Saga of Nursery Admissions in Noida

Disclaimer: This post is based on my understanding and personal opinion on the Nursery admissions in various schools across Noida. It is not meant to demean or propagate any particular school or the way of schooling.

From friends, colleagues, internet and newspapers, everywhere I heard or read: I thought that getting my kid admitted to Nursery would be a big painful situation. Was it or was it not, you can decide based on the facts that I will mention below.

Entry age/eligibility criteria
There is no standard being followed across schools. Some mention it as 3+, some as 3.5+, some as 3.3+ in either September or March. So, that really confused me. My son is February 2010 born. We had decided that we'll admit him in Nursery when he is ready for it and will not push him. So, decided to go for the admission process in September 2013 and by the time he goes to Nursery, he would be 4+, which we feel is fine. No, he is not 'loosing' on a year as many parents feel!

Which school?

The next big question is whether to apply to all the schools or pick and choose from the wide variety. As per my understanding, there are 4 categories of schools present, based on their fee structure:

Category 1: The very big ones like Pathways, Genesis Global- Fees > 2.5 lakhs per year

Category 2: The big ones like Lotus Valley, Step by Step, SriRam Millenium, Kothari - Fees : 1.5 to 2.5 lakhs per year

Category 3: The middle tier ones, like The Millennium, KR Mangalam, Ryan, Billabong. - Fees : 1 to 1.5 lakhs per year.

Category 4: The conventional brand names like Appejay, DPS, Sommerville - Fees upto 1 lakh per year

Category 5: Rest of the world.

Now, categories 1,2 and 3 are the so called 'new age' and international schools that charge you a bomb and claim to pay individual attention to your child. They do not pressurize the kids too much and do not give much of homework. Generally the class strength is upto 25 or max 30 students in some cases. They also have the latest infrastructure, labs and co-curricular activities. 

Category 4 are the ones who have made a name for themselves over past so many years. Their claim to fame is good education and academics.  These are the schools that you and I went to in our times. Generally the class strength can go upto 40 to 50 students.With so many students in a class, you can safely forget about individual attention, but then probably your child would learn to face the big, bad world right from an early age.

So, before blindly applying everywhere and unnecessary running around, think and decide what kind of school you want. Of course, one needs to work out the finances too! On that note, do not compare just the first year fees because that comes out to be more due to the admission charges. Do compare the second year onwards fees, like we did:

What and how did we choose?

We were clear that we wanted him to go to one of these 'new age' schools, so that he gets a good exposure to everything apart from just academics. Also, the class strength of 40+ students bothered me. So, we had to choose from Category 2 and 3. Category 1 was way over budget.

I started talking to my colleagues and friends whose kids go to a variety of these schools and applied only to the ones about whom we had first hand information : The Millenium, KR Mangalam, Lotus Valley and SriRam Millenium. 

The Process

Collect admission form, fill and submit in the school along with the registration fees. For some schools, the form is available online for download. I think schools should go online with the form submissions as well and incorporate net banking for charging the registration fees.

After submission, the school will get back to you with the interaction date and time. 

The Interaction

Now this is one thing which feels and looks like a competitive battle to be won. The anxiety levels in parents are very high and they end up pressurizing the child a lot. If you go to the category 4 schools, the interaction is definitely a detailed one where they ask poems, shapes, colors, etc from the child. The parents are also asked a variety of questions ranging from their education, why they've chosen this school, who stays with the kid after school, etc.  Also, the number of applications is very high in these schools due to their brand names and affordable fee structure, so the number of rejections is also high. Be mentally prepared, keep some backups ready and don't rely on one particular school.

For category 1,2 and 3, the interaction is more of a meeting with the parents and child and they mostly converse with the child to see whether he is responsive. For example, in The Millenium, the teacher incharge talked about the school to us and asked the kids their names . In KR Mangalam, the kids were being taken to separate rooms and asked everything and anything that they knew. Dhruv was not ready to go in a separate room, so we accompanied him and after that he answered whatever was asked.

If your child does not want to go with a strange teacher at a strange place, please insist that you want to accompany him. It is important for the child to feel comfortable and if the teacher/in-charge does not agree to it, better walk out since that's not the place where you want your child to be. 

In Lotus Valley, the interaction lasted for 3-4 minutes where teachers and principal were in the same room. The kids were being asked basic questions while the principal made small talk with us. 

The Result
Once you get 'selected' in the schools, work out the pros and cons of those schools and get your child admitted. No school is good or bad. Its just about what you want for the child. Trust your instincts and pay the fees!! We've paid it for Lotus Valley!!