My School Selection Experience - OMR Schools
7 replies, Page 1
Right, after being a silent reader of Parentree for long now, I thought i will list down my experience of finalizing the school for my kid.
Everyone's posts in Parentree helped me in this process. Similarly - My experience could help few parents (I hope :) ).
After a long search, I have just Chosen APL Global for my kid for the following simple reasons :
1. Admission process is simple / Approachability of the School is good- as compared to other big schools.
The Admission process is as simple as filling a form (watch out for the online forms in first week of August), and attending an interaction process. They claim that they fill the seats in "first come first serve basis". They respond to Questions/ General Enquiries about the school - take you around the school to show their infrastructure.
I had approached other schools like PSBB Millennium, Hindustan , Sishya OMR, BVM during the process - and was always left with a bad feeling when i returned home. You cannot go beyond the security gates in some schools, and not beyond the Admin room in others. The School and the Staff feel that they are "superior", and they feel that there is no need for them to talk to parents/show the parents the infrastructure etc. Basically, they expect the parents to apply for the school's admission based on their brand names. There is total darkness on how they select the kids. (Come on, Kids are Kids - how do you select them !!!).
PSBB Millenium didnt even bother to send an automated email if the application was rejected. Their website stated not to call the school, and only selected applicants will be informed.
Principal of one school (with a tie and all) shamelessly asked for a 6 figure donation to admit the ward to his school.
And the best thing was he considers himself an educationist.
2. Infrastructure
Infrastructure of APL was decent - the KG classrooms were spacious , clean.
The environment was lively. The teachers were all pleasant, and added to our 'comfort' feeling.
3. I have had positive reviews from atleast 4 parents and 5-6 kids studying at the school.
Parents were very positive about the school, the improvement that they were seeing in their kid.
Everyone shared the same point about how the teachers were interactive, and how they received monthly emails. Apparently, the teachers are available to be contacted over phone / in person to discuss about your kid (if need be) for about an hour every day.
Interestingly all of them spoke about how transparent their fee structure was (though on the higher to very higher side), and they say that not a penny more was asked during the course of the year. (All stuff including sports day/school day/ photos etc are covered by the fee in their website).
4. It is close to my place !! (Most important).
No School can be perfect right ?
Here are the "factors" that made me think for a while against the school (eventually compromised on these factors)
1. Cost
Even considering the fact that the admission fee is only 40k here, the annual fee is easily twice or slightly more than twice as compared to the other schools that i was considering. OK , i had to compromise here - in view of the fact that my kid will get a personal attention here as they claim that the teacher - student ratio is 1:18 , and in view of the proximity i need not take up transportation costs. (charged as 'premium rate' by other schools that i was mentioning).
2. Curriculum
IB vs IGCSE vs CBSE - Given a choice, i would have opted for CBSE. But given the fact that KGs really arent covered by these boards, and given the fact that i have an option to switch over either at her 5th standard or at 10th standard (both of which are really far away, and education scenario may well change by 2024 or 2029. Too long to plan for that ) - i have decided to go with this school that follows IGCSE. Either IGCSE becomes more 'common' in the next 7-10 years, or i always have an option to switch her over to CBSE board at 6th.
Everyone's posts in Parentree helped me in this process. Similarly - My experience could help few parents (I hope :) ).
After a long search, I have just Chosen APL Global for my kid for the following simple reasons :
1. Admission process is simple / Approachability of the School is good- as compared to other big schools.
The Admission process is as simple as filling a form (watch out for the online forms in first week of August), and attending an interaction process. They claim that they fill the seats in "first come first serve basis". They respond to Questions/ General Enquiries about the school - take you around the school to show their infrastructure.
I had approached other schools like PSBB Millennium, Hindustan , Sishya OMR, BVM during the process - and was always left with a bad feeling when i returned home. You cannot go beyond the security gates in some schools, and not beyond the Admin room in others. The School and the Staff feel that they are "superior", and they feel that there is no need for them to talk to parents/show the parents the infrastructure etc. Basically, they expect the parents to apply for the school's admission based on their brand names. There is total darkness on how they select the kids. (Come on, Kids are Kids - how do you select them !!!).
PSBB Millenium didnt even bother to send an automated email if the application was rejected. Their website stated not to call the school, and only selected applicants will be informed.
Principal of one school (with a tie and all) shamelessly asked for a 6 figure donation to admit the ward to his school.
And the best thing was he considers himself an educationist.
2. Infrastructure
Infrastructure of APL was decent - the KG classrooms were spacious , clean.
The environment was lively. The teachers were all pleasant, and added to our 'comfort' feeling.
3. I have had positive reviews from atleast 4 parents and 5-6 kids studying at the school.
Parents were very positive about the school, the improvement that they were seeing in their kid.
Everyone shared the same point about how the teachers were interactive, and how they received monthly emails. Apparently, the teachers are available to be contacted over phone / in person to discuss about your kid (if need be) for about an hour every day.
Interestingly all of them spoke about how transparent their fee structure was (though on the higher to very higher side), and they say that not a penny more was asked during the course of the year. (All stuff including sports day/school day/ photos etc are covered by the fee in their website).
4. It is close to my place !! (Most important).
No School can be perfect right ?
Here are the "factors" that made me think for a while against the school (eventually compromised on these factors)
1. Cost
Even considering the fact that the admission fee is only 40k here, the annual fee is easily twice or slightly more than twice as compared to the other schools that i was considering. OK , i had to compromise here - in view of the fact that my kid will get a personal attention here as they claim that the teacher - student ratio is 1:18 , and in view of the proximity i need not take up transportation costs. (charged as 'premium rate' by other schools that i was mentioning).
