Parents of Preschoolers  Discussion Forum

My son is 2 years now and we are planning to send him to a good playschool in gurgaon. While going through some of the reviews and my discussion with some people, we have shortlisted few.
1. Crystal, 2. Ananda, 3. Medham,
Please let me know your views on the above or suggest any better playschool for our son.

Thanks in advance.. ABC replied. Review of I- bambini - I dont think the problems with Ibambini have reduced. Their problems have doubled. and mainly because of one basic problem with the school management - aka- mrs chaudhary and daughter ruchita - GREED. they might have been a very good school in past few years and that is why they probably got the award (which by the way is not a difficult task these days - all you have to do is grease some palms and its done - or find a suitable connection – which should not a be a problem for mrs chaudhary given her distinguished years in this profession)
here are a few facts to prove my statement
1. on the birthday of the child, they ask the child to get a BIG present for his freinds - which very easily becomes the school property. so this way they dont have to spend a penny on buying any new toys for the kids
2. the resource room as they call it - has broken toys and such a paucity of them. even the classrooms have broken teaching aids - like the puzzles etc dont have all the pieces - forget all, they dont even have half the pieces.
3. in terms of teacher training - that is the funniest of all - they make the teachers do all the art work and show it off to the parents as if their own child did it. i mean, anyone with half an understanding of their own kids abilities will know if that piece of artwork has been done by their own kids or the teachers. and also staff turnover is high - very few teachers remain in the school for very long - its because they are dealt with such high handedness.
4. they are so autocratic in their decisions - they decided that they will decide the menu for each day of the week - great idea!. but 2 days out of 5 had , macaroni/noodles (maida which is not healthy food at all and difficult for a 2/3 year old to eat on his own) and chocos (who eats chocos without milk). i discussed with the teacher and she agreed that a lot of parents came back with similar feedback and she had translated this to the school management. but the school management didnt want to change its decision. infact, in one circular, they came back saying that please feed your child a heavy breakfast (so that when he is supposed to eat in school - not a lot of effort is spent on that and if he feeds or not, atleast he wont be cranky)
5. they decided they will have a diwali mela and sent a circular attached that 850 rupees was a mandatory payment. To make it look authentic they said that this decision had been taken by the parents committee. i must have talked to atleast 30 odd parents - nobody knew how and when this parents committee was formed, who its members were and how they were empowered to unilaterally take decisions. When I spoke to school management, the arguments were so ludicrous – it was unbelievable. Finally she relented and said that if 50 parents tell us that we don’t want to pay – we will not have the diwali mela . who decided this number of 50. out of a total strength of what – has that been made public? She said ok – if 850 is too much is 500 ok. Promptly they sent out a notice asking the parents asking if they want the diwali mela or not. If yes, 850 or 500. obviously, the parents chose the lesser of the evils coz they also felt that atleast we got a 350 discount, lets go ahead. It will look really cheap if we say we don’t want it all together. Even then when they published this so called “verdict”. There were no numbers to prove this nor any form of signatures etc to verify this. School management thought that ok if we cant get 850 , atleast lets pocket the 500
6. after the steep fees they charge under various heads ( which someone can argue that most schools do) they are so cheap that they had to ask for Rs 350 over and above the rs 5000 already taken as stationary charges at the beginning of the year) for a calendar. It just shows how they are out to just extract every penny they can from the parents
7. after all the good reviews I had read , I didn’t get any parents orientation in the beginning – they were so disorganized when this current 2011-12 session started in April.
8. the receptionist had confirmed to us (and we checked with her atleast 5 times ) that one only has to pay the ongoing fees for 3 quarters . I thought this is splendid since in march the kids only go for 10 to 12 odd days during which time they actually start with only an hour for 7 / 8 working days and gradually the time period is increased. After that its 2 months holidays. The said receptionist was not there when we went back in july and mrs chaudhary spoke to us with such contempt reminding us of the dictionary meaning of the word “quarter” and that fees had to paid infact for all 4 quarters. I bumped into the receptionist few months after this incident and she confirmed to me that this is infact what she had told us. And by the way, she wasn’t happy with the school either and so she left soon
9. other points – children at age 2 are not given crayons to learn coloring – instead they are given water paints. Anybody will know that for a 2 year old to wield a brush is far more difficult that holding a caryon. And anybody knows that crayons cost more than paints – in paints one can keep adding water – that’s the beauty….just like milk.
10. the bathrooms – twice that I went, I found no water in the sink
11. they give so many holidays – its unbelievable. In the month of October – just 9 working days for the kids. And its not as if they give an easy time to the teachers. The teachers are called most days the school is off for the kids – so then why not call the kids also. For instance, they showed off the artwork on Saturday and parents were supposed to go visit. Because of that, the following Monday was a holiday – only for the kids mind you. The exhibition took 30 minutes to see….and it held no interest for the child in anycase. For those 30 minutes, you take off 3 hours on Monday.- why? And I could have understood that it was because they made their staff – teachers work so much that they wanted to give them a break – but no – they called the teachers on Monday too – to do what ? One can only imagine
12. they organize a Didi Bhaiyya day – where in they ask for new clothes and other utility items and cash donations for their cleaner/gardener/sweeper/watchman staff. Extremely good idea don’t you think – no one knows how much cash was collected since it is not made public and how it was disposed off ( it could have found its way to the personal account of the school management – who knows ). And their staff gets gifts from the children – the school administration doesn’t have to shell out a penny.
I could go on and on. Please do think twice before putting your child in ibambini. And believe me, they don’t follow the child at all in their teaching methods. The children play and eat tiffin and come back – that ‘s it. deepak replied. Kay' s Tender Touch, DLF Phase 3, Gurgaon where CHILDHOOD MATTERS! Latest, open airy rooms, play area, fully AC, personal attention, with love and care, xpert guidance, initial discounts on, Playschool & Daycare. Admission from 01 Nov. Kavita Sharma replied. Hi i think you can also check out Mother' s Pride pre-school. It focuses on overall development of child. Pooja Chandra replied. Hi Pallabi
you may want to visit Morning Glorie. It is a new playschool based in South City I. Lots of individual attention given to ascertain the interests and skills of every child....a very play way method of teaching... very neat, clean and loving staff members....all meals freshly cooked on site... they also have a day care/ creche facility if you need it...

you can contact them on 88 00 988 44 2 or 0124 400 1603 amita replied. my daughter is two and a half yrs old.as i am a working mother i wanted a school that takes full care of my child so my friend suggstd me about shemrock parwarish2.i am very happy with their activities and teaching methods.they also take care of good habits in the child Anuradha replied. Hi Pallavi,

I am a mother of 2.5 year old twins.. Both my children have been going to EuroKids International (Pune Branch) for the last 6 months now.. My experience with them has been very well so far.. They Celebrate all Indian festivals wonderfully inculcating Indian values in children...
I haven' t really heard of any of the playschools you mentioned above.. You can also check their facebook page and know the parent - school interaction level for better understanding..

Regards,
Anuradha.