Sunday, December 21, 2008

Part IV: Ball in our court

Now, we had to decide between Kumarans, NPS Koramangala & Brigade school. So, our curious mind went on to define that we want to define a good mix of academics & co-curricular activies so that we get a well-rounded personality.

In terms of academics, we wanted more the aptitude types than the mug-your-life types. So, we devised an experiment to put out our top 10 school list based on teh above. In the absense of school information for CAT & IIT results, we narrowed down on NTSE, an exam for Class 10/Class 8 students. I have been a big fan of NTSE exam, which i think gives a good spin for the intellectual mind. Went to the DSERT, karnataka site & found the school information required & constructed a quick pivot on the school.






First pic: 2007 results (10th Std)
Second pic: 2008 results (8th Std)
P.S: Sadvidya & Marimallappa are schools in Mysore. So, we had our top 3 school list in Bangalore from the above pivot:

  • Kumarans Childrens home
  • NPS Indiranagar
  • National Hill View

A very entertaining excercise for the mind. Then, in parallel, we also wanted to get a sneak peak on sports & co-curricular activies. Fortunately, kumarans had a website which spoke about the events & winners in various school events here . Naturally, i was interested in Potpourri (my all round fav. event at KREC) & found that NPS, Indiranagar, Kumarans & National Hill view took the honours.

Then, i went to KQA and wanted to check out the best schools in Quizzing. An event i was always interested, but never got to do the hard work required. As suspected, NPS, Indiranagar & Kumarans figured out prominently in the top 3. (check here).

And i chanced upon a top 250 day school list done in Sep 2008 by Education World. In the south zone rankings, it has ranked Bishop cotton boys school as No.1 (Please use due diligence in using the report findings). And among the bangalore schools, the order is Bishops, Baldwins, NPS indirangar, Ryan & Kumarans.

Then, coming to the sports rankings, i used the KPMG 8th & 9th cadet inter school championships to come up with the rankings: Bishop Cottons, Baldwins & Vidyaniketan. Among the shortlisted schools, i could see Kumarans, Innisfree & Brigade making thier mark in specific events (you can find the links here , here & here)

So, with our own biases, here is Aadi's top 3 schools in Bangalore:

  1. Kumarans Childrens Home
  2. NPS Indirangar
  3. National Hill view, Rajarajeshwarinagar.

A school has to reinvent itself over the years, which can last itself over time. (since our wards will be there for around 10 years) . I truly believe Kumarans has wonderfully done it in the last 10 years. Kumarans was starting to get there during my school days & has wonderfully steered into a good balance of academics, sports & co-curricular activities.

Would love to hear bouquets & brickbats on the above analysis!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aha!

upma said...

Lucky you, got a call from all good schools, I had applied for my son's admission to all 3 branches of NPS, didn't heard from them so far.
I would really appreacite the efforts put by you in analysis and more than than making it public.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info.
Would you mind sharing parents qualification and work.
Do you think it had an impact it has onadmission

Prakash said...

Hi Aadi!

Thanks for sharing this information!
From your post, it seems you were focussed on CBSE board schools. I am based in JP nagar, and was looking at CBSE schools in JP nagar area. My kid is 2 years 2 months (Oct born) and hence will not be eligible for most of the schools (Kumarans, DPS, NHVPs, NPS etc).

Brigade, Presidency (Bilekahalli) and PSBB LLA are the only schools that have relaxed age limit. Of these 3 schools, which will be a better choice in terms of overall development?

Appreciate any feedback!

Thanks

Divyanand said...

A fellow KRECian from the batch immediate to yours.

Nice analysis (I have 10 month old daughter ! and I stay in BTM).

Keep us updated.

Rita said...

Hi, I found your blog entry on the selection process and the criteria by which you narrowed your school, interesting. I hope you are happy with the school you have chosen.
I have linked your blog entry in my blog here at:
http://schoolsbangalore.blogspot.com/2009/09/sri-kumaran-childrens-home_05.html
If you wish me to remove it please do mail back. I had hoped it would be an insight for others as well.
Thanks.

Vaidehi said...

Hi

Very happy to read your review on all the schools. Good research work and I think we definitely need to do that because our kids are going to be in the school for a long time. We are planning to come back to India in dec 2010 and your info on schools were extremely helpful. I am also mainly thinking of Kumarans ICSE. Are you happy with the school? You have not written about that.

-Vaidehi.

Anonymous said...

It is an excellant analysis beyond the branded schools i think we also have to support the upcoming neighbourhood schools like for eg. capitol public school in J.P.Nagar, 7th Phase, my child studies there, in a quick span of 4 years the school has mushroomed into an excellant landmark balancing both academics and co-curricular situated in the compact residential areas close to brigade gardenia, elita promenade and brigade millenium this school has an excellant chance of making to the most sought after school in this locality. Close proximity to home means less travelling for the children and more time to engage in othe out of school activities.
regards
shwetha

Anonymous said...

Wonderful analysis :)
I have a daughter of 2 yrs 5 months age.
With your detailed analysis, i dont foresee to think on any other school but Kumarans.

Thank you!
shilpa

Anonymous said...

And on what we shall stop?

Anonymous said...

Thanx for theinformayion.
my daughter is 2yrs and 3 month now . after reading your blog i cant think of any other schoolother than Kumarns.

Nag said...

Hi Aadi,

I like your analysis and eye for detail.I am agree with you w.r.t Kumarans coming on tops. I am not saying this just because i am an alumni of the school, but because, the institution has a history and a very good one at that!!! And, it still lives up to its reputation and glory.

Nag said...

Hi Aadi,

I like your analysis and eye for detail.I am agree with you w.r.t Kumarans coming on tops. I am not saying this just because i am an alumni of the school, but because, the institution has a history and a very good one at that!!! And, it still lives up to its reputation and glory.

Sri said...

Very methodical and analytical. Thank you for the world of information. Now, I am on the verge of deciding between Kumaran's Mallasandra campus and GIIS, Whitefield. Location is not a concern as we are willing to move where we get the admission and hence two extremely opposite locations. On top of your detailed analysis, you have a rich 8 years experience with the school now. Your help will be MUCH appreciated. I kindly and sincerely request you to provide me the following details

1. Which campus is your kid attending and what has been your experience - Good and Bad?
2. I know the web world is loaded with mixed reviews for any school. I was keen in the quality of the teachers and the management. How do you find them