you get out, please?

[00:27:59]What? Can you get out, please? Why? Cuz of what you're talking about and I think you need to leave. I said prick, yeah.

[00:28:05]And he's and he said, "What did you say?" And he thought that I said that.

[00:28:09]Cuz I don't want you to get out.

[00:28:11]I think actually if you both get out for the moment, okay?

[00:28:17]I'm going to say that you said that someone was being sick. Yeah. Does that stop the lesson as well? Yeah. And I'll just be like if you just need to split.

[00:28:25]No, I'll just be like I was talking about Ashley being sick.

[00:28:29]What did we actually do? Exactly. He just don't want us to be in the class.

[00:28:34]Connor, how hard do you work on a scale of 1 [music] to 10? I think your work rate has dropped from a five or six to like a two or three. Yeah.

[00:28:41]If that okay, Stan, we can try it, maybe. Try if they can answer these two questions I've got on the board and put them into their books.

[00:28:47]I've got two questions on the board.

[00:28:48]I've spoken to several of you already.

[00:28:52]Please write an answer in your own words. No, um, and I I text Ashley. I said, "I take it you ain't coming to school tomorrow."

[00:29:01]And she was like, "Don't know." Bradley.

[00:29:05]Right, when you came back in it was on the understanding you're going to be doing some work. Oh, yeah. How do you do?

[00:29:12]Yeah, anyway, moving on.

[00:29:14]And I was like, "Who are you going to hang around with?" And I was like, "What, Shelly?" And she was like, "Yeah." And I was like, "Cuz she won't slag you off in English."

[00:29:23]You can't even chat. Oh my god, you I'm the only one, right, that has basically stood her ground for her while she hasn't been here. And then you said I was slagging her off. Chill. So, I don't see what it has to do with their friendship.

[00:29:36]>> Can we be standing behind our places, please, guys?

[00:29:40]Tuesdays after school in the science department, we are doing revision classes. Hey. This is the time when need to start putting in a little bit extra effort.

[00:29:51]Um and I'll see you next time. Off you go, guys.

[00:29:54]See you later, Ebony.

[00:29:56]I was wondering about black hole formation cuz I was laying in bed last night and I started [music] thinking about how it could happen. Everything would collapse.

[00:30:07]>> [music] >> Because of the great density of everything, I was thinking maybe they could form a large neutron or something.

[00:30:16]The orbits of planets [music] and stuff coincides with the orbital of an electron in an atom. That's the stuff that If it doesn't scare you, you don't really understand it.

[00:30:26]>> Yeah. [music] It's the end of the day.

[00:30:33]>> [music] >> Ashley's coming in for her revision class.

[00:30:37]It's her first time back since falling out with Carrie.

[00:30:40]All right. You look all right. You look all right now, actually. You look nice today. I didn't want to take my brother off. Yeah, I'm all right. How come you want to go? I'm going.

[00:30:47]See you later.

[00:30:49]I don't look at that situation with Ashley and think, "Oh, that's terrible.

[00:30:51]You had 3 days off school." I mean, I do think it's terrible she had 3 days off school simply because she's a year 11 and needs to pass her GCSEs. But that's the kind of robot side of me that says, "Get up, go to school, do your work, pass your GCSEs, be a success." So there has got to be a bit of robot in me and I have got to do that. But clearly, in her mind, it was an absolute disaster. It was a terrible thing and she couldn't cope.

[00:31:17]Was that hard to come back in? Mm.

[00:31:20]Well, sort of, yeah, because it was like the whole weren't talking to hardly any of them.

[00:31:25]Sorry. [music] Should be taking them in. Welcome. Hi.

[00:31:31]Grab some paper from the front. I'll get you some more paper.

[00:31:34]Okay.

[00:31:37]Wait, don't bring your germs on me. I've just got better.

[00:31:41]So what am I doing? Bigman. With the ill corner. What actually happened to start the brawl, I mean? No?

[00:31:47]I don't know. I text you, didn't I? I'm texting you and I don't know how it started. I don't even know how it started.

