Joining a new secondary school can be an extremely tough experience.
Not only is it a more fast-paced environment than primary school, but there’s also the pressure of important exams in the near future, not to mention a more complex teenage social dynamic.
For 11-year-old Tremaine, his experience was even more difficult than some people might be able to imagine, given that the year seven student had a reading age of five years old.
On Sunday night’s episode of Educating Yorkshire, the Channel 4 show introduces viewers to the charming pupil, who Thornhill Community Academy headmaster Mr Burton says has ‘fantastic potential’.
However, when he finds himself under tough levels of stress, Tremaine can act out, resulting in him being told off by his teachers and punished – and on a couple of occasions, he’s reduced to tears after storming out of the classroom.
Tremaine has a particularly close bond with Miss Nurse, the student manager of year seven, who explains in the episode that he ‘takes up a lot of her time’ daily.
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‘He arrived behind his year group in reading and writing, so can struggle to concentrate in class,’ she says.
‘Every single day I spend a lot of time with Tremaine. He can be quite disruptive in the classroom, he does struggle to sit still. However, he is so caring. He wants to impress and he wants to please people, but he gets carried away very, very easily.’
A primary school teacher is brought in to give him support and help him catch up with his peers in his reading and writing skills.
‘He is behind his peers in his learning. I think it makes him feel like he’s not good enough. So I’m doing everything I can to help him catch up,’ Miss Nurse states.
In the episode, Mr Burton addresses the fact that post-Covid, there was an increasing number of students who joined Thornhill in year seven with ‘low reading levels’.
This is reflected in Tremaine’s experience of primary school, which he describes as being a ‘very hard time’.
‘In school, I get quite frustrated with myself. I had a very hard time at primary. Sometimes I had to read in front of the class, and I couldn’t do it,’ he tells the camera.
During one maths class, Tremaine gradually begins to misbehave more and more – telling another student to ‘shut up’, being given warnings by his teacher for ‘lack of respect’, and then spitting his chewing gum out of the window after denying he had any.
While being told off, he becomes increasingly agitated, beginning to shout and kick things, and then storming out of the room.
After being followed by a teacher, he yells: ‘Just leave me alone, I can tell you don’t want me here,’ before slamming a door in the corridor and crouching down on his own, bursting into tears.
Headmaster Mr Burton decides to take matters into his own hands, going to sit next to Tremaine in the hall.
‘What really, really upsets me is you saying: “Nobody wants me here,”’ he tells the student, to which Tremaine responds: ‘Nobody does.’
Miss Nurse, who’s standing in front of them, insists: ‘Every single day, every single lesson, there are teachers who sing your praises, that tell me how impressed they are with you Tremaine.’
‘We really do. I promise you that,’ Mr Burton chimes in.
The headmaster then offers for Tremaine to come to his office, where they can have a ‘comfier’ chat.
After asking the 11-year-old what happened, he admits that he did have chewing gum, telling the former English teacher: ‘I just think I get upset too much.’
Tremaine, who at this point has become a lot calmer but looks downhearted, tells the headmaster that he wants to be at Thornhill and enjoys being at school.
‘I need you to remember and know we want you here, absolutely, 100%. ‘Cause you were saying, “Nobody cares, nobody wants me here”. Do you actually think that or is that just your anger talking?’ Mr Burton asks.
‘Anger,’ Tremaine confirms.
‘You’re doing really well. There’s lots and lots and lots of good. As soon as you’re outside of that zone where you can’t understand that we care about you, you’re calm, aren’t you?’ the headmaster adds, to which Tremaine nods.
‘The only person who I want to want you here more than us, is you. And if that’s the case, then we’ve all done our job.’
Mr Burton informs Tremaine that he will still be punished for shouting and banging doors, but from the following morning, he can come into school with a clean slate.
By the end of the episode, Tremaine is commended highly in class by his teacher, and the schoolboy looks bashful while taking the praise with a smile.
On X, several people expressed their support for him, while also sharing that they found the episode emotional to watch.
‘Tremaine is knuckling down. I’m so proud of him. Long may it continue,’ Sara said, while Josh wrote: ‘Tremaine man I’m sobbing 😭.’
‘Many will call Tremaine names because they don’t understand him at all. This is a child whose needs were missed at primary level thrown into an overwhelming situation where he’s behind his peers hugely. He’s expressing emotions in the way 11-year-old kids do,’ Robbie stated.
Marie added: ‘Tremaine is breaking me, he’s a good kid that needs support. I can’t wait to see him when things click and he gets it.’
Educating Yorkshire is available to stream on Channel 4, with new episodes airing on Sundays at 8pm.
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