2. Curriculum
IB vs IGCSE vs CBSE - Given a choice, i would have opted for CBSE. But given the fact that KGs really arent covered by these boards, and given the fact that i have an option to switch over either at her 5th standard or at 10th standard (both of which are really far away, and education scenario may well change by 2024 or 2029. Too long to plan for that ) - i have decided to go with this school that follows IGCSE. Either IGCSE becomes more 'common' in the next 7-10 years, or i always have an option to switch her over to CBSE board at 6th.
Good one! Let me put down my story too on this same thread for the benefit of parents looking for!!
My kid is currently in PreKG, joined in June 2017.
We were in Bangalore and were getting relocated to Chennai at that point of time. We did start our hunting somewhere around mid of November-December, 2016. By the time we started, most of the schools have closed down the admission process or application forms were issued already. We haven't even decided whether we would go for CBSE/ICSE/IGCSE/ what not :) :)
Finally, we felt lets not worry about the syllabus right now and get good schools and then we got settled down with following shortlisted schools.
Finally we got through admission in BVM Global, Perungudi. But, yes we did not put our kid there, considering the dumpyard in very close proximity to the school and hell of septic tankers running and parked in front of the school.
Then we changed our criteria to opt schools.
We did like APL Global very much but considering the fees relatively higher, we did not opt for that too.
Oh, then came one of my friend who introduced me to Tatva School, Velachery, since many of his colleagues had great opinions about it and their kids were studying there. Then yes we did make a visit to learn more and honestly, we were much impressed. Thanks a ton to him!!
You should definitely take a look at their facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/tatva.school/] , which talks more about their activities on a day - day basis. There are photos/videos on what they have in the past 3 months of this academic year too, which should help you understand.
Admission process is quite simple.
Its based on IGCSE syllabus.
They have three branches.
1. Velachery (Day care and Nursery (PreKG), Jr KG and SrKG)
2. Medavakkam (Day care and Nursery (PreKG), Jr KG and SrKG)
3. Polachery (PreKG to Grade 7)
Cons:- As DolphinDivin pointed out correctly, no school is perfect right? Yes we do have some negatives with this school.
1. You have to come to Polachery starting Grade 1
2. There is no donation when you get admission for PreKG. But yes you need to pay an admission fee of 75k (in addition to tution fees) if you are continuing there from Grade 1. But this actually gave me an option to switch my kid to some other school from Grade 1, just in case we dont like it. Am 200% sure I would get that case, since we love it.
3. Not a very hi-fi infrastructure (which mostly as a parent we would expect), but they have a decent one which is more than enough!
On curriculum wise, I completely echo what DolphinDivin has said.
My kid is currently in PreKG, joined in June 2017.
We were in Bangalore and were getting relocated to Chennai at that point of time. We did start our hunting somewhere around mid of November-December, 2016. By the time we started, most of the schools have closed down the admission process or application forms were issued already. We haven't even decided whether we would go for CBSE/ICSE/IGCSE/ what not :) :)
Finally, we felt lets not worry about the syllabus right now and get good schools and then we got settled down with following shortlisted schools.
- BVM Global, Perungudi CBSE
- BVM, Adayar CBSE
- DAV Public School, Velachery , CBSE
- DAV, Adambakkam , CBSE
- APL Global, Thoraipakkam, IGCSE
Finally we got through admission in BVM Global, Perungudi. But, yes we did not put our kid there, considering the dumpyard in very close proximity to the school and hell of septic tankers running and parked in front of the school.
Then we changed our criteria to opt schools.
- Close proximity to residence
- Student Teacher Ratio
- Good atmosphere for learning with fun
- Not just book based learning methodology (atleast for initial years)
We did like APL Global very much but considering the fees relatively higher, we did not opt for that too.
Oh, then came one of my friend who introduced me to Tatva School, Velachery, since many of his colleagues had great opinions about it and their kids were studying there. Then yes we did make a visit to learn more and honestly, we were much impressed. Thanks a ton to him!!
You should definitely take a look at their facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/tatva.school/] , which talks more about their activities on a day - day basis. There are photos/videos on what they have in the past 3 months of this academic year too, which should help you understand.
Admission process is quite simple.
- Walk in to the school
- Talk to the representatives there
- Talk to principal
- If you are ok, then admission is given
- First come first serve basis.
Its based on IGCSE syllabus.
They have three branches.
1. Velachery (Day care and Nursery (PreKG), Jr KG and SrKG)
2. Medavakkam (Day care and Nursery (PreKG), Jr KG and SrKG)
3. Polachery (PreKG to Grade 7)
Cons:- As DolphinDivin pointed out correctly, no school is perfect right? Yes we do have some negatives with this school.
1. You have to come to Polachery starting Grade 1
2. There is no donation when you get admission for PreKG. But yes you need to pay an admission fee of 75k (in addition to tution fees) if you are continuing there from Grade 1. But this actually gave me an option to switch my kid to some other school from Grade 1, just in case we dont like it. Am 200% sure I would get that case, since we love it.
3. Not a very hi-fi infrastructure (which mostly as a parent we would expect), but they have a decent one which is more than enough!
On curriculum wise, I completely echo what DolphinDivin has said.
Hi Are u planning to change ur residence near polacherry. Cuz of this location I'm hesitant to choose tatva
Oh really!!
How is the residential area in this location. This location is very much new to me. Pls help. How office goers manage
I liked the location, calm and peaceful...If you are nearby working in navalur siruseri etc., then it should be fine.. else little difficult.. again its kind of mixed .. both pros and cons.. you can mail me at venkzz.mail@gmail.com, we can chat more.
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