[00:31:52]I missed like a couple days of school and I don't think it's different. It's [clears throat] weird. Shall we use that? Chingum, what?

[00:31:59]I have one, please. Okay, if you need to sit down to do your detention, sit down.

[00:32:03]I'm starving.

[00:32:05]Not all after-school sessions are voluntary.

[00:32:08]Carrie Scofield. Yeah. Carrie's in detention for skipping detention. So cuz you obviously want to pass your our GCSE, you made sure that you went to Mr. Gower's course or detention.

[00:32:19]>> Yeah, but I forgot.

[00:32:21]And there we are. Thank you very much.

[00:32:23]Oh, silly, though. So, do you want me to let you fail your GCSEs? I'm not going to fail. Do you want me to let you fail?

[00:32:33]No. No. And unfortunately, when your teacher says you need to do some study work, coursework, revision work, or whatever, you need to attend.

[00:32:41]Thank you. Okay, next. In year 10, I just thought it was a big laugh like I never took anything seriously, but now my GCSEs are coming up and I I actually think, "Oh, I actually need to get into college. I need to get these grades.

[00:32:54]I need to like start actually listening."

[00:32:59]Carrie Scofield is probably the the most annoying of all the students, but she's the most able artistically.

[00:33:06]But it can be very frustrating when she doesn't produce the work you want it to so that she can fulfill that potential because you've got to do the graph. If you move her in the right direction, I think she could do, you know, wonders in the future.

[00:33:23]Carrie. Yeah.

[00:33:25]Thank you.

[00:33:26]He's distracting me. Uh sorry, how old are you?

[00:33:30]15. Right. I forget things. As soon as I learn them, I forget them. Like yesterday, I done maths. We done like trigonometry or whatever it was.

[00:33:38]And then I learned how to do it and I was quite good at it. And stuff, got how to do it again. I had to look back in my book.

[00:33:43]So that's why I feel really so bad in tests cuz I won't remember it all.

[00:33:47]>> [snorts] >> Can you remember what pi is?

[00:33:50]No.

[00:33:52]Ashley. Yeah.

[00:33:54]Ashley's been successful building bridges with some of the girls.

[00:33:58]Have a lovely evening. Thank you very much.

[00:34:00]Bye-bye, everyone.

[00:34:02]But the rift between her and Carrie looks set to disrupt another school day.

[00:34:26]>> [music] >> Best friends, Ashley and Carrie, haven't spoken [music] for 4 days. Where are we going to be?

[00:34:40]Which one is he?

[00:34:41]We don't know where he is. The fallout continues to be a disruption for the entire group.

[00:34:49]Coming from Coming from you. Is it this one or the other one? What?

[00:34:54]Ashley just called us a skep. Okay.

[00:34:57]You said coming from. Is she talking about me?

[00:35:01]>> [laughter] >> Coming from skep or thank?

[00:35:07]Coming from the skep.

[00:35:13]Ashley goes to see Miss Conway for advice.

[00:35:17]I'm listening. Then I got an abusive text again saying that I called Carrie a skep and then went, "Coming from you."

[00:35:27]Um I was like, "Actually, Shelly called me a skep." Then the other day when I was off school, I got abusive texts, abusive phone calls. And I said, "Can you stop ringing me?" I was like, "Can you just not talk to me? If you've got nothing else to say to me, can you not talk to me?"

[00:35:40]I was getting all this abuse and I was like, "Ew." I was like, "I'm trying to sleep. Please leave me alone."

[00:35:46]Do Do you want us to step in and do anything or say anything? I don't know because I think you should. I think they all need to be taught a lesson. So I think that's bullying.

[00:35:56]How would they like it if they had no friends?

[00:35:58]>> But have you Yeah, friends. You think you're really not ill? I said, "I'm not ill now."

[00:36:03]I said, "I'm not ill. I'm not being sick or nothing now." I was like, "Do you want to leave me alone now cuz I didn't answer any of your questions?"

