Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Apeejay School Noida - A primer for nursery admissions

Apeeyjay is one of the highly reputed old schools in this small town and even though it lacks the glitter of some of the young schools like Lotus Valley, Greater Valley, Mayoor, Step By Step etc, its still one of the favorites among admission seekers.

My daughter has also applied here. Here are some details.

Location - Sec 16 A (very close to Delhi-Noida border, very well located for people residing in Mayoor Vihar, Eastend apartments, Vasundhara Enclave and some of the sectors of Noida)

Age - Between 3 and 4 on 31st March 2009. (This is for admission seekers in 2008)

Location - There is no location constraint but I would assume that they would give preference to kids who live close-by.

Dates - Forms were available from early september and last date of submission is Sep 16,2008

Process.
1. They meet every kid so unlike DPS and some of the other schools, you definitely get first chance. In my case the interaction date is 27th Sep. But I know someone who went through this.

It was a 4-5 minute interaction where they asked couple of questions to parents viz.
(i) Why Apeejay ?
(ii) How do you balance/manage your work and home. My friend is working and probably for a home-maker, there would be a different question.

Kid was also in the same room and she was asked to recite a poem first. After that she was asked to walk on a set of bricks/blocks which were lying a little apart. Kid actually got down, moved the bricks so that there is no gap and stood on that :)

They are awaiting results.

I have heard that Apeejay relies more on lottery and less on actual interaction.

Update on 27th Sep
------------------

We had our first interaction today. It was pretty well organized from what we have seen so far. We were asked to wait in a room. Later we along with the kid were taken to a room where there was a lady who interacted with us. Kid was interacting with another teacher on the next table. I could not observe clearly but they had some sort of puzzle.

We were asked
- Why Apeejay
- My wife is working so how does she manage her time
- What do we expect from school

5 minutes odd. It seemed that we were meeting a junior teacher (and I sometime wonder that whether as part of their teacher-training, were they ever taught on this aspect but anyway). It was not evident whether she was impressed or not.

Results would be out on Oct 2nd.

Update on Oct 6th, 2008
----------------------------
We made it in the first list. Today morning, we had our first interaction. It was a 2 minute interaction. Principal first confirmed our names , then our salaries from the form which we have filled (he confirmed that its indeed a monthly figure), asked for our schools and bade us bye. My daughter was invited to a table side by and was asked to recite a poem. I am not sure whether she was asked anything else later.

I noticed that Principal had this register on which he was writing marks against each name. I dont think that those 2 minutes are going to decide. Also our schools are not too great or flashy :)

Anyway, its over. The results would be out in a week.

Update on Oct 16th, 2008
------------------------------
We called school on Oct 13th and were told that results were not yet out. On Oct 14th, they said that results are out but we didn't make it. We found a contact and he told us that the list is not complete. We called again on Oct 15th and we were told that we made it. We were lucky to find a contact otherwise we had planned to take admission in Vishwa Bharti and that would have made us poorer by 16 K odd. So please ensure that you visit the school and probably do it few times. Their front-office system needs a lot of improvement. Unlike Amity, DPS and some of the other schools, they have no infrastructre to publish results on their website.

Today we took admission.

58 comments:

NoPretense said...

Jhaji,
Great piece of so much sought information. My son is there too. But admission process has changed since, and my friends keep asking about it.
It is a cool school as it does not believe in burdening kids nonnecessarily.

smita said...

hi seeking admission for the seesion 2010-2011 in nursery for my daughter.
Your information was valuable but wanted to know how do u rate the school in one year.

Nandan said...

Smita - Its been only few months so let me be less critical

1. In terms of infrastructure, process, systems they have a lot of ground to cover. By Infra, I do not necessarily mean money, mowing a lawn is not a matter of money or fixing a broken ride.

2. I do not have a good exposure on their teaching methods since we never get any notes in the diary. So far none in last 4 odd months. PTM has not been very productive for us so far since out of three times, once we had to travel out, once we reached in time but the teacher had some meeting with Principal and the only time we could actually interact was only for a couple of minutes.

Again its been very early. I would pass on the link for couple of my friends whose kids are studying there and we may get some more insights.

