10 Point Guide for Cracking Nursery Admissions

This is from a personal experience and incremental learning which we underwent while trying to get our little daughter admitted to a school in Noida. Initially we were not panicky over the whole situations but after the some what initial unpleasant interactions, listening to fellow parents who were as pained, getting frustrated over the opaqueness of the whole process, we had to put our head down for a while and we started to think beyond the normal.

Both of us work at very reputed organization, at socially impressive steps of the rat-race corporate ladder (if anyone really cares), are young and honest, our offices are in Noida, we stay closer to Noida and so on. It seemed to us and our well-wishers that we would sail through but as you could imagine that it was definitely not very smooth.

So, cutting the crap, here's my personal 10 point guide for fellow parents. This is just out of my head and there is no data but if we all collaborate and share our information (write a comment) then we can refine the points over time, making it more effective.

10 Point Guide
1. Plan early. Read blogs. Join discussion forums,www.nurseryadmissions.com is really good, collect information about dates/names of school/criteria etc. Having this information would help you to do those extra things like getting a lease-agreement etc.

2. Make a list of 10 schools and put them in order of your preference. I would suggest that you must try 10 and probably that is enough.

3. Working Parents + Day Care (Creche) doesn't work. So if you can find a way to have your baby go to grand-parents then have it. If you can't then plan for it and when you fill the form, mention that they go to grand-parents.

4. Parents' educational qualifications count a lot. So if you have done a PG Diploma in HR while you were not doing much in life and are now a creative head of an Advt. Organization and think that writing PGDBM in HR is low-class then dump the thought and flaunt it. Schools love these things, probably because they are in education business, so mention all those courses esp if they are PG courses.

5. Schools do not understand corporates. So work-at-home is a sort of new-age thing for them, so be a little careful when you claim that you are mostly at home or at beach. Its always better to be a conformist and say that your work timing is 8 to 5.

6. Some professions do not work well. So if you are a lawyer, a media professional, a cop then you are not one of those good people around. Find a way to hide it. For example, an environmental civil lawyer is still a better one than a criminal lawyer. A safe way to portray would be to show your job as a dull-back office-insignificant one by adding necessary designations. So if you are a cop, say that you are posted at Head-Quarter's PF Wing or some such crap. I know cops dont read blogs but you get the idea. If you are a business-man, then probably you can say that you are a consultant and so on.

7. Some Job functions doesn't work well. One such job is Sales and Marketing. Somehow I have a sense that anyone who is into 'Sales' or into 'Marketing' is perceived as 'Miss Chamko' of 'Chasme-baddur' fame. In simpler words, if you are in 'Marketing', you might be looked down, more so from folks in Academia. Hide it. One advice would be to change your Job Designation, add something academic to it. For example, add 'Research' or 'Analysis' or some such crap. Try reading 'Head of Marketing - North' and then read 'Head of Marketing Research - All regions', somehow the later sounds more academic.

8. Stay in Noida. If you dont or can't then get into a Rent-Lease agreement and claim that you are in Noida. Except Somerville which insists on interacting with you through 'courier', everyone else would need a proof only at the time of admission. They would accept 'Rent Least Agreement' as a valid proof.

9. This is a little tricky but dont behave with school as equals. You are not as equal as them and thats the reason they dont treat you one being equal. Always go with the assumption that anyone with whom you interact (more true for big brothers like DPS, Apeejay, Amity, Cambridge etc then the newer ones like Khaitaan which is really polite) is your school principal. Even the nursery teachers who would take your interview (yeah, I know it sucks when they ask you those big questions about parenting) would love you, if you bow a bit and wish them. Be submissive, Yes Mam Yes Sir. They love it.

10. It would be harsh to be know-all so I leave the last to you.

I know some of the schools are not going to like this list and I would really encourage them to being some open-ness to the whole system. Its really a painful exercise for a Kid and parents and one thing with which we can all benefit is getting some transparency.

All the best and good luck !!!

Father Agnel, Noida - Quick Notes

For our Kid's admission, we applied for Father Agnel as well. I visited the school couple of times and one of my friend's son studies there. Here's some info about the school which I learned during this time and which might help fellow parents.


