Back To School – At The Movies

The most famous school of our times is Hogwarts, the emotional and physical centre of all the Harry Potter films. Modelled on a classic British boarding school but peopled with witches, wizards and monsters, it’s the setting for whodunnits and thrilling adventures as Harry (Daniel Radcliffe, The Woman In Black) and his friends fight for survival and good exam results.

Almost as well known to older British audiences is St Trinian’s. The original films about an anarchic school for bad girls were made in the 1950s and ‘60s, but it was rebooted for a new generation in 2007 and 2009. Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace, Their Finest) plays the head girl, with future stars like Juno Temple (Little Birds) and Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who) among the star-packed cast. There’s more rule-breaking behaviour in Wild Child, with Emma Roberts as the California girl packed off to a British boarding school. Even the kids in TV’s Malory Towers, based on the post-War books by Enid Blyton, have been known to sneak out of their rooms at night for a midnight feast or two. 

Younger kids might also enjoy The Kid Who Would Be King, from director Joe Cornish (Attack the Block). There, a young pupil finds a mysterious sword on a building site and turns out to be the next King Arthur, destined to protect the country from an evil witch (Rebecca Ferguson, Life) and her monster minions. If that sounds a little too dark, try the all-singing, all-dancing Matilda: The Musical, adapting the hit stage show with Alisha Weir (Wicked Little Letters) playing the genius girl trying to find support in a school run by a monstrous headmistress (Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande). 

Clearly, schools are not always havens of safety onscreen. In Carol Morley’s The Falling, the Dreams of a Life director tells the story of an apparent fainting epidemic at a girls’ school, with Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) and Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth) among those affected. There are even worse threats in Slaughterhouse Rulez, with monsters attacking an exclusive boarding school where Don (Peaky Blinders’ Finn Cole) and his teacher Meredith (Simon Pegg, Shaun of the Dead) must fight for survival. The darkest and most heartbreaking school of all is the one depicted in Never Let Me Go, where a mysterious academy is home to orphans played by Carey Mulligan (Shame), Andrew Garfield (Breathe) and Keira Knightley (Pride & Prejudice). No spoilers, but the story of their lives will haunt you. 

Of course, not all British schools are ancient looking castles full of privileged kids. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie stars Max Harwood (Black Mirror) as the titular Jamie, who’s trying to embrace his identity as a drag queen despite the hostility of some of his peers in a modern comprehensive. Jamie is not alone in trying to find himself through art. Blinded by the Light is set in the 1980s and sees teenager Javed (Viveik Kalra, Beecham House) embrace the music of Bruce Springsteen to help him cope with a hostile, racist environment. That came from director Gurinder Chadha, who also made Bend It Like Beckham, about two girls finding their identity through football. Filmmaking is the bonding activity in Son of Rambow, bridging the gap between a public and private school and showcasing future star Will Poulter (Wild Bill), while pop music is the path for Dublin kids in Sing Street, as they form an 80s synth band. Even more surprisingly, stunt performance is the activity of the day in Polite Society, from Nida Manzoor (We Are Lady Parts) and ballet provides a way out for miner’s son Billy Elliot in 1980s Durham. 

Not that it’s always easy. In Steve McQueen’s (12 Years A Slave) uncompromising and semi-autobiographical Small Axe: Education, a young Black boy faces racial segregation at school, while in the extraordinary and strangely uplifting Rocks, a girl (Bukky Bakray, The Strays) tries to hide her single mother’s disappearance from the authorities with the help of her friends. About A Boy saw Nicholas Hoult’s (The Favourite) slightly odd kid Marcus risk social suicide by performing in a school talent show, while in The History Boys a gifted gang of near-school leavers reckon with sexual harassment and high expectations. Our Ladies similarly sees a group of Scottish schoolgirls, on a daytrip to 1990s Edinburgh, determined to slip away from their teachers and live it up. It’s not a million miles from the premise of the all-conquering TV comedy hit Derry Girls, but the film version delves into some serious issues around sexuality and prejudice. Possibly the most famous British school on TV right now, however, is Sex Education, where an astonishingly talented young cast – including Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who) and Emily Mackey (Emily) – try to navigate intimate relationships with, well, mixed success. 

Our school years are a time that’s full of drama, excitement and the unknown – for parents as well as kids (for proof of that, look at the hilarious TV comedy Motherland, about the lives of the exhausted mums dropping their progeny at the school gates). We can make friends for life, find ourselves and begin to carve out a path in the world. After all, if films like Starter for Ten, Saltburn, Last Night in Soho, Oxford Blues and The Souvenir are anything to go by, things only get more complicated when we leave school and head to university. Perhaps we should enjoy these back-to-school days while they last.