It has been two years since i relocated to Hyderabad from Gurgaon. One of the main challenges for us, as is for other families with kids is to search for a good school in the new city. My son was 3 years when we moved to Hyderabad. When he was 2.5, at Gurgaon, we did a lot of research and "traveling" (though within the city) to find a good school and finally chose Lotus Valley International School near South City 2 due to multiple factors, one being its proximity to our home. For details, see my other post for Gurgaon school admissions.
At Hyderabad, it was even more difficult compared to Gurgaon to find a good school of choice. Lotus Valley in Gurgaon had set a high benchmark and it was very difficult for us to find a school that could meet that benchmark (unfortunately, the fact is that we were not able to find a school that could match it). We considered the following schools for my son:
1. Rockwell International School
The reviews on the internet about this school were positive. The location was also relatively close to my place (though not as close as it was in Gurgaon). But somehow the school did not appeal to us much.
2. Orchid International School
Considering the fees that this school had and compared to Lotus Valley in Gurgaon which had similar fees, we did not think it a wise investment option. Lotus Valley in Gurgaon looks more like a mall with centrally AC building and professional look.
3. Manthan International School
We found this school the best of all that were in our budget. Though the infrastructure of the Madhapur campus is no where close to Lotus Valley in Gurgaon (can't resist comparing while writing this post), we had our relative's daughter going to this school. The feedback from them was positive and so it became a 'natural' choice for us.
At Hyderabad, it was even more difficult compared to Gurgaon to find a good school of choice. Lotus Valley in Gurgaon had set a high benchmark and it was very difficult for us to find a school that could meet that benchmark (unfortunately, the fact is that we were not able to find a school that could match it). We considered the following schools for my son:
1. Rockwell International School
The reviews on the internet about this school were positive. The location was also relatively close to my place (though not as close as it was in Gurgaon). But somehow the school did not appeal to us much.
2. Orchid International School
Considering the fees that this school had and compared to Lotus Valley in Gurgaon which had similar fees, we did not think it a wise investment option. Lotus Valley in Gurgaon looks more like a mall with centrally AC building and professional look.
3. Manthan International School
We found this school the best of all that were in our budget. Though the infrastructure of the Madhapur campus is no where close to Lotus Valley in Gurgaon (can't resist comparing while writing this post), we had our relative's daughter going to this school. The feedback from them was positive and so it became a 'natural' choice for us.
4. Phoenix Greens
We had also heard good reviews about Phoenix Greens but since it was quite far from our place we did not consider it.
Feedback about Manthan
We are okay with the school, though I'd recommend Tellapur campus instead of Madhapur campus as it's bigger and better. Pluses are that children get limited homework, 2 teachers for about 25 students in a class, activities like dancing, music, physical education, art and craft, computer education, phonics, a long summer break, accessibility of teachers for any issue, uploading of pictures on facebook, engaging students with activities for occasions like festivals etc.
A few things I don't like are no winter break. There is a week off for Dusshera and a week off for Sankranti in Jan which is a big problem for us as we are from north and can't travel so frequently for 1 week each (prefer less frequent but longer breaks to go home), class sections keep changing every year because they want to make kids adapt to change fast (would like to highlight that changing job across cities is a big enough and frequent change these days for kids than any other change and some of my good friends are from school with whom I studied for 6-8 years in school), no activities like swimming, skating and others (we even had horse riding in Lotus Valley at Gurgaon) and no big playground.
All in all we're okay with the school but we'd prefer something like Lotus Valley here in this budget!
All in all we're okay with the school but we'd prefer something like Lotus Valley here in this budget!
