A new series starts on BBC4 on Wednesday (February 10th, 9pm) chronicling the lives of youngsters in an Arab school. Directed by Sarah Hamilton, who recently made a DVD about City of Sanctuary, it focuses on four schools in the Syrian city of Damascus.

Sarah says she was given unique access to film the youngsters over the course of a year to explore what it’s like to grow up in the heart of the Arab world. “Using the prism of school life,” she says, “the series takes us beyond politics and media cliches to the stories of ordinary people.”

These include boys who dream of playing for Manchester United, girls who write poetry, and refugees who tell their stories through rap.