Hope this helps. All the best.

Vijay said...

Can you please tell me how many seats are there in Apeejay for nursery class?

Nandan Jha said...

Vijay - There are about 60 students per section and in last year (my daughter's batch) there are at least 8 sections, from Nursery A to H (probably more).

So a total of about 460-500 seats.

Vijay said...

I feel there is no quality anywhere and we just simply run around all the schools with a herd's mentality. When I look around, almost all the kids are placed in one of these so called good schools. May be there is no problem in getting admission, but they make us run so fast, that we don't have time to think of anything else except running. If they have 500 - 800(Amity) students in a class, its definitely quite tough for them to maintain quality.

Nandan Jha said...

I believe the number of applications are pretty high. Last time DPS gave some data and If I remember correctly, the odds were 1 out of 6.

I personally think that the process of admission is more complicated than what it desires. A simple draw-of-lottery is what I would recommend. Schools should pay a lot of attention to ensure that parents are rightly informed about

- culture
- transport availability
- teaching methods
- fees etc

before they choose to apply. Have a series of orientation programs. That would also ensure that you set the expectation right. For example, I do not remember any school prospectus or admission form talking about the number of students per class. Let these be knows and after that have a draw of lots.

You are cooking it too much than necessary. May be Kapil Sibal would put some process here.

Vijay said...

Number of applications are high because everyone ends up applying in every school. Finally one kid can't go to more than one school. As you say the ratio for DPS was 1/6 and in my view thats not at all big. What do you say?

Anurag V said...

This problem can be solved by making all the schools take interviews in the same week/fortnight and then declaring results in the same week and giving enough time for parents to choose one school. This way people won't block seats and then later cancel.

I am a parent seeking admission for my son in the 2010-2011 batch.

BTW, Jha Ji, loved your blog and have moved to your non admission blogs too....

Nandan Jha said...

Vijay - You are right. 1/6 is because everyone applies at multiple schools, we end up in this situation.

Anurag - Thanks. You are right.

The bigger question is that as a trust running a school, how can you give in to the temptation of making money. I am sure DPS, Amity, APJ etc, all of them are aware about each other's schedules.

Just now, a colleague of mine has got admission for his ward in Sommerville while the process is still on in other school. Now he is a fix on whether he should get his son admitted to Somer or wait for results. And he has only two days. The worse is that you lose almost all the initial money which you deposited, how can a able truse let that practice go ?

All the best for your son.

Vijay said...

Hi Nandan,

How sure are you of that number 60 in a section? I talked to Apeejay guys and they say its around 45 only.

Any idea if the student teacher ratio is better in Amity?

Nandan Jha said...

Vijay - I was there couple of weeks back for PTM (Parent Teacher Meeting) and with-in the class room, there was this notice period where all the names of the students were listed vis-a-vis the transport details. That roster would sort of help the teacher to make x queues , each queue for a different route.

I could easily count in excess of 55 and then I guess I missed some of them. I wont be surprised if its actually beyond 60.

Amity - I do not know but I heard that its fairly same but probably there are two Aayahs per section than APJ, which has none (at least none in terms of any consequence considering the numerous water bottles which get left every afternoon by kids, even if their is one, I doubt whether she is been instructed to help kids for day to day stuff)

I wrote a post on Amity, probably write a comment there and someone might help us here - http://jhaji.blogspot.com/2008/09/amity-noida-primer-on-nursery.html

sachin chaudhary said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

My son is studying in APJ Noida and I did go through the list of students in all the nursery sections at the time of his admission. It was between 45-47 in all the sections. Last PTM when I went and signed the sheet meant for parents, I noticed that 2-3 students were marked as having left. I assume that the number now should be around 45 or less. Further, I know of a parent who admitted his son in class I and the number in his section is 48 students. In any case I do not expect the strength to be beyond 50 at any point, which by itself is a big number. Amity, I am told has a better student-teacher ratio. They supposedly have less than 40 students under 2 teachers.

Anonymous said...

Amity or Apeejay? We are in a fix. Please help. Ashish bhagat_ash@yahoo.com

Nandan Jha said...

