Inventure vs. Greenwood - Safety, Teachers, and Sports/Arts - In that same order

[honsum]

Both are good. My daughter joined Greenwood after we returned two years back. Greenwood management is busy in expansion and lately their focus has been more on setting up new campus (adjacent to existing one). The admission coordinator has moved to IB campus and a new lady has joined. May be delay in reply due to that. I was there 2 weeks back for my younger one admission and there were 5-6 other parents also waiting. Admission process for next year has started.

Inventure has good reputation academically. I heard that teachers are good there.

Greenwood - I don't see any security issue. They had security cameras before these incidents occurred. Recently they have introduced RFID as well. I like the principal who is very particular about rules and norms. I haven't heard any complain about teachers and other staff behavior. As far as extra curricular is concerned GWH is balanced. My only concern has been their selection process for annual sports day.

I don't know much about Inventure except some +ve feedback on academics.

[Plan2010]

First off, I apologize for posting about a topic which has been discussed in detail by many in this forum. But unfortunately for me, I am looking for specific information about the two schools.

I have read pretty much all topics in this forum about this, but everyone seems to be skirting around the topic I have questions about. So here goes:

1. Safety: Rape and Schools should not even be in the same sentence. But unfortunately, these days, it is. For those Moms and Dads sending your kids to one of these schools - have you addressed it with the Head of the school, and what has their response been? Can you please elaborate?

2. Teachers - Kids that have gone to schools in the US have a certain expectation from teachers - with respect to manners, treating kids with respect, overall being sincere (atleast pretend to be sincere). How do the teaching staff measure up in these schools?

3. Extra-curricular - I am reading a lot about how Inventure focuses a lot on sports, and such things. Is it true? Is Inventure focusing a lot on sports, or are they ALSO focusing on sports and other things along with academics? To me, academics is also a requirement - not the only requirement. Do from that perspective, how does each school fare?

I have to decide in December when I visit, which of these two we are going with. Any help from you guys would be greatly appreciated.

As a side note, I applied online for both schools, Inventure was quick to respond, and has been steadily answering my questions - not a peep from Greenwood as of this minute.

Cheers
VV

My kids were in Inventure for 3 years, based on my experience:

The management is very friendly and approachable. They do listen to the parents and try to implement new policies based on the feedback. But they are very disorganized in handling most of the problems, you'll see lot of changes happening because of parents suggestions/complaints - not always a good thing.

What I've heard and seen with academics is that they are very lenient till 5th grade and then suddenly all the proper exams and grading start in 6th and kids might find it tough to cope. There were no textbooks for lower grades and to me the content of their curriculum seemed not up to the standard of other schools. The feedback I got from one of the teachers is that they try to implement the western method of learning by practical application and experimenting and take it slow during the first two semesters and then the last semester they realize there is quite a lot of portion left to be finished and rush through it in the normal Indian way. :) And the quality of teaching would totally be on your luck if your kids get good teachers good for you. They have the good, bad and the mediocre.

They do have some extra curricular activities and your kid will be on stage multiple times a year which is good in a way. There is an annual sports event, but some favoritism is involved in the selection for all these activities. They used to have multiple days in a year where you have to go and see your kids work (which sometimes doesn't amount to much) - this was a major hassle since unlike U.S where you are a mile from the school here you have to travel quite a bit to get there.

I had heard lot of parents complaining about lack of stress on academics while I was there. But when I visited this year, many of them commented it has improved a bit, I think mostly based on the 10th or 12th result - which necessarily does not have anything to do with the school, it is parent pressure/kids motivation/ tuition etc. I know several high schoolers had tuition because of lack of good quality teachers.

Safety: Probably things have ramped up in all blr schools due to the recent events. While I was there I had not noticed any cameras but maybe it was there. There are few security people around, who does check the cars going in, kids being signed out etc. I am sure they wouldn't cut any corners with safety, but it has a huge campus and kids can easily wander if they want to - another side effect of their lenient atmosphere. There were serious issues of bullying for which nothing much was done in-spite of several parents complaining. They had this kid who occasionally gets expelled and then comes back after some time, continues bullying gets expelled again etc. Things may have improved now, you should check with current parents.

I would suggest you look at Primus too, that's supposed to be a disciplined version of Inventure. I've heard good reviews for Deens, but it might be tougher to get admission there. And always try to talk to parents of kids in the same grade as yours to get a realistic feedback.

[vvishwas]

Thank you Plan2010 and honsum.

Plan2010 - with regards to bullying - do you know specifically what it was about? Both my kids have a heavy American accent. Are kids tolerant to that? Would they be singled out?

Teaching and quality of teacher, I understand, is a variable, and I need to remember that it could go both ways, I suppose.

How about sports - be in in Inventure or Greenwoods?

[Plan2010]

Thank you Plan2010 and honsum.

Plan2010 - with regards to bullying - do you know specifically what it was about? Both my kids have a heavy American accent. Are kids tolerant to that? Would they be singled out?

Teaching and quality of teacher, I understand, is a variable, and I need to remember that it could go both ways, I suppose.

How about sports - be in in Inventure or Greenwoods?

At Inventure, there are lots of kids who have returned from U.S so that should not be a problem at all. Elementary level bullying was hitting, kicking, twisting hands variety :), higher grades had facebook problems. I'm not sure exactly how the facebook episode went, but we'd all got mails saying they are taking care of it. But the elementary level thing was not handled well at all, the kid was in my son's grade and it was a major problem.

Teaching - don't expect the best I would say, saves you a lot of pain. :)

Sports - Inventure is pretty famous for its extracurricular, if your kids are really good in it there should not be a problem, but be ready to muska the teachers/sports teacher etc once you are there. Will work in your favor.

[vvishwas]

LOL!!!

Gosh, I haven't done muska to teacher in decades!!!!

[Plan2010]

LOL!!!

Gosh, I haven't done muska to teacher in decades!!!!

That's a required course for parents before moving to India..along with prepping your kids on Hindi. :)

[Moving again]

Inventure did not impress me for a few reasons. 1. When I asked the principal what she thought about the recent rape that had happened at Vibgyor, her answer appalled me. She said "well, it has not been proven to be true yet". That was so off base that I didn't want to hear the rest of her answer which anyway was not convincing as to what she is doing for her school. 2. I saw that the kids were walking around the campus with a lot of attitude. I didn't go there to judge, but it was too glaring. 3. Classes that I saw (grade 5 and k2) was completely disorganized.

If I have to pick a different school for my kids, my next preference would be Greenwood. But my kids and I are very happy indeed with NEEV.

How 's your experience with Neev , I think they have opened a new campus in yemlur. On visit , the school looked too small and several grades(6,7 ,8) were attending some classes together !

[justdoit2552]

How 's your experience with Neev , I think they have opened a new campus in yemlur. On visit , the school looked too small and several grades(6,7 ,8) were attending some classes together !

Browsing through their website, there seem to be only IB syllabus thought, is that right?