Location - Sector 62. Its on the road which connects Labour Chowk to NH24. The other way is to find Fortis hospital in Sector 62 and then go West from Fortis, its right at the end.

Father Agnel is located very well for residents of Sector-62 which has a large no of apartments, Indirapuram which is just on the other side of N24 and Sector 55,56,57,58.


View Larger Map

The above is an interactive map so you can move the mouse and can also get directions from anywhere.

Father Agnel is a convent school and they have other schools in Delhi and elsewhere. Its a convent format but its a CBSE board. The one in Noida where we applied, seemed to have decent infrastructure, with clean small lawn in front, a moderately big play-ground in the back and not-so-large main school building.

What really impressed me was the new auditorium which can really give a run for the money to some of the bigger schools. I could see some more development happening which is a very good sign for folks who have more years to spend here.

The staff was very polite and methodical. They didn't take any money for the form and when we submitted it, we were charged Rs 100 (Thats what I remember, but it was definitely not more than 150).

Our first interaction was on Oct 14th. They were very organized and all the parents were requested to wait in the auditorium. It was a little warm inside but this was much better arrangement then what we saw in Somerville, Cambridge, Vishwa-Bharti etc. All the information regarding results were very clearly projected on the big screen which was also sort of very good, not very common in most of the interactions we had.

The results would be out on Oct 23, but since we got another school, we couldn't wait for these results. I was very impressed overall with the school.

Age and Distance Criteria for Nursery Admissions in Noida Schools

This post is a result of a conversation between two colleagues, one who’s Kid is trying to get admissions for the academic year 2009-20010 and the other whose kid might be ready for 2010-2011 and would need to start the process around September 2009.

I initially planned to include more schools but thats taking time so here's the one which i have been able to compile so far.

1. DPS Noida - Between 3 & 4 on 30th Sep- 2008 - Residence With-in 8 KMs.
2. Amity Noida - Born between 1st April 2005 - 31st March 2006 - Residing in Noida
3. Somerville - 3+ as on 01.04.2009 - Residing in Noida
4. Cambridge - Born between 1 Oct 2004 – 30 Sep 2005 - Residing in Noida
5. Vishwa Bharti - 3.5 years on 31st March 2009 - No restriction on residence
6. ApeeJay - Between 3 and 4 on 31 March 2009 - No restriction on residence
7. Khaitan - 3 on 1st April 2009 - No restriction on residence

For aspirants who would want to seek admission for 2010-2011, probably add one year to these days and they would still hold good.

Our Nursery Admission Score Card

This is more for us then for anyone else, something to look back later and relive. We had decided to apply at 10 schools, hoping that we would get one at least.

1. . Amity (Round 1 - Pass, Round 2 - No)
2. . Apeejay (Round 1 - Pass, Round 2 - Yes. Admission Taken)
   
3. . Cambridge (Round 1 - Pass, Round 2 - No)
4. . DPS (Round 1 - Application not shortlisted)
   
5. . Father Agnel (Round 1 - Results on Oct 23)
   
6. . Indus Valley (Only one Round - Pass. Selected)
7. . Khaitan (Only one Round - Pass. Selected)
   
8. . Ryan (Round 1 - On Oct 10th. Skipped)
9. . Somerville (Round 1 - Application Shortlisted, Round 2 - No)
   
10. . Vishwa Bharti (Only one Round - Pass. Selected)
    

Khaitan School, Noida - A primer on Nursery Admissions

Khaitan is a new school but its gradually getting more popular and is seen as one of the better schools in Noida. It doesn't figure among big-bro schools in Noida like DPS, Amity, ApeeJay or among the new age modern swanky ones like Step-By-Step, Lotus Valley etc but is gaining ground.

Location - Its in sector 40 which is a little away from the old main Noida but a very handy location for Sector 50, 51, 39 etc.

Age Criteria - 3 years on 1 April 2009.

Form Availability - We applied in 2008, for 2009 session, and forms were available from 15th Sep 2008 - 23th September 2008.

Last Date for Submission - Form submission was on 24th, 25th and 26th.

