Educational Media Reviews Online

This film by Jaime Taylor and Ed Owles provides a perspective that’s often overlooked when discussing education: that of the student. Following the eponymous Harry and his classmates as they traverse their Year 7 class (6th grade in the US) in the outskirts of London, the movie explores topics such as intergenerational illiteracy, poverty, immigration, English as a second language, and others, to try to answer the question of why students from impoverished families are falling behind their wealthier peers in the UK and other developed countries. While some time is devoted to the experience of minority students, most of the film focuses on the experience of poor White students as they deal with these challenges.

Without the use of a narrator, and with minimal captions, Harry provides an unfiltered experience of student life in the newly created Reach Academy Feltham. The film is excellent at capturing students’ emotions as they go about their typical school day, as well as when they engage in more serious conversations about their immigration status, friends moving away, or when they watch their classmates breeze through an assignment while they struggle. Harry’s anxiety as he becomes aware that he’s falling behind his classmates is palpable, as is his pride when he succeeds. Though the film does broadly examine the experiences of all members of the class, it is especially powerful at conveying that underlying anxiety of students with special needs.

The unique aspect of this film is that it goes beyond life within the school to focus on how the students’ home lives impact their performance. A significant portion is devoted to Grant, Harry’s father, as he describes what life is like being unable to read as an adult, what he experienced in school growing up, and why he wants a different life for his son. Grant’s admission that he expects to continue to struggle getting by for the rest of his life and has no hope for improving his station offers a bleak contrast to the typical optimistic lens with which society views school-aged children and creates a sense of urgency for Harry. While only consisting of a couple minutes, the segment on the parent-teacher conferences does a wonderful job providing glimpses into the different home-lives of each student and how that may be impacting those students’ experiences in school.

One of the key concepts the film successfully attempts to highlight is the importance of early intervention. By the time we meet Harry, he has already been in and out of several schools and has already begun to accept that he is destined to fail at school. The juxtaposition at the end when Harry is asked to help with the Primary students, students who are receiving the early support he never was given, is striking. While those unfamiliar with the English school system, or British accents, may find some minor difficulty following the film, it provides a unique perspective into the life of students, their strengths, and their challenges, that would be beneficial for all educators to see. Recommended for general audiences in education and sociology collections.

Awards:

Impact DOCS Awards, Award of Merit; Raindance Discovery Award Long List