Who’d be a teacher in London? Joe Bispham would. He has hairy arms, short legs, a pronounced limp, a funny voice and he’s going bald. So declares the Year Seven English class currently ripping him to shreds through the medium of Shakespearean sonnets. ‘My master’s hairline no longer exists.’ ‘His head is as bald as Humpty Dumpty.’ ‘If hair be riches, my master is poor.’ ‘Isn’t this a dream lesson?’ grins Mr Bispham. The kids, meanwhile, are absorbing iambic pentameter almost by stealth. It’s a brilliant coup: as entertaining for me, lurking at the back of class, as it must be painful for the 28-year-old in the firing line. But a man who describes his style as ‘50 per cent stand-up, 50 per cent motivational speeches’ might just be asking for it.
Joe Bispham teaches at Frederick Bremer School in Walthamstow. His idiosyncratic style is just one reason why the team behind Channel 4’s Bafta-nominated ‘Educating Yorkshire’ and ‘Educating Essex’ have decided to film their third fly-on-the-school-wall documentary series here. The east London comprehensive is a microcosm of state education in the capital. It’s also a great advert for community integration and schooling – both too readily dismissed as floundering or even doomed projects. Its student population pulses with life, while its staff are overworked, possibly foolhardy, but always up for a challenge. Like star-in-the-making Bispham, these teachers don’t mind taking a few risks to engage a bunch of 11- to 16-year-olds bombarded by all the distractions of London life.
Today, I’m one of those distractions. Or, as one Frederick Bremer student puts it: ‘There’s a weird guy with glasses wandering around’. These East Ends kids are lively. But, contrary to lazy mass-media stereotypes, they’re not junior gangsters in hoodies, sizing me up for a mugging outside the gates. They’re sparky, funny fashionistas-in-waiting like Ellie and Yelis, the livewire prefects who give me a tour of the airy campus. Or bright, creative young chefs, like the Year Nine catering class that rustles me up a delicious lunch of saltfish fritters and cupcakes. Or imaginative, mouthy poets like Mr Bispham’s English class. Above all, they’re products of their environment.
As a community school Frederick Bremer has no selection policy, so the student population reflects the unique multicultural mix of Walthamstow. No single ethnic group makes up more than 18 per cent of the student body, making it difficult to define or generalise about them. That said, they do seem pretty boisterous – proud of their achievements but like their city, not always easy to manage.
‘Terrifying!’ recalls Bispham of his early days at Frederick Bremer. He ditched a burgeoning political career to join Teach First, a scheme to fast-track graduates into ‘challenging or difficult’ schools. ‘I needed a translator when I first started. “Wasteman” is a general insult, and apparently “peak” means good, but it also means bad.’ In only his third lesson, a tough Year 11 class studying ‘Romeo and Juliet’ only got worse for him when he asked the class of 15- and 16-year-old boys what Romeo’s desires were. The response was predictable and not inaccurate: ‘Sir, are you stupid? He wants to bang her!’
A few weeks later, with the same class, came a turning point. ‘I went into a cupboard to get the copies of “Romeo and Juliet”. The door slammed, the key turned and I was locked in the cupboard in the dark. I could hear them laughing. Seven minutes, I was in there. Eventually they let me out and I pretended that nothing had happened, because it was really embarrassing for me as a teacher. They were like, “Sir, I think you need to get the headteacher.” But I acted like I wasn’t bothered, and this freaked them out more than anything else: “What’s wrong with this guy? We can’t defeat him!” It really changed our relationship – it was the best thing that could have happened!’
Not every day involves a ‘Dead Poets Society’-style triumph over adversity. ‘You do sometimes think: I can’t keep doing this every year,’ Bispham says. ‘But that’s counteracted by moments of complete joy when a child realises how to do something. Christopher in our Autism Unit was involved in one of our poetry workshops and wrote the most brilliant poem about identity. Kids were trying to hold back the tears. He’d been able to express himself in a way he’d never tried before, and got this amazing response. You can’t stop him writing poetry now.’
Academic achievement is still the primary concern here. A fusion of two failing schools back in 2008, Frederick Bremer’s GCSE results are improving but still fall short of the national average. In a borough with London’s highest levels of youth unemployment, that’s a serious issue. Yet, for Bispham it’s the ‘softer’ work that is equally significant as the results: building up social skills, relationships, confidence and self-esteem. He believes the show can play a part in that. ‘The atmosphere around the school really changed [when the decision to film was announced]. The kids walked two feet taller. I hadn’t taken account of how self-reflective the kids would become during filming. They considered things in a new way and thought about things they hadn’t before.’
So, what makes Frederick Bremer different? It might sound trite, but it's the people: teachers and pupils who represent their community and the concept of state education with distinction. ‘East London has an amazing history of non-conformity and independent thought which is still present today,’ says Bispham, whose experience as a pupil at a Catholic boys’ school was not a happy one. ‘Kids here tend to want to stand up for those who are different and are not afraid of speaking their mind.’ Then, whether consciously or not, he massages his head. His hairline may be a write-off, but the kids who have been mocking it are anything but.
'Educating The East End' starts Thu Sep 4, 9pm, C4 
