Phoenix Military Academy Extreme School

What happens when eight kids who misbehave in class...

Aw! That hurt, Ibbi!

..sign up to enrol at one of the world's most extreme schools?

Charlie, sit up.

No talking, no moving!

Will it be the making of them?

-Urgh!

-I don't get it.

I'm not talking to you.

-Today...

-Move!

-..two London kids with a bad school reputation...

Who told you to put that sweater on, cadet?

..are off to a US military academy.

There's no-nonsense discipline.

One, sir. Two, sir.

Three, sir.

And tough challenges.

Do I have to do it?

-Can they survive a week...

-Let's go, get up!

..at this extreme school?

It's like...mental.

Do you think school's a waste of time?

Do you talk back to your teachers or rarely do your homework?

If this is a familiar sight, then five days at one of the world's

strictest schools could be just what you need to get back on track.

Today, I'm at a school in the Big Smoke, London Town.

I'm about to surprise a couple of kids

who are in need of a wake-up call.

# We have got the power. #

13-year-old Ibbi loves an argument

and his mouth is always getting him in trouble.

Last term, I had quite a lot of detentions.

I did up to 15 in one month.

14-year-old Keziah runs away from her teachers when things get

tricky and has already had one exclusion from school.

I like to get out of my seat, walk around the classroom.

Sometimes walk out of the classroom.

Their school lives are going nowhere fast.

But before I meet Keziah and Ibbi, I need to gather some

evidence for my Extreme School Dossier.

Ibbi is really argumentative.

He will argue with his players, the other team, himself, the ball.

What's Keziah's biggest problem in the classroom?

If something happens she doesn't like, she'll walk out.

Keziah is a regular in detention.

So what happens when you put these two in the same class?

Ibbi and Keziah together, they are a nightmare.

The biggest distraction for me is Keziah.

Aw! That hurt, Ibbi!

Ibbi is one of the most annoying people in my class.

I've got the file. The evidence is overwhelming.

This is definitely a case for Extreme School.

It's time for Ibbi and Keziah to swap their schoolbags for suitcases.

Hello! I'm Susan Calman from Extreme School.

-CHEERING

-I'm looking for Keziah and Ibbi.

I'd like you to come and join me at the front of the class.

CHEERING

Ibbi, I've heard that arguing is your favourite hobby.

What's that all about?

I try and get my point across from time to time.

Keziah, I've heard you just can't keep quiet.

Yeah, I like to talk a lot.

I don't think there's any doubt that both of you could do with

a spell at one of our extreme schools.

OK, before I tell you where you're going,

I've got a few key facts about your extreme school.

At this school, your day begins at 6am.

LAUGHTER

6am?!

At this school, you have to salute your teachers.

Oh, my God!

At this school, if you plan to step out of line,

you'd better be good at press-ups.

You are off to the Phoenix Military Academy in Chicago, USA.

LAUGHTER

Cadets...move!

One, two, three...

Cadets...hup!

-Keziah, Ibbi, come on. It's nearly time. Good luck.

-Good luck!

-Ten-shun!

-Attention!

-It's not "attention" it's "ten-shun".

-No, it's "attention".

Ibbi and Keziah will be touching down in Chicago, USA,

nearly 4,000 miles from the UK.

Known as the Windy City, it's home to nearly three million people.

It's here you can find the Phoenix Military Academy,

run by Lieutenant Colonel Harris.

The discipline at our academy is much tougher than a regular public school.

The Academy is one of the most respected schools in Chicago.

Dedicated students come from some of the poorest areas in the city

and only the best are accepted as cadets.

To survive at Phoenix, they must show...

self-discipline...

determination...

and respect for authority.

Those who don't face the consequences.

-Go!

-One, sir. Two, sir. Three, sir.

The Phoenix Military Academy is a fantastic opportunity for Ibbi

and Keziah to turn their education around.

But how will they cope so far from home?

I'm feeling excited, nervous, a little bit scared.

I think the school's going to be very strict.

And we'll just take it from there.

For the next five days,

Keziah and Ibbi will be pupils at the Military Academy.

Wow! It's big!

To graduate successfully, they must...

Wow! That metal detector is scary.

The tough regime starts as soon as they enter the school building.

-Good morning.

-Morning.

-Hello.

Put your belongings in the X-ray machine.

Take your coat off and come through.

One at a time.

There's no turning back now.

It's time to meet the man whose job it is to make sure

they stay on track, Lt Colonel Harris.

A little bit scared.

I will try and manage to behave, but if I can't, I can't.

No-one's perfect.

-Good morning.

-Good morning.

-Good morning.

-Please stand.