Admission Process
There is only one round of interaction for parents as well as the kid. We were asked to fill a form which had the usual questions
- Why KPS
- What do you expect from KPS
- Why its important for Father to spend time
- Nuclear family or Joint Family
- How much quality time you spend

Kid was taken to some interaction room and it seemed that the session was exhaustive as my Kid was back after 30 minutes or may be more. She briefly told us that there were puppets (may be they do some sort of role-playing games) and that she was given a banana to eat.

Our interaction was about 60 seconds. We were asked about our education and thats it.

We were fairly impressed with the way the whole process was executed. Staff was very polite (not a usual scenario at schools, they are very teacher-ish) and was smiling (again not a usual thing). School was very clean and I could see lot of work going on, probably some infra additions.

Result would be out on October 3rd.

Update on Oct 6th
------------------
330 odd students were selected. We also made in. We need to submit fees by Oct 7th. We tried asking for an extension, hoping to get a result out of APJ, but no luck. Monthly fee is Rs 2.5K and fees at the time of admission is Rs 33.5K. Nothing is refundable out of 33.5 K, should we choose to change our mind later.
We would most likely go and submit the fees.

Somerville School, Noida - Nursery Admission primer

Somerville is one of the better schools of Noida. It doesn't feature among big brothers (DPS, Amity, ApeeJay) or among new-age modern-thinking swanky ones (Mayoor, Lotus Valley, Step-By-Step etc) but is a decent school.

Location - Its in Sector 22, not the best of locations since its just next to 'Chauda Village' and there is a 'liquor shop' right at the gate, but thats fine.

The forms were out in early september and were available for a week. I think it was first week of September. They only allow Noida residents and all communication happens through courier.

Admission Process
1. Apply if you meet the age criteria. You need to be a resident of Noida, preferably a close-by sector.
2. In first round, they shortlist some of the cases (we dont know the criteria and it would be anyone's guess) and send a letter through courier. For this year, they used DTDC so please ensure that you keep a tab on that.
3. In 2nd round, you interact with a very senior person. In our case, it was the Principal herself. She asked on
- how do we get time
- what stories she likes
- why Somerville

For the kid, they had some plastic fruits and animals. They call out names and the kid is to identify the animals and fruits. Non-torturous and pretty good for Kids. 3-4 minute interaction at max.

We were called on Sep 25 and successful candidates would get the letter via courier by next week. I would try to find from DTDC on whether they have started dispatching.

I would update on what I get.

Amity Noida - A primer on Nursery Admissions

Amity is not very old and for a long time it was perceived as a rich man's school but over time that has been changing. Right now its considered as one of the better schools and probably a infrastructure which very few can challenge.

Location of School - Sec 44. This is almost on the South-West corner of Noida. Very apt for Sec 37, 28,29, 39,44, 41 etc. Also good for Sarita Vihar and Greater noida since its right on express-way.

Age - Born between 1st April 2005 - 31st March 2006 (This is for admission seekers in 2008)

Location Criteria - They only allow Noida and Gr. Noida since there is a Amity in Vasundhara (for Vaishali, Vasundhara and Indirapuram residents) and one in Mayoor Vihar.

Dates - For this year, the last date for submitting online was Sep 7 2008.

Website - http://amity.edu/aisadmission/

Admission Process

1. Round 1

Round 1 has two parts. They call all the parents and kids for interaction. For parents there is a 11 page extensive question paper. Its very time-consuming and you would need to really focus and work hard.

If I remember correctly then there were five sections.
1. There are about 5-6 questions around school/office details for parents and grand-parents, annual income, whether the children has any visual/hearing or other disability etc. The other questions were

- Why you think your child is ready for school
- Whats your expectations from Amity
- Why Amity
- Describe your child.

2. Part two questions
- How do you bridge work/home gap ?
- something around communication. Why its important and how do you encourage your kid to communicate ?
- how do you tackle a restless child.
- how to ensure that your child is not aggressive and impatient
- how do you handle 'defiance'
- What skills are needed to make your kid good during his/her nursery class
- what are your child's expectation from you
- Something around setting high-standard and whether thats good or bad
- how do you handle morning scene where you had to say bye to your child

3. Part 3 questions
- If your child misses school bus
- homework not done
- bully in bus
- loses his bag or tiffin-box
- scolding
- Are dads different than moms
- if kid gets his friend's stuff (by mistake)

4. It was a short section and I think it had 4-5 questions. One was subjective and rest were objective/multiple-choice

5. This section was also mostly tick mark kinds
- a truth/myth section where there were thins which you had to mark either as 'Truth' or as 'Myth'. Some examples are 'working mothers are not good', 'children should be given enough money' and all that.

