Cameras going back in class for an Educating Yorkshire special

Jonny Mitchell, headteacher of Thornhill Community Academy, which featured on the hit documentary series, said staff and pupils were looking forward to the new show.

He ruled out any suggestion, however, that the school, near Dewsbury, could feature in another series. “I think we have got everything we could out of the programme,” he said. “The Christmas special will be a chance for people to find out more about some of the major characters from the series like Ryan and Bailey, Mr Steer and Mr Moses.”

The series which was filmed 
by 64 fixed cameras installed at 
the start of this year has been a big hit for Channel 4, attracting audiences above three million, becoming the most watched programme in its time slot and creating a storm on social media websites.

It has also turned many of the characters within it, including Mr Mitchell, into household names.

The headteacher said two of things which he was most pleased about from the programme were the good it had done for his home town of Dewsbury and also for the teaching profession.

“If you asked someone in another part of the country what they knew about Dewsbury I think a lot would now say ‘that’s where Educating Yorkshire was filmed’ as opposed to talking about things like terrorists or Karen Matthews.”

He said he had been overwhelmed by the “love” the school had been shown by the teaching profession.

“I always question myself and I was not sure how other teachers would react to the programme and whether they might criticise the way we did things but we had so much support from teachers saying ‘thank you for what you have done’,” he added.