The protocol is that you stand up upon my entry.

Have a seat.

As new pupils at the academy,

the Colonel will be watching Keziah and Ibbi's every move.

Can they convince him they're capable of changing their ways?

I'm Colonel Harris, I'm in charge of discipline

and ensuring that cadets toe the line while they're here.

What is it that you guys would like to be when you finish school?

I would like to be either a football player or a sports scientist.

When I'm older, I would like to be a police officer.

A police officer, good. There are three things that

you'll have to do in order to be successful here.

One, you have to work on your discipline.

Two, you have to work on your leadership.

Three, you have to exhibit a great deal of pride in your country.

This is going to be a very challenging week for you.

Very nerve-racking. He looked quite intimidating.

I don't think we'll get in trouble.

We won't try to get each other into trouble either.

If they do not abide by the rules then they will be subject to

the same punishments that any other cadet is subject to.

Cadets at the Academy have a strict dress code,

which involves four different uniforms.

In fact, it's so complex there's a manual to help you get dressed.

These are the uniforms that you'll be wearing while you're here.

Uniforms are very important because they establish discipline and order.

How come there's like three pairs of trousers?

I hate hats.

THEY LAUGH

They won't be laughing

when they meet the infamous First Sergeant Powell.

Cadets, right, step, move.

Right, step.

Sergeant Major, are these cadets prepared?

Where are these cadets? Look at this!

My, my, my. We're going to first teach you the position of attention.

You understand? No talking, no moving.

When Sergeant Powell came in, he was very loud and very intimidating.

Stop looking at me. I'm ugly, I'm not pretty. I have a big head. OK?

-Who told you to put that sweater on, cadet?

-Um, myself.

-Yourself?

Ibbi normally loves an argument, but he's completely lost for words.

OK, you're going to do push-ups. So guess what, remove your beret,

squat down, squat down, there you go.

Put your hands where they're comfortable, extend your legs out.

Now, you go down, there you go.

-Outstanding! One, sir, two, sir, three, sir.

-Four.

-Sir.

-Sir.

-Five, sir.

-There you go.

-Six, sir.

Cadet Ibbi, when I first looked upon him,

he didn't really know what he was doing.

Present arms. Forward, march.

Left, right, left. Left, get in step.

Left, left, right, left.

As if behaving like model pupils wasn't hard enough,

Colonel Harris has one more surprise for the new students.

Halt.

At the end of the week, you're going to have to do a drill routine

that we're going to demonstrate for you here today

and you're going to do it in front of the entire school.

I want you to watch our cadets now.

They'll take you through the routine. OK?

Yes, sir.

The drill team are practising for an end-of-week performance

and Colonel Harris wants Keziah and Ibbi to headline the show.

In the drill process you have to be able to give orders

and follow orders and you have to be able to do various

movements at an exact standard.

I think if I take a wrong turn, or mess up,

it will ruin the whole routine.

The pressure is on, thumbs up.

Agnostics believe in what? Something.

Phoenix is a stark contrast to Keziah and Ibbi's UK school

and so far there's no arguing or walking out of class here.

Why are there so many beliefs?

SCHOOL BELL RINGS

And Colonel Harris wants to throw them right in at the deep end.

You turn to page one in your book and it's the Cadet Creed,

so go through it, practise with each other, rehearse it,

because tomorrow you're going to say this entire Cadet Creed

in front of the entire corp of cadets.

So you probably need to be up studying,

you need to do it from memory.

-Think you can do that?

-No.

-I think you can. Right, let's go.

By 6am tomorrow,

Keziah and Ibbi must memorise the 100-word school creed.

Are they ready to face their first test?

In the UK, Keziah and Ibbi start their school day at 8:30am,

but for Phoenix cadets, school begins in the dark.

Six o'clock in the morning and it's really cold,

as you can see my breath.

And assembly consists of a full military formation in the hall.

Order.

New cadets must recite the school creed from memory and today,

it's the turn of the new British recruits.

I've just gone over the creed and I'm confident because I've got it right.

But Keziah has disappeared.

Don't be nervous, don't be nervous.

Don't be nervous. Sh. It's OK, it's OK.

Do I have to do it?

-Five minutes.

-OK.

Back in London, Keziah often does a runner

if the going gets a bit tough in class.

-Will she be able to stick this out?

-I don't want to do it.

Oh...

I don't think I can. I learnt it, but I just keep stumbling up.

We'll have everyone help you, so you're not going to be alone.

They're all going to recite it with you so that you can get through it.

OK? No worries, you'll do fine.

With all eyes on the late arrival the pressure is on.

Good morning, Phoenix. How are you?