[00:36:09]I think whereas in the past maybe it was easier as a kid to hide and to be out of contact. Even when kids aren't going out to play with their mates, they're still on their mobile phone all day. They're still on the computer with MSN. There's no There's no hiding escape. Now one respect, great. A very good connected-up world. They live like it all the time.

[00:36:24]But I think that's to do with the pressure.

[00:36:27]I think there is no place to hide as such. Ashley, can you pass my biscuit thing on top of the desk? This? Yeah.

[00:36:35]It's [snorts] up to you how we deal with it. We can deal with it. We can sit you all down and go from there. It's It's your choice. I think girls get everyone involved. The more The more involved, the better.

[00:36:46]And they'll just constantly talk about it. Talk and talk and talk and talk about it until everyone's talking about it and it'd be far easier if they just had a conversation themselves.

[00:37:00]>> [music] >> With no resolution in sight, Ashley heads off to her lesson.

[00:37:06]It's maths with Carrie.

[00:37:13]Okay, so this is linked to what we did last lesson. If you weren't here last lesson, you either can talk to someone around you or you can try and rely on your knowledge.

[00:37:24]Will you listen, please?

[00:37:27]Will you listen then, please?

[00:37:29]Excellent. Right. This question is very similar to what we were doing last lesson.

[00:37:34]Diameter of a semicircle. So I would suggest that you draw a semicircle.

[00:37:39]That's obviously the diameter of it, 1.5 m across. My brain. I don't need a comment.

[00:37:47]I'm here to help you. If you don't want me to help you, you can go.

[00:37:51]It's the same thing about you. You don't need to make a comment. I told you that.

[00:37:55]Well, I don't get this at all and I'm not getting any help. Pay attention to me. You might get some help. I am paying attention and I'm saying to these I don't get it cuz I don't understand a clue what pi is.

[00:38:07]It's like you eat you.

[00:38:10]I wouldn't want to just say, "Right, that's it. You're out." I wouldn't want to do that to her.

[00:38:14]Cuz at the end of the day, she's she's got the ability to do well.

[00:38:17]The conversation's gone along the lines of, "If you do the right thing, if you let me teach you, you can get a B."

[00:38:24]And I think I think she knows that.

[00:38:27]But at the moment, I think she's struggling to realize what she needs to do. Finished?

[00:38:34]Oh, I hate maths. Obviously, if you need extra help, you can stay behind. I'll give you some extra help on it. I want you I'm going to die.

[00:38:42]on Monday to know that formula.

[00:38:47]Cuz if you don't know that formula, I'm not going to be very happy.

[00:38:51]What is the formula for the area of a circle? Pi times r squared.

[00:38:55]It's side logo.

[00:38:58]It's break and [music] Carrie heads off to the cafe with a group of the girls.

[00:39:04]Without realizing what she's doing, Ashley joins the same queue. I don't want to be associated with her.

[00:39:10]>> [music] >> She's got no one else.

[00:39:18]No one's going to be there. Becky, go come get your food from the other cafe and then we'll go in here.

[00:39:25]What in the other cafe?

[00:39:31]Who's actually hanging around with her?

[00:39:32]Chantelle. Who's still talking to her?

[00:39:35]I'm not getting involved. Yeah, that's That's not my problem.

[00:39:39]Ashley is still being ignored by Carrie and some of the girls.

[00:39:43]How are you doing? Um well I'm going to say come on.

[00:39:47]Brad has calmed down.

[00:39:50]Text me last night saying what's going on between us. He was like um Uh to be honest, I don't want to fight.

[00:39:59]You're not going to do anything to cheat with her, are you?

[00:40:02]I think he needs to know that as well because he's probably walking around school thinking I've got to watch my back. Yeah. Brad could be there and he could be there. What worse can it be, Brad?

[00:40:11]Yeah. Yeah.

[00:40:13]And his company makes me feel like there's always somewhere to go when I'm angry or upset or whatever.

[00:40:20]Just made me realize how much it distracts me from school.

[00:40:26]So I weren't paying attention to lessons cuz of how I felt.

[00:40:32]All right then. Yeah.

