SimCity Academy

The uniform Sims wear when attending Private School

SimCity Academy, introduced in The Sims 2, is a private school that children and teenagers can attend if they have a minimum grade of C. In general, it is simply referred to a private school. Despite what players might expect, families are not charged for having children and teens in private school.

Players have to have a Sim invite the Headmaster over for dinner, then schmooze, feed, and impress him in order to have their children or teens be accepted into private school. Being accepted into, or rejected from, private school gives a special memory to both the parents and children/teens. Getting a child into private school, or getting into private school as a teen, is a high-value want that Fortune Sims are likely to roll, though it is not unique to them.

Kids and teens in private school will change into a uniform before getting on the school bus.

Pros and cons of private school

Pros

• A day at private school takes less of a toll on needs.
• Performance awards are skill points rather than a small sum of money.
• Teens who are in private school will start teen careers at Level 2.

Cons

• Homework is somewhat more stressful, which leads to a large fun drop if the Sim is left unattended for a long time.
• Preparing for the headmaster can be stressful if the household is large or if the Sims begin to prepare their food late.

Getting into private school

Any child or older Sim can call the Headmaster using the "Invite Headmaster" interaction on the telephone, if there is a student on the lot that has a grade of C or higher. The Headmaster then will arrive at 5 p.m. and a 6 hour scenario will start when he is greeted. The player has to reach a score of 90 to get the family's kids/teens accepted into private school, and the scenario will end when that score is reached. There are three tasks that can be performed to build the score. To perform any of the tasks, click the Headmaster and select an interaction under the "Entertain" category.

Dinner

If a group meal was prepared, the player must have a Sim serve it, as the Headmaster will not respond to "Entertain... Call for Dinner" unless there is an individual plate for him to go to. The higher the cooker's Cooking skill, the more points this part of the scenario will get. Burned food will not earn a good score.

Tour of the House

This task can earn 40 to 50 points. The Headmaster will follow the Sim who suggested the tour through the house. To show a room, click on the Headmaster and select Show Room; rooms with higher Environment scores are worth more points. To end the tour, click the Headmaster and select End Tour. Unlike schmoozing, the tour can only have a neutral or positive effect on the Headmaster's score; if he dislikes a room, he may not award it any points, but he will not subtract any.

Schmoozing

This last element involves building the Headmaster's relationships with the household members. The more Daily Relationship builds, the better the Schmooze score. Talking around the dinner table will contribute to this score. Another strategy is talking to the Headmaster, though this will not improve the score by much. There are four kinds of schmoozing; there is schmoozing about work, about school, about politics, and about money. The latter two require a high relationship with the headmaster, and will give a high score if successful.

Bonus Scoring

Getting the Headmaster to do any of these things once will earn an extra 10 points:

• Get him into the hot tub (though it can be hard to get him out).
• Get him to drink coffee.
• Have a drink from the bar.

Tips

• Check to make sure that all doors are unlocked when the Headmaster visits. If he finds himself locked out, he will reject the child(ren) outright.
• Never, ever make chef salad for the headmaster. No matter who he is (as it varies for each game), the Headmaster absolutely hates chef salad. He prefers pork chops, lobster and salmon.
• Scoring for the dinner portion of the scenario depends on how satisfied the Headmaster is with his food. It is not necessary to have other household members eat; they will socialize with the Headmaster even if they are just sitting at the table while he eats.
• It's a good idea to have two parents at home, one giving the tour, while the other parent cooks the food. Try to keep the kid(s) out of the way. Alternatively, the player can have the child give the tour. The Headmaster likes children.
• Another option is to prepare the food ahead of time, place it in a Sim's inventory, then take it out and serve it when the Headmaster arrives.
• While dinner table conversation with the Headmaster will contribute to the Schmooze score, dinner table conversation also significantly increases the amount of time Sims take to eat a meal. Sims can take at least two game hours to eat a meal if they are socializing while they eat, so be sure to allow enough time for them to finish the meal before the timer runs out.
• If the player's Sim is pregnant and they want the child to get in to private school, making one of the parents study cooking and the other to get a nice job will improve their score in a future tour.
• If the player uses the boolprop testingcheatsenabled cheat, the player can make their Sim best friends with the Headmaster. This fills the Schmooze requirement. As long as the Sims give him a nice tour, the children are guaranteed to be accepted into private school regardless of the quality of the dinner.
• The Headmaster scenario can be glitchy, so call close to 4 pm. Save just before calling, and don't save while the scenario is in progress. That way, if it glitches, you should be able to exit without saving, and try again.
• Players who use the coffeecuphack from More Awesome Than You! may want to consider removing or disabling it before calling the Headmaster, unless they don't plan to serve him coffee or espresso. Occasionally, the mod may cause a "jump bug" to occur when a Sim washes a coffee cup in a sink. While this is only a mild annoyance if it happens to a household member, the Headmaster will vanish if it happens to him.
• Be sure to always choose "Entertain... Call for Dinner" from the Headmaster's pie menu. Never choose "Call to Dinner... Everyone" from the meal's pie menu. This will only earn three points, as it will not count as part of the scenario.
• Testingcheatsenabled can be used to make the Headmaster selectable. This may be useful if he gets in a hot tub and will not get out.
• There are multiple Headmasters in a neighborhood; if "Invite Headmaster" is used multiple times, there will be a different one each time.
• A Sim who has met a Headmaster through the scenario can later call him on the phone.