As for the the kid.

They take the kid to a different room and they are asked to color and probably a poem. Whenever I asked my daughter on what she was asked, she very intelligently distracts me. I have a guess that she didn't like whatever she was asked there. She is otherwise a very cheerful and talk-loving girl.

The results would be out on Sep 18 on the website.

Amity results are out.
http://www.amity.edu/aisadmission/index.aspx

My kid made it, All the best.

2nd Round details
It happened today morning. Very well managed. We were met by two very senior people. My kid was taken to a table nearby where I think they asked her that , what do you call a dog's kid, and some other things.

Most of the conversation happened with my spouse. They asked her the name of the principal of her school (probably they knew the principal). Both of us work so they asked on how do we manage time. Since my spouse is with Media, they asked here that how watching too much of cartoons affect a child. Pretty in-formal and relaxed.

One of my friend was also there and as his husband did some analysis on the number of kid's who were called for Round 2 and the availability of seats. It seems that they called 900 odd people and they have 650 odd seats so assuming that there is a lot of overlap and some people might choose other schools (like DPS Noida), the chances of us making in are more.

The results would be out on Sep'24, two more days of anxiety.

Update on 27th Sep
-------------------
Sorry, we flunked. Now when we reverse-engineer the whole thing, I think being a nuclear-family + both-working thing worked against us. Anyway, no worries. We are still trying to influence upon our way since its a good school.

I would try to write a post on 'how to crack this thing' later. So far I have been to Somerville, Cambridge, ApeeJay, Indus Valley and Vishwa Bharti. Tomorrow it would be Khaitan and then we go to "Father Agnel" and "Ryan" in 2nd week of October.

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.

DPS Noida - A primer on Nursery Admissions

DPS is one of the reputed schools in Noida and as per the school website which is here, during 2007, they received 30 forms for each single seat. DPS uses more of a lottery system to select candidates, this is what they sort of say. I know few parents who validated this since they could not figure out a reason for their ward's selection or rejection.

Anyway, lets move on

Website - DPS Noida
Location - Sector 30. Its on Atta-NTPC road. Very well located.
Infrastructure - Good
Reputation - High
Recommendations - Very good (first hand recommendations which I got)

For 2009 session, one could fill Online forms by Sep 4th. Thats the only way to fill forms. There is no fee for filling this online form. The website is very tacky so keep clicking on the home page to get rid of that irritating flash animation.

We filled the form. Results for some of the cases were out on Sep 10th as per schedule. One of my friend got in and they have been called for 'first interaction' on Sep 12. I would update on what I hear from her.

I am not yet lucky and for my daughter, the website shows "Under Process".

-----------------------------------------------
Update on 12 Sep 2008, through a friend who made it to the list.

There were 30 parents in one batch. Two batches were scheduled for 12 Sep, 2008. First a form was given, a simple one page form, personal data sort. After that you get prospectus against a payment for Rs 400.

Then another paper was given and that had two subjective questions viz.

1. What the milestones or landmarks during your child's development in life ?
Answer - She answered it by mentioning things like
- when the child started walking, speaking
- her first day at school
- first eating , first x and first y

2. What efforts do you make the bond the family together ?

Kids Interaction Rounds

1. During this time, they started taking kids away to a room where there was a teacher. Kids was asked to do coloring while parents were busy answering questions. Her kid was asked to fill a duck. Then parents were asked to be with the child.


2. There was a puzzle where different pieces of a butterfly was to be assembled, jig saw puzzle. Not very difficult since a pic was there. To practice at home, take a large page and then draw a butterfly on it, paste that paper on a card-board and then make 4-6 pieces and ask Kid to put them together so that it looks like a butterfly.

3. In another puzzle, there was a strip of wood which had dots of colors of a particular sequence. Kids were give a string and beads and they were to put the beads in the right sequence. Its a little tricky for a Kid to hold the string and the bead but it seemed that Teachers gave kids enough time.

