Ahmedabad’s top preschools 2015

The 586 informed respondents interviewed by C fore field researchers in Ahmedabad have ranked Olive Green Kids, Navrangpura; EuroKids, Satellite and the Riverside pre-primary the textile city Ahmedabad’s top preschools in 2015 in the three new categories UNDER THE NEW taxonomy adopted for rating and ranking pre-primaries for the EducationWorld India Preschool Rankings 2015, 586 sample respondents comprising parents and teachers/principals interviewed by C fore field researchers in Ahmedabad, have crowned Olive Green Kids, Navrangpura, the city’s #1 owned/proprietary preschool, EuroKids, Satellite the #1 franchised preschool, and the pre-primary of Riverside School #1 in the K-12 category. Owned/proprietary preschools Asmi Gandhi, principal of Olive Green Kids, Navrangpura which was ranked #10 in the composite 2014 league table, is delighted with the outcome of this year’s rankings exercise and believes that the new classification has helped “smaller pre-primaries to shine”. “The categorisation of preschools is done for a good reason as it is unfair to compare proprietary preschools with franchise or K-12 schools which have the support of large organisations. In the previous composite league table, the excellent work being done by smaller preschools was overshadowed by big brands. We are delighted that in this year’s new category of proprietary preschools, Olive Green Kids has been recognised for the continuous good work we have been doing over the past decade in early childhood education. Our teachers are well-trained and we follow a mix of Montessori, playway and Gurukul pedagogies. Constant innovation is our mantra — recently we staged a first-of-its-kind inter-preschool soccer tournament,” says Gandhi, a graduate of Gujarat University and promoter of the city’s Snowfall Montessori (1985-2005) who was appointed principal of Olive Green Kids in 2006. Currently, the preschool has an enrolment of 55 students mentored by 10 teachers. Renita Handa, promoter-director of the previously unranked Redbricks Junior, Satellite, which is ranked #2 this year in the proprietary category, concurs. “EducationWorld’s initiative to classify and rank preschools in three separate categories is intelligent and welcome as it has created a level playing field in each category. We are elated by the #2 ranking this year which was overdue. Our early years’ curriculum is highly researched and influenced by the Reggio Emilia pedagogy and the Progressive Education movement which stresses learning rooted in real life experiences. Moreover, continuous in-service training is a high priority with teachers receiving 100-200 hours of training in our in-house Redbricks Teachers Institute, which also offers full-time certificate programmes in ECCE,” says Handa, an alumna of St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad and Bentley University, USA who has also completed several short-term programmes from Harvard and Boston universities. Promoted in 2009 under the aegis of the Redbricks Education Foundation, the preschool has 200 children and 25 teachers on its muster rolls. The league table of proprietary preschools is completed by Rising Kids, Bapunagar (#3), Thumbelina Nursery, Navrangpura (4), Crayonz Preschool, Bopal (5), Crescent Pre-primary, Memnagar (6), and Smart Kids, Maninagar (7) — all previously unranked. Franchised preschools While the proprietary league table is restricted to seven preschools in…