St. Francis International School - Chennai

There are a lot of requests for review of this school, so here goes:

1) Overall, I would rate the school good. I returned from the U.S. mid-way and I settled with this school since admission was closed in other places. It's been a decent experience. It's definitely not a flashy school, and the campus is small, but they are continuously investing on the infrastructure and they maintain it very well. Rooms are clean, sharp, well outlined. The school is well maintained. The student profile is decent - Middle class mostly.

2) Academics: I would rate the load on the kid as moderate. There is some homework or the other every day but I wouldn't call it taxing. Works for me. If you believe in making the kid work hard from the beginning, this may not be the best school. Works for me since the load is moderate and gives times for other things. They do give personal attention to the kid (being a small school).

3) English: My kid is very fluent in English and she seems to be maintaining the line. So no issues so far.

4) Playground/Infrastructure: This is where the school scores low. They don't have a real ground, so they loan other grounds (such as Police commissioner's office). I'm not sure how they manage for higher grades where exercise class is mandatory.. may be they travel around.

5) Long-term: The good news is the school is ICSE board (works well for me since I was an ICSE student myself). It focuses on critical thinking instead of rote-learning and I'm all for it. They have classes till 8th standard as of now, and am sure they will expand to cover all grades in due course.

6) Would I recommend?: Yes. It's been a decent experience (Good communication to parents, polite, personal attention etc.) but doesn't have a large playground, brand name etc.

Hope this helps.