-CADETS: Good morning, sir.

-I'd like to welcome two individuals.

Come out here, give them a round of applause.

APPLAUSE

All right, we also have Cadet Keziah. Come on, Cadet Keziah.

Come on.

They're going to do something special for you.

We gave them an assignment last night, to memorise something.

OK, are we ready to say it? We're ready to say it? OK, here we go.

DRUM ROLL

I am an...

BOTH: ..Army Junior ROTC Cadet.

I will always conduct myself

to bring credit to my family, country, school.

I will work hard to improve...

I will work hard to...

..improve my mind and strengthen my body.

May God grant me to stay by this creed.

All right, give them a round of applause.

My homework went OK, but towards the end I let Keziah do it,

because I was very nervous and I forgot the last two lines.

I got really nervous and got upset

but then I did it and now I feel better.

Try to wrap up your answers in the next two minutes, please.

It's a big step for Keziah and Ibbi.

They've survived their first test

but cadets at the Academy have a jam-packed schedule.

-Um, psycho...

-Kinesis.

-Kinesis.

-Excellent.

I'm friendly, warm-hearted, fun and have a lot of excitement in me.

And Keziah and Ibbi have to stay on target.

Ho, ho, ho!

Grapple with tough subjects.

This is the Phoenix Military Academy wrestling team.

You guys do the same?

Just like that. Look at that, you've mastered it already.

I'm definitely shocked of how much they do. They do a lot.

Turn that way, let's go.

They must always listen to their teachers.

Get down. One, home.

ALL: Two.

One, two, three.

One, two, three. One, two, three. Open arms.

It's like mental. I can't see how they do it every day.

And not wind each other up.

I am behaving different over here

because it's definitely more stricter.

I'm nervous about getting told

-off.

-On top of all that, they have to learn the complex military drill

they will be performing in their end-of-week challenge.

Attention!

Good, good. Left face.

So slide and then pivot.

MARCHING MUSIC PLAYS

Left, left, right, left.

Back.

Arm.

-It was quite complicated.

-Left.

The worst thing for me was definitely

if they go, "Left face," I'd turn right face by accident.

Left.

I don't think we need to work together

but as long as he does his part and I do my part then...

No comment.

Despite struggling with authority at school,

Keziah wants to be a police officer one day.

Colonel Harris has arranged a surprise

he hopes may be a turning point for her.

Yeah, you can go ahead and pull up.

SIREN WAILS

You said you wanted to be a police officer.

We're going to take you to a bit of police officer training.

-I didn't expect that.

-Ready?

-Yeah.

Hi, I'm Officer Ivy Morganado.

-Hello.

-Welcome to the Chicago Police Academy.

-Delta Company, this is Keziah.

-ALL: Hello, Keziah.

The Chicago Police Academy work closely with Phoenix School

and train young recruits in essential police skills.

Turn round, put your hands behind your back.

And Keziah's on a crash course.

You just cuffed your first co-operative subject.

I can't believe I just handcuffed somebody.

When you're dealing with an assailant you have to learn

how to strike them safely.

The parts of the body that can hurt you are the arms and the legs.

Academy twelve.

RADIO: We've got a call of a suspicious person in the park.

-Because we're a two-man unit, you respond with ten-four.

-Ten-four.

Well done.

-So, Keziah, you still want to be a police officer?

-Yeah.

How are you doing in school?

I'm not always good, I'm a bit over-energetic and talkative.

-Have you been getting into trouble at school?

-Yeah.

-What kind of trouble?

-Detentions, been excluded like once.

You have to get your act together in school

so that you can get to the point where you can work on the field

with other police officers in a team.

You have to listen to your teachers.

If they're asking you to stay in your seat and be quiet

and listen, that's what you have to do.

You have to start now if you're going to make it then.

-Do you understand that?

-Yeah.

She said that if I'm not good in school then

I can't really be a police officer,

so I guess the big thing is to actually realise what a

teacher's actually doing for me and actually pay more attention to them

and do my work because it is actually going to get me somewhere

and I need to buckle down.

The penny appears to have dropped for Keziah.

Could sports-mad Ibbi get a reality check

from the Academy's star football player, Lorenzo Toscano?

-OK, we are going to play some American football.

-Yes.

Not like regular soccer, like you play,

-but American football, all right?

-Yeah.

-Let's go.

So you see these things right here, they are called laces.

You grab them, step back, and you let it go and you flick your wrist.

The flick of the wrist gives it the nice spiral.

So how is school going for you? Do you like it here so far?

Yeah, but it's a little bit strict.

What is the background of the kids that come to Phoenix?