Parents were allowed to interact with the during this but I think they dont expect you to help them do this.You can hint or give verbal instructions.

4. There was a paper on which they had blue color at the bottom, then brown, then black and then light-blue. Kids were told that blue is water, brown is grass, black is road and they were to guess the meaning of 'light-blue'. As per my friend, those colors were not looking like real water or road or grass (no gradient or shade or texture difference in terms of colors, dont know but someone should tell them that color has meaning if its of one single shade). So difficult for a kid.

Then they got some items from a box like flower pot, boat, car, dog etc and one has to put those things correctly. There were funny things like a man having a parachute. How many kids have seen a Parachute in real life.

5. Finally there was this Poem round. Kid were asked to recite with action. They asked two poems. Then she was given a toffee (eclairs and Kids HATE eclairs because it sticks) and were expected to say 'Thank You'.

Another thing which my friend noted was the energy level of the teacher, that energy level also decides how the Kid does.

Whoooooooooooof. And they say that they select randomly.


Parents Round 2
Parents were called in a group (10 parents) along with kids in a hall. They then asked parents to introduce themselves. People generally talked about their qualification and their job and all. Funnily, neither the Principal nor anyone else form the school introduced themselves. There was no session from school where parents were told about the school, its education system etc.

Results would be out on 15 the Sep, 8 PM. Keep tuned. Feel free to ask anything or post any comment.

Since these results are out on 15th Sep, I am assuming that they might call some more kids and I hope that I get called.

Wish me luck and comment.

update on Sep 16 morning
----------------------------

My friend's kid did not make it. The language which was their on the site was pretty rude. I haven't got a call so far and I don't think that I would get one now. Anyway.

DPS Management - If you ever read this then here's a request from a parent. Make your process transparent and publish it on your website. If its lottery then have it in presence of select group of parents. If its interaction then please assign marks and publish merit list.

one more update
--------------------

My Kid didn't make it to even short-listing :). It took DPS five days to come out with that status. The website says that the shortlisting is based on random-selection and I believe them :)

Admissions for Nursery in Noida is now on

Pihu is now 3+ so we join the game of trying our luck and use our skill in getting her admitted in a good school. We just had the counseling at her pre-school and we were told that we must apply in at least 7-10 schools.

While me and my better half are into this, I thought I would try to capture my experience and any information which I gather so that it might be useful for other people in the boat and may be for future aspirants.

I would try to update this blog post every now and then, so that there is a single post on this subject. If you visit this and have things to add then I encourage you to comment and I would add that info in main post.

Lets go school wise.

1. DPS, Noida
Website - www.dpsnoida.org

Click on 'Admissions' and then proceed.

You can apply only online so no alternate methods. Available From 1st Sep - 7 Sep. After that shortlisted candidate would be called for assessment from 10th - 16th Sep.

It seems that they dont accept applications from Indirapuram residents because there is a DPS in Indirapuram as well. Children residing with-in 8 KM radius would be accepted and age should be between 3 and 4 as on 30th Sep'2008.

2. Amity International School

link - http://www.amity.edu/aisadmission/

Fill the form online, pay Rs 300 through credit-card and you would get an invitation for 'first interaction'. We have been asked to be there on Sep 8th.

3. Lotus Valley School

Forms are out. Link is - http://www.lotusvalley.com/download_form.htm

Unlike Amity and DPS, you can't fill the form online. So take a print and submit it in school. I didn't see any end dates on the website.

4. Greater Valley School.

Its in greater noida but me and my wife were very very impressed by their Principal, Sangita Chima, who was there in the counselling session at Pihu's pre-school. So we would probably try this school. If we shift to Gr Noida, this admission would come handy.

link - http://www.greatervalleyschool.com/

Its run by the same organization which runs the famous 'Vasant Valley School'. I also think that a women principal is a better principal then a man principal :).

5. Somerville School, Noida
Forms were out on Sep 4 and there was this 10 KM line. We skipped that yesterday, today it was like a breeze. They only accept candidates from Noida and form is free. Once I fill the form, I would update on what happens next.

I would add more as I learn more. If you have any queries, then dont hesitate to ask, I would try to find an appropriate answer.