Educating Cardiff: Meet the teachers from Channel 4’s new series

The heroic staff members make Channel 4's education-based documentaries a joy to watch
Education: see the lives of teachers and pupils of a Welsh school in new series
Channel 4
Ben Travis25 August 2015

Back in 2013, Channel 4’s Educating Yorkshire gave us one of the most heart-warming TV moments of recent memory, when stammer sufferer Musharaf managed to read a poem out loud while listening to music. At the moment Mr. Burton helped to give Musharaf his voice, school teachers finally began to be seen as national heroes.

Now Channel 4 have returned with a new series, Educating Cardiff, looking at the staff and pupils at Willow High School through the highs and lows of the school year.

As usual, the teachers are as appealing as the kids, full of wit, warmth, inspiration, and unfaltering dedication to their students.

Here’s an introduction to the teachers of Educating Cardiff.

Head Teacher: Joy Ballard

Miracle worker: Head Teacher Joy Ballard has turned Willows High School's fortunes around
Channel 4

Willows High School might be Joy Ballard’s first stint as a head teacher, but she’s done a remarkable job in turning the school’s results around. Back in 2011, only 14% of pupils left the school with 5 A-C grades at GCSE. Since she took over, that number has risen to 50%. Having left school with no qualifications at all, seeking out education later in life, Joy feels “enormous empathy” for the struggles that her pupils face every day. Her ethos comes through in the school motto she introduced: Belong, Believe, Achieve.

Deputy Head Teacher: Chris Norman

Calm: Deputy Head Chris Norman deals with a range of difficult pastoral care issues
Channel 4

Serving at Willows for 11 years, Chris Norman turned his skills from his time as Head of Maths into a formula for success as Deputy Head Teacher by implementing a complex performance tracking system under Joy Ballard’s leadership. He deals with a range of pastoral care issues and behavioural problems. His method: remain calm, and keep a punnet of grapes nearby to diffuse the tension.

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Head of House Denbigh: Paul Hennessy

Tough love: Head of House Paul Hennessy has a reputation across the school
Channel 4

Every school has one teacher that the kids do their best not to cross – Paul Hennessy is that teacher at Willows. Despite his tough reputation, he’s soft underneath and manages to form strong relationship with the most difficult students. As a Head of House, he pulls out all the stops for his pupils and even phones some of them in the morning to get them into school on time.

Head of House Raglan: Andy Roberts

Competitive: Head of House Andy Roberts wants Raglan to retain the school cup
Channel 4

You can always trust a PE teacher to be the most competitive in the school. Head of House Raglan, Andy Roberts, is desperate for his pupils to retain the end-of-year cup after winning the accolade the year previously. Will he be able to wrangle some of the more colourful characters he’s overseeing in the new school year?

Channel 4, 9pm

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