My kids are studying since last 3 years, and we are quite happy with the school, though if they can do something about the transportation fees depending on the distance. We opted for the school as it is less than 2 kms from our residence and the kids come home within 10 minutes and also they donot have to spend hours in the morning in the school bus to reach their school.
Once you pay the fees, that’s it for the year. No additional requests for the rest of the year. Everything is optional like sending some money for the ayahas and drivers during Diwali. Even field trips and other outings are optional, and its on parents to send them. The curriculum being ICSE, the worksheets they send every fortnight along with feedback on the child’s performance helps us in understanding the progress and take revisions if required at home.
Though it doesnot boast too much through publicity like advertisements, etc. I think they concentrate more on providing quality education. The extra-curricular activities are also conducted like dancing singing, sports, etc.
But at the end of the day, specially for the primary school kids what matters most, is they learn the basics (alphabets, reading, writing) without too much of load of other activities. The homework comes only during the weekend and any craft activity comes in twice a month. So kids looks usually happy and not over-burdened with too many activities. I make it a point to check on the restrooms during every semester meet, and find it to be very clean.
They can take a step ahead by adapting technology wherein parents can get online updates about their kids. The school is also open to have the parents meet the teachers any time during the year (with prior appointments) to discuss about the progress. We need not wait for the end of the term to discuss with the teacher. To watch out for is the new school building coming up with smart boards, more spacious classrooms, etc. and the 10th standard results for the year 2013.
It depends on parents to make a choice. Focus on education at school, and master them in an extra-curricular activity of the kids interest through some special coaching class or look for a school which provides everything under one roof. Though I personally feel Gopalan National School is the place, wherein your kids will get to gel with other kids from all backgrounds. When we go for the parent’s meeting, I see kids coming with their parent on a cycle, to scooter to rickshaws, to small car, to bigs cars and finally to BMWs as well. So parents, its your call to decide as each schools comes with prons and cons, and it basically depends on what we expect our kids to do at school.
For me, its education first at school (and GNS provides that as per our satisfaction) and would like them to personally pursue extra-curricular activity of their choice outside school hours. This is again my personal view and experiences from the school and might differ for other parents.