After a smooth flight that seemed to be over much quicker than its ten and a half hours (yes, really) we arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbor Internstional Airport just as the sun was starting to go down. The immigration line was short ... when we joined it ... however, within minutes a never ending line of wheelchair users seemed to appear from nowhere, accompanied by porters who had clearly played this game before and who bustled them (and their huge entourages) to the front of the queue as soon as a window became free. We were going nowhere fast. Feeling a little tired, given the 7 hour time difference, this began to get increasingly irritating, especially when one of only three officers went off for their tea break leaving the queue to 'Brian the Snail' and 'Terry the Tortoise'. Grrrrr! Some 45 minutes later, **sigh** we finally cleared immigration and made our way to the luggage carousel to collect our bag. Thankfully, it was already there and so within minutes we were out into the main arrivals hall. OMG! It was a zoo out there! Due to the Superbowl having taken place in Phoenix the day before plus a huge snowstorm affecting the East Coast which had delayed flights, the airport was heaving. Ugh! Out of the way people - tired, irritable, psychopath coming through!
Now, Mr B, clearly forgetting we were not in fact off on a family holiday for a fortnight when he booked the rental car, had requested a small SUV (no, I don't know why either). What we actually collected, (courtesy of the agent at Hertz who had upgraded it as the other one didn't have a GPS), was a Dodge Durango. It was HUGE and big enough to accommodate a tribe of Pygmies, never mind the two of us ... for 3 days ... with one small suitcase.
After several arguments with the woman on the GPS, who refused to acknowledge that the road we were looking for even existed, she was eventually beaten into submission and we set off for the hotel (although I swear I detected an air of truculance about her voice after that). We finally arrived at around 8pm (3am UK if you're interested) and as we got out of the car (with our one bag) I managed to avoid making eye contact with the Doorman who had opened the boot in search of the other 20 suitcases that a car of this size clearly warranted and hot footed it to Reception leaving him scratching his head and looking puzzled.
The W Hotel Scottsdale was a very modern affair, obviously geared towards the young trendy set, (ahem) and the bedrooms were equally unconventional. It was one big open plan affair with the bed situated in the middle of the room and the shower, washbasin and toilet cubicle down one side. How strange, I thought. I suppose it's OK if you are here on your own on business but surely a tad embarrassing if you were sharing a room and you weren't brilliant at whistling? Very odd. Oh well, after unpacking (our one bag) we decided it was still too early to go to bed and that we had better try and stay awake for at least another hour, so we decided to head back down to the bar for a swift nightcap. Oh, has there been a power cut? I thought as we made our way into the dimly lit bar, only narrowly avoiding flying head first into into the lap of the couple seated on the equally dark sofas ahead. It appeared not. Another current trend apparently. Clearly, I was coming down with something .... I think it's called 'old'!
After an amazingly good night's sleep and a (very early) breakfast, we set off to visit the first school on our list. From the research we had been able to do online, this seemed to be closest to the one Youngest currently attends in the UK, and we had also established that it was the only school in the area offering the International Baccalaureat (IB) programme which was a key consideration, making any transition back to the UK that much easier should this be necessary before he completes High School.
After yet another argument with Sulky Sat Nav ... what is her problem? ... we eventually found the school. We received an extremely warm and friendly welcome, (although I was slightly unnerved by the Security Guard who greeted us at the door), saw happy children and motivated and engaged staff who seemed to have a genuine interest in their pupils. We met the Principal who spent over half an hour with us, asking lots of question about Youngest and offering suggestions of activities he might like and which pupils he might have a lot in common with etc. So far so good. The premises were fairly new and featured state of the art facilities and equipment, including some really cool desks designed by Apple and an impressive IT suite. We also observed a class of 8th Grade students in the middle of their Media Arts class who were filming a remake of the Star Wars movie ... complete with green screen, full costumes and lightsabers, not to mention an equally enthusiastic teacher! As it is a fee paying school, there was the usual 'sales pitch' which we had been expecting, however, we did not feel pressured in any way and overall we were very impressed. I think Youngest would LOVE it here!