Ashish - Both are in similar league. Look at other factors as well (distance from your home etc) and if it is a tie then my advice would be to choose Amity.

Amity is more serious about making money and to do that it probably knows that it has to invest in infra and good results. On the other hand Apeejay is more of an old world stuff, so good in academia and overall dev but poor in drive. That has been my assessment based on what I have seen during last 4 years or so. Best wishes.

Unknown said...

Hi Nandan, thanks for the details,
since you have your kid for almost 3 years now in Apeejay, how is your experience

feewise i believe its more than Amity,..i got my son admitted for the 2013-14 nursery session,
but wanted to know how is the academic rigour, and how about performance in 10th or plus two levels

my son will be 3 in dec, so there will be a few schools next yr as well for applying to nursery,
what do u suggest?
thanks

Nandan Jha said...

Dear Sumantha - Apeejay has been good enough all thorough for the academic part. In terms of infrastructure they lag behind.

Whatever I have heard about Amity through my friends, I would think that Amity is a great school to be in.

Unknown said...

Thanks Nandan!

Anonymous said...

My child is in 3rd standard and studying in Apeejay School Noida. Till now it was not great but still ok. Students always do better if they get proper attention but looking at the student teacher ratio, it seems difficult here. I am worried about my child’s studies also I don’t understand if NOT Apeejay than which school?

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

okay, here goes review on apeejay :

1. Your child will be in a group of 50 children in a class right from nursery, and unless he is extremely bright, his chances of getting noticed are very rare.

2. Children who do very well from class nursery onwards (may be 2-3 in a section) will be declared super performers in academics, extra curriculars, inter school and intra school activities till class 12th. They will also be made class captains, house captains and will lead everywhere. Average and above average children will very rarely be given a chance.

3. Even if you go and meet class teacher or subject teacher and request them couple of times, it wont help much.

4. Child will develop fear of failure because they will themselves believe that no matter how best they perform, only few 1-2 chosen ones will be given chance to participate in events and will be declared winners.

5. During PTMs, the subject teacher wont be able to recongnise your child by name and will look at her grade register to determine whether child is doing well in class or not.

more later..

Anonymous said...

APEEJAY SCHOOL NOIDA REVIEW:

Well, what do I say? After waiting for 5 years (from nursery-Class 3), I finally made up my mind pulled out my kid from Apeejay. He is now in some other reputed school.

I want to thank myself for this decision for my child. My child is more happy, confident and eager to participate in every activity with much enthusiasm.

Coming back to Apeejay, I am now listing my reasons of disappointment with the school :

1. They have no system to improve or encourage average or above average performers. They only recognise superstars. Forget about recognising, other children dont even get a chance to showcase that they have really improved. They repeat and repeat the same set of kids in dance, music, sports, interhouse competitions etc. etc.

2. They have been very unresponsive and unapproachable. Try writing to the principal 2-3 times with a serious request, but your mail will never be acknowledged and you will feel helpless. Atleast, this has been my experience when my child was studying there.

3. They fail to fulfill promises. Teachers will listen to you with a surety that things will improve but in realty THEY DONT CHANGE.

4. Diaries are rarely checked, copies are checked only when the child submits it and if the child has not submitted the copy for 2-3 months, the teacher wont come to know and wont bother.

Anonymous said...

To know how the school is , please read that conversation that happened between me and one of their activity teachers (I would not like to name the activity). My child wanted to participate in that specific activity for quite a long time and she wasnt getting any chance. So, finally I decided to go and meet the activity teacher along with my child.


Me : Hello Mam, I want to request you to please take my child in the upcoming activity as she is really interested and she does this well also.

Mam : Sorry, I cant help it because we take auditions for this and we have to take the best children.

Me : Mam, but my child is learning this for quite some time now and she does this really well.

Mam : Dekhiye, today everyone is good in this and is learning. We have to choose the best specially when there are house competitions. We cant take a chance.

Now, this bothered me and I wanted to tell her what I heard from my child

Me : Mam, but she tells me that you didnt even look at her while taking auditions (they take auditions in groups) and only selected those children who have been performing regularly. May be you missed seeing her performance.

Mam : Sorry, but in order to take your child, I cant throw other good children in rubbish (kooda which she said in hindi).

