It follows the everyday lives of the staff and pupils of Thornhill Community Academy, a secondary school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

[1] This episode concentrated on some of the key pupils that the audience met throughout the original series, showing what had been going on in their lives over the past year.

In January 2012, Jonny Mitchell, the headmaster of Thornhill Community Academy in Dewsbury accepted an offer to be a part of a new series based in his school.

Taking part was not compulsory and 16 pupils out of the school's 747 asked not to appear in the series, with another 30–40 parents requesting that their children feature only in the background.

[4] Before filming began Twofour advised Mitchell to get into contact with Vic Goddard, headmaster of Passmores Academy, the school in which Educating Essex was set.

[6][7] Mitchell and the staff have said during the first few days of having cameras in their offices and classrooms they were mindful of what they did or said, but after they had got used to them they forget they were there, only occasionally remembering when they moved suddenly.

He did not have any editorial control but the relationship with Twofour and Channel 4 enabled him to talk openly about things that might concern Mitchell and the staff, and their comments were taken into consideration when the final cut was made.

[6] Helen Pidd of The Guardian said "rather than making them look daft, Educating Yorkshire is a great advert for some truly excellent and inspirational teachers".

[9] Huffington Post UK called the teachers "heroes" and the pupils "pretty endearing"[10] while Metro News gave the show four out of five stars.

The Metro stated: "Not a dry eye in the house as Educating Yorkshire draws to a close" in an article for the newspaper's entertainment section.