''Educating Cardiff'' is the fourth series of the British documentary television programme ''

Educating Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

'' broadcast on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

. The eight-episode series was broadcast from 25 August 2015 to 13 October 2015. The documentary follows previous instalments in the ''Educating...'' series including the

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

-winning ''

Educating Essex ''Educating Essex'' is the first series of the British documentary television program ''Educating'' produced by Twofour for Channel 4 that ran for seven episodes from September to November 2011. It uses a fly on the wall format to show the every ...

'' (2011), ''

Educating Yorkshire ''Educating Yorkshire'' is the second series of the British documentary television programme ''Educating'' broadcast on Channel 4. The eight-episode first series was first broadcast on 5 September 2013. Its format is based on the BAFTA Award-win ...

'' (2013) and ''

Educating the East End ''Educating the East End'' is the third series of the British Television documentary, documentary television programme ''Educating (TV series), Educating'' broadcast on Channel 4. The eight-episode first series was first broadcast from 4 Septembe ...

'' (2014). Filmed at

Willows High School Willows High School ( cy, Ysgol Uwchradd Willows) is a secondary school located in the Tremorfa area of Cardiff, Wales. It caters for pupils aged 11 to 16 and is English-medium. As of September 2015, the headteacher is Chris Norman. He succee ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales, it captures every detail of life in a modern school. ''Educating Cardiff'' follows Head Teacher

Joy Ballard Joy Ballard (born 1966) is a British head teacher. She has been prominently featured in the media discussing the potential for improvement in schools and issues with the British education system. Ballard grew up in Southampton on a council esta ...

and her team of teachers and support staff in their mission to turn the school around, transforming it from one of the worst performing schools in Cardiff into a school to be proud of.

Episodes

Production

The follow-up to ''

'' was announced by

on 9 December 2014. Producers had looked to schools in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales for the new series before settling on Willows High School in Cardiff. Executive producer David Clews revealed "you can really feel the charm and character of the place as soon as you walk through the gates and start talking to the students". Joy Ballard initially declined TwoFour's invitation before changing her mind a month later. In preparation for the programme she took advice from Jonny Mitchell, head of Thornhill Community Academy in ''

''. The first six weeks of production saw the documentary makers observing the school and "picking up stories". Filming began in October and lasted until Christmas.

References

External links

''Educating Cardiff''
at

* {{imdb title, 5560250 2010s British documentary television series 2015 British television seasons Channel 4 documentary series English-language television shows British high school television series Television series about educators Television series about teenagers Television shows set in Cardiff