HLC International – Review

Guess its time of the year when parents look for school admissions. This is a review I wrote at Parentree.in earlier this month.  Just posting it here for the benefit of those who may be interested. The original post along with reviews of other parents can be read at  <Click here>

It was not until I was 29, I figured out what I wanted to do in my life. By then, it was too late for me re-invent the wheel. I am sure, as parents, most of us share a similar story. So when we started our school-hunt we looked for schools that would fit into our expectations listed below:

• Knowledge through self discovery; Concepts by application.
• Character Development; problem solving, reasoning, social skills, self management & decision making that grooms the child into a confident individual.
• Teachers becoming mentors who assist in self discovery.
• Inclusivity; Respect diversity right from an early age.

Here’s gist of our experience so far:

• Makes the child self-dependent: My pre-kg daughter insists on managing her bag, water bottle, footwear every day by herself since she joined the school.
• Great Exposure & overall development: The kids won the ‘design for change’ contest earlier this month –first among 300,000 other schools. They’ve organized 3 music concerts by renowned artists so far this academic year.
• Inclusive Education: Both during their annual exhibition & sports day, special children were given an equal opportunity & whenever they had limitations – teachers & fellow students stood up to support them.
• Talent days: Children get the opportunity to showcase their skills during talent days.
• Communication: Every class has a set of parents who act as the teacher’s support team to ensure information is passed quickly to all parents through telephone & SMS. Parents are also informed of all school activities through regular emails & Facebook updates.
• Flexible academics: The school is IGCSE accredited & will soon be a fully registered Cambridge Examination Center as well. IGCSE system allows kids to take up a combination of subjects from a wide range of choice.

One thing is clear, we don’t want our daughter to join the rat race into the IIT’s, AIMS’s, & IIM’s of the world. What we wanted from HLC is to help groom her into a confident, independent & clear headed child.

Economic Times rated HLC as the best ‘New-age’ school in Chennai on the 2nd of December. Now that’s proof for whatever I’ve stated so far.

Finally, on the fees; in as much as education is considered to be a service, it does cost money to offer a good infrastructure for children.