For some of the kids, it's a rough environment where they come from.

They have to encounter gangs day in and day out.

And they come from really dangerous neighbourhoods,

but they come to the school to achieve better things.

How did you manage to become what you actually are?

Since the beginning, I wasn't a very good student.

I was very bad in class.

I got kicked out a lot, did push-ups,

and I realised, hey, you got to take your chance.

15 years from now, I don't want to be a guy on the street.

I want to be somebody very important.

And I realised that it takes hard work, not just laziness,

to get to the place where I need to be.

The type of kids that come to Phoenix are not so fortunate kids.

They haven't had such a good lifestyle

and they realise that they have got to do something with their life.

I am going to take the discipline that they have over here

and take it to school back in my homeland, England.

Let's talk about the Big Bang theory.

In 24 hours' time, Keziah

and Ibbi will be performing their final challenge.

A military drill in front of a packed auditorium.

Also make sure you march in step.

So it should be left, left, left, right, left, right.

They need to work in total unison to pull this off.

March!

All the ranks, march!

Well, I'm kind of worried. They need a lot of work.

I don't think it's nothing that they can't overcome, or can't meet,

but I think they need a lot of work.

Make sure... Squad, halt.

Make sure you don't rush, otherwise he can't keep up.

Because I really want them to succeed,

they have to work together -

march together, look good together - to perform the drill sequence.

Right face.

-March left.

-What?

With the pressure on, it's not long before Ibbi

and Keziah are back to their old ways.

I tried to have teamwork with him,

-but he doesn't... Pardon?

-What's not trying?

-As you just said, can you let me have my point across?

-You try it.

-Are you finished? Can I continue?

-Not stopping you. Just continue.

-Continue, then.

-Can you give me a minute, please?!

At ease. I understand you two have been bickering a little bit

amongst yourselves. Is that true?

-A little bit.

-Why is it that you wind each other up so much?

If I say something, Ibbi always has to respond on it,

like, even if I say something stupid and I'm not talking to him,

he has to respond on it. And make me feel bad about what I said.

-Is that true?

-No.

She told me to shut up the other day, so I have shut up.

Those are the petty differences that both of you are going

to have to set aside in order to be successful tomorrow.

-You understand that?

-Yes, sir.

-Yes, sir.

-All right.

I'm struggling because she is just a little bit annoying.

We need to put effort into it to get it done.

And if he is going to be like that, I'll do it myself.

Cos I don't want to mess up in front of the whole school.

Call right.

March.

If they don't pull it together as a team, they'll definitely fail.

And I'm sure they don't want to do that

in front of the entire corps of cadets

of Phoenix Military Academy.

So they are going to have to get it together here pretty quickly.

It's the final day at Phoenix.

The entire academy has assembled

in the hall to watch a display from the school drill team.

Headlining the show are trainee cadets Keziah and Ibbi.

There's a lot riding on this performance.

They've just done their drill and they did very good

and now we have got to do ours.

And it's not going to be that... so good,

cos they did really complicated moves.

Colonel Harris has recruited two rather

prestigious judges to help score their routine.

Colonel Kevin Kelly, director of military instruction,

and Todd Connor, the Executive Director of military schools.

You might have a drill platoon with 15 people

and if one person isn't following along, you notice right away.

As everybody knows, all this week,

we have had two guests here with us from Great Britain.

Their final challenge is to go through a drill routine.

Let's have our cadets come forward.

Give them a round of applause.

To impress the judges,

Keziah and Ibbi must respond to a set of military commands.

Their success relies on teamwork.

If ONE of them makes a wrong move, they will BOTH fail the challenge.

Fall in!

Left, left, left, right, left, right.

Sir, this concludes the drill sequence.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE DROWNS SPEECH

I think you both did very, very well today on your marching.

Congratulations again. You did well.

They pulled together

and with discipline and motivation and teamwork, guess what,

they were able to do it. And I'm so happy for them.

I'm feeling very relieved.

I'm glad that I managed to overcome it and that I didn't quit.

I feel happy that I've completed the drill but a little bit sad

because I know that my time here is coming to an end.

CHEERING

Keziah and Ibbi are heading home.

Only then will they discover

if they have managed to graduate from their extreme school.

I've learned discipline and I'm glad that I completed all my challenges.

Hopefully they will see in me that I have changed, so fingers crossed.

Join us in our final show, when Keziah and Ibbi find out

if they have made the grade.

Next time, two girls from Newcastle with a bad attitude to education

enrol at a convent school in Saint Lucia.

Sit up!

Where they will meet their match.

They get scared when they see me coming.

Will they change the habits of a lifetime?

This is a disaster.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd