Educating Yorkshire is back, but one teacher won’t be in reboot after being banned from teaching

Most of us might have loathed school when we ourselves were experiencing it, but even then, watching Educating Yorkshire was a cathartic experience, with teachers such as Jonny Mitchell, Matthew Burton, Michael Steer, and Neil Giffin becoming quasi-celebrities of sorts.

Twelve years after Channel 4’s original series won over hearts and minds with moments that still go viral to this day, Educating Yorkshire will be back on our screens in just a few days. Premiering on Channel 4 on Sunday, August 31 at 8 pm, the reboot promises to be as iconic as the last.

Channel 4 commissioner Rita Daniels said: “Telling the complex story of young people in Britain in 2025 is crucial for Channel 4, and what better way to do so than through this iconic, much-loved school? It will be fantastic to see Mr Burton in charge, and I look forward to watching him seize the reins with full gusto.”

“Much has changed for British teenagers since we were last at Thornhill Academy, and it will be fascinating to see how practices have developed and adapted since the burgeoning impact of social media, the COVID epidemic and the intense pressure to deliver good results.”

Mr Burton is back once again, this time in a headmaster capacity after taking over from Jonny Mitchell, but history teacher Neil Giffin won’t be returning after being indefinitely banned from the profession in 2015.

Why isn’t Neil Giffin in the Educating Yorkshire reboot?

Neil Giffin moved to Thornhill Community Academy, near Dewsbury, in 2012 as head of humanities, having left Bishop Heber High School in Malpas, Cheshire, where he had worked since 2003.

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However, the National College for Teaching and Leadership found that Neil, who was 35 at the time, had sexual relationships with former pupils from his Cheshire school. He admitted to sleeping with the students between 2007 and 2008, and was later suspended by Thornhill in January 2014 before filing his resignation a few months later on April 14.

His indefinite ban on teaching was issued in January 2015 after a panel found he’d started a relationship with a former student referred to as Pupil D after the Year 13 summer ball. She was over 18 years old at the time, and he claimed the relationship had lasted “about six months.”

Credit: Channel 4

According to the BBC, the panel also found that Neil Giffin had messaged former students from Heber High School after joining up with Thornhill and starting Educating Yorkshire. Operating under Facebook aliases Guy Andre, Chelsea Smith, Frank Shepard and Alan Shepard, Neil sent messages to Pupils A, B, and C of a sexual nature.

He told Pupil A, described as a “vulnerable 17-year-old”, that he was jealous of her and other girls because they “looked sexy” in tights. He also asked her opinion of crossdressing, confessing to a sexual fantasy about her.

Credit: Channel 4

The panel found that Educating Yorkshire’s Neil Giffin was “sexually motivated” to send the messages as he confessed to hiding his identity because he “didn’t want them to know who was looking at them.”

Educating Yorkshire is back on Sunday.

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Featured image credit: Channel 4