Bangalore Schools - Categorization

Found the below mentioned useful categorization at a r2iclubforums link. Very good and useful.

School Categorization:
1) Govt. and public schools - govt. schools, Army schools, central schools

• Fee - Free or very nominal?
• Donation/Bldg fee/Admission fee - none

2) Neigborhood and private schools - Ryan, DPS, NPS, Josephs, Cottons, Freedom Intl, Frank Anthony's etc., etc. Tons of schools in this category.

• Patronized by the Indian middleclass, upper middleclass, NRIs etc.
• Fee - INR 30k to 50k
• Donation/Bldg fee/Admission fee - Some require yrly donations

3) Academy's and wannabe intl schools - Gear, Greenwood, VIBGYOR, Inventure, Vidyashilp, NAFL, etc.

• Patronized by the Indian upper middleclass, NRIs, etc.
• Fee - INR 60k to 100k (a new school like VIBGYOR are exceptions)
• Donation/Bldg fee/Admission fee - Most don't take yrly donations and bldg fees. They do take admission fee and some refund part or whole.

4) Intl school - TISB, Canadian, BLR Intl, Sarla Birla, JIRS, Deccan, Valley(?), et all

• Patronized by expats, NRIs and the wealthy
• Fee - Over 1 lakh
• Donation/Bldg fee/Admission fee - Most don't take yrly donations and bldg fees. They do take admission fee and some refund part or whole.

Methodology: Most schools under category 3 and 4 seem to follow the western style of teaching up to grade 5 (i.e smaller class sizes, smaller units within a classroom, no tests and exams(?), one does not even prescribe homework. Each school seems to follow its own methodology. There doesn't appear to be any standard or benchmark.

Kannada exposure (at least as a third language) is a must for all schools (except Central/Army schools)? And that 3rd lang. requirement starts 6th std. onwards?

• In most category 1 - Severe Kannada "pain" for sure
• Category 2 - mild to moderate - Can be substituted w/ Hindi or Sanskrit pain
• Category 3 - mild
• Category 4 - Students can opt for Spanish or French pain instead?

Security?

• Category 2 - usually boasts of an old man in blue uniform sitting by the gate.
• Category 3 - could have restricted entry and an younger guy in full (shoes and all) blue uniform. (Some like Gear is very strict - Prospective parents are not even allowed inside to inquire, prior to admitting their ward. They are strict and I'm sure they have their reason for it...)
• Category 4 - Security rivals that of any large multinational S/W firm since they are residential schools as well.

Kids presence for admission:

• Kids presence and admission tests are dependent of school policies. Most require a test for higher grades.
• In the lower grades, one could get a child admitted w/o making the trip -we did.

Bangalore Schools

So, you want to admit your kids to schools in Bangalore and are searching for information on good schools within Bangalore.

Please do refer to my other thread on categories of Schools in Bangalore.
Please do also refer to the below mentioned links which has got an ocean of information on Schools in Bangalore.

• http://bangaloreschools.net/
• http://www.r2iclubforums.com/forums/f30/mt-schools-bangalore-259/
• http://www.r2iclubforums.com/forums/f30/housing-where-stay-how-close-school-work-please-advise-2773/
• http://www.indusladies.com/forums/bangalore-schools/?daysprune=-1&order=desc&sort=replycount

Singapore Primary Education

Few crisp words

competitive

activity based

Excellent

• Stressful (not fully caused by school. partly caused by school and majority caused by anxious kiasu parents)
• Starts slow from P1 to P3 when kids get accustomed and zooms fast through P4 to P6 when kids are put to real stress test

Positives:

• Amazing is the ONE word that I have got for the Singapore Primary Education.
• Focuses to create well rounded individuals and not mere academic bookworms.
• We pay 10 SGD. The government spends nearly 1 K per kid per month.
• School infrastructure is excellent and is always being upgraded.
• The entire curriculum is activity based and is improved every few years. The kids live through it, enjoy it, cherish it and learn it.
• Kids who are open and can speak will shine. Of course, it is difficult for average kids and kids who are introvert.
• The kids have an opportunity to excel as an individual.
• Kids are encouraged to speak out, to present topics, to lead classes, to play, to experiment.

Negatives:

• Yes. it is stressful since the kids have to face streaming at very young age
• Yes. Kids who do not start at very young age gets lost and it becomes very difficult to catch up later. this also leads to parents imposing more stress on the kids and the vicious cycle continues.

Singapore Primary school admissions

Primary school admissions is Singapore is very simple and transparent (find the category under which you are going to get admitted, find the distance between your house and school and roughly you will have an idea). It is also very tough to get into top schools. It is always good to apply for schools within 1 KM of your house. The government also encourages schools to be closer to home.

All details required for primary admissions is available on the government website at:

• http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/primary/
• http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/admissions/primary-one-registration/

Even though, I would say that all primary schools in Singapore are good, there is some differences that leads to some excellent schools and some "not so excelling schools". The government is used to award the top schools in various categories and the ratings can be found at http://app.sis.moe.gov.sg/schinfo/ (School achievements)
There are a few private websites as well like http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/singapores-top-primary-schools