Radio Times

Review by:

Alison Graham

Courtney is infuriating. She is 12 but sounds 25; she shrieks, yells abuse and disrupts lessons at the Barnardo’s-run High Close School in Berkshire. Courtney is a hardcore excludee, a child that ordinary schools cannot cope with.

But the staff at High Close, a unit for such children, are forbearing. Courtney is offered every chance if she will only moderate her behaviour. Yet, after one last explosion of temper, even High Close wonders if it has reached the end of the road. It’s a sad story, compounded by scrutiny of Courtney’s family with its litany of broken relationships.

About this programme

1/2. First in a two-part documentary following the work of High Close School in Berkshire, a residential and day school run by Barnardo's that looks after children with a range of emotional and behavioural difficulties. Twelve-year-old Courtney from Liverpool has been diagnosed with ADHD and was excluded from primary school for disruptive behaviour. Although her key worker believes she has great potential, as she approaches her teens, the girl's behaviour is deteriorating fast. The film looks for clues to Courtney's anger in her family history and sees whether the school can turn her life around.

Cast and crew

Crew

Director

James House

Executive Producer

Peter Dale

Producer

Katherine Anstey

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