Me : Mam, I am not telling you to throw them in rubbish. All I am saying is take my child also along with them atleast ONCE.

Mam : OK..I will see

and nothing happened after that.

My child mentioned that she doesnt want to take part in that activity any more and has lost all hopes and interest...SIGH!!

Next year, I got her transferred to another reputed school and she is extremely happy...

Nandan Jha said...

My child has spent five years (Nursery to Class III) and now we are in the process of moving her out to another school.

Anonymous said...

To know how the school is , please read that conversation that happened between me and one of their activity teachers (I would not like to name the activity). My child wanted to participate in that specific activity for quite a long time and she wasnt getting any chance. So, finally I decided to go and meet the activity teacher along with my child.


Me : Hello Mam, I want to request you to please take my child in the upcoming activity as she is really interested and she does this well also.

Mam : Sorry, I cant help it because we take auditions for this and we have to take the best children.

Me : Mam, but my child is learning this for quite some time now and she does this really well.

Mam : Dekhiye, today everyone is good in this and is learning. We have to choose the best specially when there are house competitions. We cant take a chance.

Now, this bothered me and I wanted to tell her what I heard from my child

Me : Mam, but she tells me that you didnt even look at her while taking auditions (they take auditions in groups) and only selected those children who have been performing regularly. May be you missed seeing her performance.

Mam : Sorry, but in order to take your child, I cant throw other good children in rubbish (kooda which she said in hindi).

Me : Mam, I am not telling you to throw them in rubbish. All I am saying is take my child also along with them atleast ONCE.

Mam : OK..I will see

and nothing happened after that.

My child mentioned that she doesnt want to take part in that activity any more and has lost all hopes and interest...SIGH!!

Next year, I got her transferred to another reputed school and she is extremely happy...

Anonymous said...

Hi nandan,

Wanted to check if your child has been able to take admission in other school and if yes, which one? Thanks,

Unknown said...

Friends

Many of you have moved your kids from apeejay to some other schools. Would you share in which schools you have sought admissions and how they are better than appejay now.. we are in the process of nursery interviews this year.. Thanks for your help !!

Nandan Jha said...

Dear Abhishek - We moved to Shiv Nadar Noida and is liking it. Their teaching methods are modern (only time would tell on how effective they are since most of it is new in Indian setup), the overall teaching talent is 10x higher than ApeeJay (at least the junior teaches with whom we mostly interacted) and most importantly, they are serious about overall development.

Unknown said...

Hi Nandan,
Thanks for your excellent post. Very useful for parents worried about admissions.

need your advice.

my son has been selected in apeejay, Somerville and khaitan. can you provide me comments about academics, activities and sports in these schools to make an objective assessment

Nandan Jha said...

Dear Unknown,

Thanks for your generous words.

I am not an expert here but if I have to choose I would choose Khaitan over Somerville. Apeejay, I wont recommend.

Unknown said...

Hi Nandan.. My daughter has made through DPS Noida.. Going through Google reviews, I am a little skeptical about the school environment and attitude of teachers... What do u suggest

Nandan Jha said...

From what I hear from my friends, DPS is still operating in the 'old world' where school staff behaves as if on a 'high moral ground' and as if they are doing a big favor by having your child in their school.

Dev Raj said...

Went through the blogs and comments.. very useful information. Made me skeptical about admitting my daughter to Apeejay.
My Daughter is selected for Apeejay and Cambridge, which one would you suggest for say next 5 years of her education?

Nandan Jha said...

Dear Devesh - Thank you.

I won't be able to make an informed advice on this one. I have this growing feeling that time is up for the likes for APJ, DPS and Amity. The newer lot viz. SNS, Sri Ram, Kothari, Khaitan are kind of more forward looking. All the best.

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Anonymous said...

very informative discussion.. i can so relate to the description of the anonymous about the Apeejay .... my elder one is a shy child and i thought this school would contribute to her overall development and confidence building, but as mentioned by the anonymous, its only one set of children who will be repeated every time....average student is left behind. And on top of that the fees is on higher side ...i really wish i had read this discussion before admitting my daughters in Apeejay.

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