[00:40:33]>> [music] >> Off you go.

[00:40:34]Grab that for me. Brad has put the disruption to one side. Carrie. Yes.

[00:40:39]>> I've decided cuz you were sitting there chatting and gossiping with Amy.

[00:40:43]The same is not true of the girls who are still allowing the split to disrupt their GCSEs.

[00:40:51]It's fine two people falling out. What's not fine is when other people other people join in. That's That's when it becomes the problem. I know. I reckon it'll just sort itself out. The school is less convinced.

[00:41:03]Carrie is summoned from one of her classes.

[00:41:06]Um can I have the other girls?

[00:41:08]And the two girls are brought together.

[00:41:13]I'm not getting involved with all this friendship thing, but I think it's got to be sorted cuz you don't want another week like last week, do we? No.

[00:41:21]All right, I'm going to give 5 minutes, but just remember >> [music] >> friends always have arguments and make up, right?

[00:41:31]It was like saying in the past and I heard about it and I thought it was true.

[00:41:35]And it wasn't, but I just had an argument with Ashley.

[00:41:39]Once I've calmed myself down, I'd be like oh I shouldn't have done that really. And then just be like I I don't know. I don't really apologize, but I just I don't think I apologized to her.

[00:41:51]I think I said sorry for spreading loads of stuff.

[00:41:55]We just laugh about it now, but What do you say now then when you laugh about it? Just how silly it was and pathetic it was.

[00:42:04]That's what I'm like. Like I'd have Well, if I fall out with someone I'd talk to them and like I'd get to be fine with them. Like when it wouldn't go gradually like still talking to them. I'd just be like one minute we fall out and one minute we're fine.

[00:42:17]>> [music] >> on I just remember seeing Ashley and Carrie together and I was just like yeah.

[00:42:37]That lasted long, didn't it? It's like the stuff I did to Ashley was really kind of harsh, but yet she took them back as their best mates which I don't understand.

[00:42:48]>> [laughter] >> Just go in school >> Come on, start talking. talk about saying something and laugh and then just goes over them really.

[00:42:58]Stuck with her now, unfortunately.

[00:43:02]>> [music] >> Hm. Love you.

[00:43:05]I'm going to make her dinner tonight then.

[00:43:13]>> [music] >> It it has a huge effect on school, massive.

[00:43:16]But often short-lived. It's a hand grenade that goes off [music] and then the dust settles.

[00:43:22]Sometimes the same day. Sometimes a week, sometimes a month, but it does settle because we as adults can [music] stand back from it and say this is just part of growing up, you know. You fall out, you find out who your friends are, you [music] deal with it and you move on. As adults you can see that.

[00:43:40]It's all consuming [music] and devastating if you're 15 and inside it though.

[00:43:49]>> [music] >> Come on, get out. It's results day.

[00:43:53]Ashley achieved nine GCSEs at [music] A* to C.

[00:43:57]And in true best friend style, Carrie did exactly the same.

[00:44:01]Yeah, I could have done better if I tried harder, but I'm happy anyway, so Despite being unable [music] to remember what pi is, she got a C in maths.

[00:44:11]And the girls are as close as ever.

[00:44:15]You got B in English.

[00:44:18]>> [music] [music] >> It it has a huge effect on school.

[00:44:33]But often short-lived. It's a hand grenade that goes off and then sometimes the same day.

[00:44:41]Sometimes a week, sometimes a month, but it does settle because we as adults can stand back from it and say this is just part of growing up, you know. You fall out, you find out who your friends are, you deal with it and you move on. As adults you can see that.

[00:44:57]It's all consuming and devastating if you're 15 and inside it though.

[00:45:09]Come on, get out. It's results day.

[00:45:13]Ashley achieved nine GCSEs at A* to C.

[00:45:16]And in true best friend style, Carrie did exactly the same.

[00:45:20]Yeah, I could have done better if I tried harder, but I'm happy anyway, so Despite being unable to remember what pi is, she got a C in maths.

[00:45:31]And the girls are as close as ever.

[00:45:34]You got B in English.