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Noida’s best preschools

Windows Play Group & Nursery, Sector 50 and Gaia Playschool, Sector 93 have been reconfirmed as the city’s top two pre-primaries in the EW Noida Preschool Rankings 2014

Discerning parents of preschool children and principals/teachers polled by Delhi-based market research firm C fore in the IT and industrial hub of Noida (pop. 642,000) in Delhi NCR, have reconfirmed Windows Play Group & Nursery, Sector 50 and Gaia Playschool, Sector 93 as the city’s top two pre-primaries in the EW Noida Preschool Rankings 2014. The previously fourth ranked Amiown, Sector 44, promoted by the Amity group of institutions, has moved up to #3 this year while Kangaroo Kids, Sector 34 (#4) has lost its Top 3 rank. The Top 5 is completed by Maple Bear Canadian Preschool, Sector 48 which has made an impressive debut in the EW Noida league table.

Monica Baluja, founder-principal of Windows Play Group (estb.1995) top-ranked by respondents on six of ten parameters including teacher competence, individual attention to students, leadership, parental involvement, safety and hygiene, and special needs education, is not surprised with Windows’ top ranking for the second successive year. “We work hard with love and passion to build the confidence of young children stepping into the world beyond home for the first time. Our highly trained teachers nurture and mentor every child with focused attention and provide a caring environment full of learning opportunities. Class sizes are restricted to 10-12 which makes teacher-child interaction personalised. Great attention is paid to safety and hygiene, and parental involvement in the emotional and social development of children is encouraged,” says Baluja, who adds that for every vacancy, the school receives five applications with many parents registering children immediately after birth.

A previously unranked school which has stormed into the Top 5 league table of Noida’s best pre-primaries is Maple Bear, Sector 48, promoted by Maple Bear India Pvt. Ltd — a joint venture of the Canada-based Maple Bear Global Schools Ltd and the Delhi-based Modi Edutech — which runs 55 Maple Bear Canadian preschools countrywide. Established in 2013, Maple Bear, Sector 48 offers day care and an “international preschool programme” — toddlers, nursery to junior kindergarten and senior kindergarten — to 130 children mentored by 18 teachers (tuition fee: Rs.5,000 per month).

“This is great news for a year-old preschool. Our USP is a thoroughly researched curriculum developed, tested and proven in Canada which boasts one of the world’s best early childhood care and education systems. Children learn through directed play and sensory experiences in a joyful and safe environment. Continuous teacher training is also a strong focus area with teachers intensively trained by local and international experts to deliver the Maple Bear curriculum,” says Kavita Rana, a commerce graduate of Delhi University and a trained nursery teacher who signed up as head of Maple Bear last year.

Following Maple Bear at #6 is Little Pearls Play School, Sector 29 which has lost a rank since last year, while the next three positions are taken by debutants — Pathways Early Years, Sector 100 (#7); Khaitan Preschool, Sector 40 (#8) and Stimulus Preschool, Sector 39 (#9) — indicating frenzied activity in pre-primary education in the Noida industrial hub. The Top 10 Noida preschools league table 2014 is completed by Gennext, Sector 62 which has yielded its 2013 #6 rank to newcomers.

To read Noida's best preschools league table visit: