The original series helped to turn the staff and students at an Essex secondary school into prime time television stars whose daily lives were watched by millions.
Now a follow up to Channel 4’s hit show Educating Essex is being filmed in Dewsbury.
Cameras have started rolling this term in the corridors and classrooms of Thornhill Community Academy.
The second series of the documentary, which will be called Educating Yorkshire, is expected to hit television screens in the Autumn.
Educating Essex was watched by an average audience of almost two-and-half million viewers on Channel 4.
The principal of Passmores Academy, in Harlow, Vic Goddard, and his deputy Stephen Drew became household names as viewers watched the way they taught and supported pupils.
Now producers are hoping to repeat the success in Dewsbury. There have been 64 fixed cameras set up around the school. Producers say they had been looking for schools in parts of the country which showed a different side of Britain to Educating Essex.
Thornhill Community Academy, which was previously known as the Community Science College at Thornhill, has recently converted to academy status. Its head teacher Jonny Mitchell, born and raised in Thornhill himself, was appointed in 2011 and has been instrumental in converting the school to an academy.
He said: “I am incredibly proud of Thornhill’s journey so far and the staff and students that have contributed to our successes.
“This is an opportunity to show how a normal school nurtures youngsters, from a variety of backgrounds, providing them with opportunities to flourish academically and socially. I am confident Thornhill will represent the very best of Yorkshire and that the series will give a much-needed boost to the town and wider community as a whole.”
A Channel 4 spokeswoman said: “Like Educating Essex, this new eight-part series will explore what really happens behind the school gates.”





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