The educational landscape in England and Wales is shaped by demands made on head teachers, teachers and pupils to perform within a ‘field of judgement’ dominated by clearly defined outcomes of academic success. This puts schools from socio‐economically excluded areas where there are potentially ‘barriers to learning’ at a considerable disadvantage. This article draws on case‐study data from an English secondary school in an area of considerable deprivation. The empirical focus revolves around school‐participants’ perceptions and understandings of the social and emotional dimensions of schooling. The emphasis on the relational and emotional work undertaken by teaching staff underpins the case‐study school's approach to challenging the barriers to learning. A number of themes and concerns are reported in this article including relational work in school that extends into the community, the school as a sprawling network of communication and the heighted role of the emotions at a number of levels in school. In drawing on interview data from teachers, school managers, pupils and parents we are developing a model of schooling that approximates to Fielding's conception of a people‐oriented learning community.