Phoenix Country Day School

Infobox_School2 | name = Phoenix Country Day School
established = 1960
type = Private
head_name = Head of School
head = Geoffrey Campbell
students = 750
city = Paradise Valley
state = Arizona
country = United States
website = http://community.pcds.org

Phoenix Country Day School is a nonsectarian college-preparatory school in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area; the school has an approximate total enrollment of 750 in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12. The Upper School has roughly 280 students with around 70 students in each grade 9-12.

The School is organized into a Lower School (PreK-grade 4), a Middle School (grades 5-8), and an Upper School (grades 9-12).

History

Phoenix Country Day School was founded in 1960 by Franz Talley and his wife Dr. Mae Sue Talley. The school opened the following year and originally had 93 students, and has undergone several periods of expansion in the decades since. [ [http://community.pcds.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=262&srcid=203. Phoenix Country Day School - History of the School ] ]

Campus

The current campus is located on 40 acres in the upscale Phoenix-area enclave of Paradise Valley, off 40th Street about a half mile north of Camelback Road.

Curriculum

The School seeks to offer a balanced and traditional liberal-arts curriculum, with room for flexibility. There is a range of challenging courses in many subjects, such as math, English, and science; there are also classes in the fine and performing arts, such as photography, sculpture, painting, music, and drama. The School focuses on graduating well-rounded, creative and community-oriented students, all of whom will go to college.

The School offers many clubs and extracurricular activities, some of which may help within the curriculum and others that may not. The summer school allows students to pursue a number of different courses for graduation credits.

Lower School

The Lower School curriculum emphasizes the daily teaching of reading, oral and written language, mathematics, and social studies. Classic children's literature, texts, and non-text trade books, both fiction and nonfiction, are part of the reading program. All students have a weekly library lesson that allows them to explore literature and borrow books from the collection, giving them the skills to use the library more efficiently for research and reading pleasure.

Science, physical education, and art are also integral components of the Lower School curriculum. Spanish is taught at all Lower School grade levels, with students attending Spanish classes one to two times per week.

Middle School

The Middle School is designed to address the specific needs of the early teenage years. It encompasses the fifth through eighth grades and has approximately 250 students. Class sizes are kept below twenty to ensure quality personal connections with faculty. The academic program promotes higher-level thinking skills and strives to meet unique developmental needs.

The Middle School divides its school day into "core" classes (English, math, social studies, science, and foreign language) and "specials" (music, art, PE, and You and Others). Core classes meet approximately 200 minutes per week (five 40-minute class times) with some variation due to special schedules on Fridays. "Specials" meet between one and four class times per week. All students participate in both the performing and visual arts.

The school day on Friday is designed to reduce conflict between games and class time. After lunch on Fridays, students proceed either to practice, sporting contests, or an alternate program called "Electives" for those not playing sports that season. The Electives Program provides students with activities designed to be fun and educational; they allow students to see teachers in a different light, to work with students from other grade levels, and to explore things they have not yet tried. Examples of the offerings include pottery, rock climbing, arts and crafts, videography, and many more.

Upper School

The Upper School curriculum is exclusively college preparatory. Admission is highly selective. All courses are equivalent to honors-level classes; AP courses are so noted on the transcript. Grades are not weighted, no cumulative GPA is recorded on the transcript, and PCDS does not rank its students. Virtually all PCDS graduates enroll in four-year colleges immediately after graduation. Generally, each year 80-85% matriculate outside of Arizona. On average, PCDS graduates earn higher GPAs as college freshmen than they did as PCDS students.

Upper School students mix a challenging academic schedule with sports, social activities, and community service. They engage in a liberal arts curriculum with numerous electives available. PCDS gives equal weight to each of the eight academic departments in terms of time allotted for classes (four 50-minute meetings a week with an extra lab period for sciences) and scheduling priorities. Advanced Placement courses are offered in 14 different subjects as a regular part of the curriculum. One-on-one teacher-student meetings allow teachers to work more closely with older students to polish and take writing and research to a higher level, and to present more challenging problems.

There is also a one-year PE course for Upper School freshmen that covers health issues as well as lifelong sports and fitness.

College counseling begins formally second semester junior year, although prior to this time, the college counselor sends home mailings to all grade levels and is present at grade-level meetings.

In addition to completing the formal curriculum for graduation, students perform a minimum of 10 hours of community service annually, and seniors deliver a 7- to 10-minute speech before the Upper School faculty and student body.

Diversity

The School has a Diversity Coordinator on staff. A member of the School's administrative team, the Diversity Coordinator works toward maintaining and developing initiatives that support the School's Diversity Vision Statement (now included in the School's Mission Statement).

Project Excellence is PCDS’s signature outreach program for under-represented students. Project Excellence Scholars hail from 13 collaborating public school districts in and around Phoenix. Key features of the program include a monthly Saturday workshop series and a five-weeksummer session. The core curriculum focuses on experiential learning opportunities in mathematics, science, and language arts. Five Scholars will graduate in the class of 2008.

Athletics

Team sports are available to students in grades 5-12. The School is part of the class 2A athletic division and plays most sports in the Metro regional division, but not football.

Debate

PCDS also has a strong policy debate team, having won 1A-3A states for four of the past five years. [ [http://www.aiaonline.org/schools/school.php?id=61 Phoenix Country Day School ] ]

Notes and References

External links

* [http://community.pcds.org Phoenix Country Day School]
* [http://www.greatschools.net/school/parentReviews.page?id=2267&state=AZ Phoenix Country Day School parent reviews]