Synopsis

In a colour, handheld interview-style video, a group of school leavers in the 1980s, predominantly white young women, devise questions to ask their teachers and their fellow students about the education system at Lewes Priory School. The female student interviewer asks predominantly the same questions that probe the school leaving age, whether there should be scope for more practical subjects at school, whether the division of subject classes into performance sets can prove harmful or useful, and explore alternative models which could facilitate students with interests beyond the formalised subjects like Maths and English. The students also respond with their own career ambitions and their future plans after school. They mention the roles they’ve taken on in the creation of this video, in the spirit of community video practices: one young woman is the interviewer, another is the director and cameraperson. In the final section, the interviewer asks her teacher, ‘Have we failed school?’ to which he responds critically, ‘I don’t think you have failed school, I think school has failed you.’