Loved these cool 'wheelie' desks to facilitate more creative classroom layouts & group work
The next school on our list was located in one of the most expensive neighbourhoods and situated in a quiet residential area. Another impressive campus with lots of space. Once inside however, the experience proved to be a very different one to that which we had experienced the day before. After a short chat with the Assistant Director of Admissions in his office, during which time we recapped moving dates/timelines etc. and the grade we were enquiring about for Youngest, we were taken on a brief tour of the school. Well, some of the school ... mostly the High School ... despite the fact that we would be looking for registration into the Middle School, which was a bit odd. Our guide was keen to talk about a recent $2M donation they had recently received, which was going to be used to build a new state of the art Sports Hall (for the Senior School) and also to showcase their new Aquatic Centre, which was indeed impressive and HUGE! I think I have seen smaller pools at Sea World! Mr B asked if he could take a picture ... "of course!" he was told, although not sure my comment of "... just wait for Shamu to come up before you take it ..." was entirely appreciated (well it made me laugh). I don't think they are going to get my sense of humour in the US ...! I could see Mr B's eyes lighting up at all the fabulous sporting facilities as we continued on our tour, however, had to remind him that we were looking for a school for our son (who would quite frankly rather poke red hot pokers in his eyes than participate in any kind of sport) and not for him!
The school Aquatic Centre (the pool at the front was just the 'practice' pool!)
We visited other common areas such as the existing sports hall, auditorium and library, but did not see any classrooms or students, other than those outside during break. We did not meet the Principal, nor any of the teachers, and once the tour was completed we were taken back to the office and asked "what other questions do you have?" but asked nothing about our son, what kind of a boy he was, what he might have to offer and more importantly what they could offer him! There was a distinct undertone of 'we don't really need your money (as clearly we were not in the $2M donation bracket) ... this is the school ... take it or leave it'. Well, we will be leaving it thank you very much!
The final school on our list was a public charter school, which I think is similar to some of the Academy schools that are being set up over here, in that they are Government funded but run by private groups rather than the local council. The school was set on a large church campus and whilst independent from the church, rented the buildings from them, which were essentially blocks of concrete classrooms and appeared to lack many of the facilities we had seen at the previous two. We struggled to work out where the Reception was and when we saw the door to what was essentially a large shed, propped open, we wandered over to see if we could find somebody to ask. Oh. That was Reception. The smiley lady behind the desk welcomed us in and we were shown to a round table at the back of the 'shed' behind smiley reception lady. We were then given an overview of the 'school administration and the lottery admission process' from the Office Manager, however, when we asked questions regarding the academic syllabus, we were politely informed that whilst she was very knowledgeable on the admission process, smiley lady from reception would be able to answer any of those questions as "she was a parent with 3 children at the school" .... :/ **Erm ... Taxi for Barlow ....** Smiley Lady (who had clearly been earwigging), wheeled her chair over and proceeded to describe her children's school day, which was divided into 6 lessons per day, and which clubs and activities they engaged in after school etc.
"What about homework?" I asked. "How much do they usually get on average?"
"Oh it's not much in 8th Grade. They get around half an hour per subject each evening".
"Oh right, that doesn't sound too bad. How many subjects a night?" She looked at me slightly confused.
"Er ... 6". Sorry, what??? For a minute there I thought she meant that they had homework from every single lesson, every single day... which would be 3 hours a day ... haha! Silly me! I must have got that wrong. Apparently not.
"But it's OK though, because they get one weekend per month when they are not set any homework so they can relax". Ah, well, that's alright then. Also, there is half an hour 'free' time after lunch apparently which kids can use to start their homework instead of hanging out with their friends. Of course there is. Add to this the fact that there is no sport or PE as part of the school day, these are all after school 'clubs' that students sign up for if they are interested in playing (in addition to the 3 hours of homework); similarly for Art, Music etc. When do these poor kids get to chill out and just be ... kids? It seemed more like a Navy Seal training camp than a school! The final nail in the coffin was the discovery that IT was not part of the syllabus either. I think we will be crossing this one off the list as well!
So, that concluded our school visits and thankfully our initial first choice was still top of our list - let's hope Youngest likes it as much as we did!
Next on the agenda ... houses ... but I will save that for Part 2. Hope to see you again next week - same time, same place, same bat channel ...!
