VPMS, Lohegaon, CBSE
By Madhurie Singh, March 26, 2010
I called up St Arnolds which is CBSE and will be a damn good school right under the nose of Bishops, but was told that only elder one will get admission as no seat in UKg for younger one!
So I started to check out the school that I always wished to put my kids into, Aman Setu. So last friday my family started on school visit of Aman Setu. I was always pro, but this time my husband too was very impressed by the class rooms, methodologies and the concept. Ony thing that bothered us the board. Aman Setu follows ICSE board. We are both from CBSE, hence we prefer it over any other board. But we took the form and all set to meet Mrs Madhavi Kapur the next evening at koregaon park.
Then while we were coming out of the school, we saw a board of Mount St Patrick school, which is again ICSE. We went to the school but even though the whole area is huge something was missing. Again the UKg was full here too. I was wondering what was wrong in this school, when my husband commented, the school management seems very careless. They have left the development and maintenance to someone careless. The whole premise was dirty, the ground was still not cleared of the big and small stones which have to be excavated and turned out. When kids fall the ground should be soft not hard and full of dangerously protruding stones. The teacher stopped us from seeing the classrooms too. So Mount St Patrick was out of the list. 🙂 I didn’t even feel like asking them about the fee.
As we were driving out of the lane, I remembered Vikhe Patil Memorial School, Lohegaon. I have known it’s SP road branch to be excellent in academics and activities. My husband was reluctant as in the hot day that place looks like a desert with stones and fields all around ! But since it was visible at a distance, we drove up the mountain. It’s a 2 km from Mount St Patrick school and adjacent to Diamond water Park. Infact the blue water slides are very visible from the school!
The area of the school is huge, nothings less than 10 acres I think. There are lot of structures that is coming up in the premise. The last building is the place where the current classes are being held. This building is teacher’s accommodation only! Wow, that was a pleasant information. Any school that takes good care of their teachers are seriously thinking of good uninterrupted education, right?
The office was in a temporary room which I guess will become the reception cum dining area of the teacher’s quarter. The Principal Mrs Mrinalini Bhosale was assisted by her colleague. Both were extremely soft spoken and no hassle ladies. The principal explained the queries about the school and fees etc. I asked her about the activities that are always shown on VPMS site and she confirmed to them. It seems that VPMS encourages parents to participate in the efficient school management by forming committees of parents and teachers. They have a 50% women in each committee as a rule. Also one SC seat. The management also encourages parents to form groups and handle sports and non academic activities. That is the reason why students from VPMS are participating in so many activities and winning trophies :).
The teachers were ok and need loads of training, which I am sure will and should happen if VPMS wants to come up as a good school. The crowd is also not very hoity toity but normal like me and my family.
The school timing is 8:30 am – 2:30pm .
The school fee is Rs 30,000 for LKg and UKg and Rs 35000 for std 1 – std 5. Currently they are taking kids only uptil 5th std. There is no donation either above or below the table :D.
There is a school bus too which is around Rs 1200/- for Kalyani Nagar. Shorter distance will be smaller fee.
There is compulsory one of the 4 activities that kids have to take part every day. Skating, Karate, Music and Dance.
The other activities will begin after the entire junior and senior wings and the management research school building are done. That may take two years. There is a plan of huge amphitheater and audio visual hall. Indoor badminton, football, basketball, cricket etc will wait till the entire structure is done. But the good thing is that I checked out their architectural plan in detail which is stuck on a board and seemed to be following the blueprint by ink.
The junior wing is by itself as big as one independent school. And the senior wing is amazingly huge and longish.
They are coming up with a Research wing too.
One important fact was that the school was far from the civilization. Medical and first needs is my big concern. They are hiring a full time nurse for that same purpose. That was a relief. Suraksha Hospital (Accident and Life care) which is right in front of the Hadapsar, Nagar road by pass is approx. 8 min from the school. I think after the road is done this should reduce to 5 min. I will hunt for more hospitals and clinics when my kids start going there.
Also the stationary and uniform are distributed in the school.
Food is also served in the school but at an extra fee which I forgot to ask. I don’t think I want to avail that facility as I prefer packing their lunch myself.
The school is around 20 min from Kalyani nagar with more than 3 routes. The area is extremely safe as it fall in the Air Force zone and under surveillance 24 hours. The approach road after hitting Wagholi area is pretty raw and let me warn all those who are going by small cars, drive slow. After Aman Setu the road to the VPMS is very poky and preferably use SUV. Or atleast make sure the tyres are filled with optimum air. :). Keep a spare tyre
The school admission are open and the form can be downloaded from www.vpmslohegaon.org or here.VPMS-AdmissionForm
Now for the savings.
DPS development fee Rs 65000 /- officially .;)
St Mary’s definitely was cheapest but was not suitable for overall development of kids. I would rather have a happy living kid than an intelligent pseudo successful kid. Hence the biggest saving was two innocent lives going into stressed out rat race.
I know there are a lot of parents who are going crazy after the brand names. But having been there and done that, I guess, I know more about the inside of a few schools in Pune. A lot of parents have written that they cannot write or do not have that much courage to write. I do not blame anyone. It’s not wise to write when your kid is in the school, it’s better to solve that problem if possible. I always want to help the schools in which my kids study, as any positive change in the school will mean an indirect change in their my kids lives. But if a school resorts to corrupt practices, you got to be very careful.
I will write more on DPS and St Mary’s later as I want this to be a positive review of Vikhe Patil Memorial School.
So let me end the review by giving you one very positive fact that was the deciding factor of my selecting VPMS.
Dr. Vikhe Patil Foundation has been running successfully
- MBA (Pravara Centre for Management Research & Development),
- MBBS (Pravara Center for Medical Sciences)
- Center for Management Research and Development, Pune
- Management (Pravara Centre for Management Research and Development),
- Pravara Institute of Research and Education in Natural and Social Sciences (PIRENS), Loni,
- Institute of Business Management and Administration (IBMA), Loni,
- College of Engineering, Ahmednagar,
- Center for Management Research and Rural Development, Ahmednagar,
- Rural Medical College, Loni ( Post graduate level medical school)
- Rural Dental College, Loni (Post graduate level dental school)
- College of Physiotherapy, Loni
- College of Nursing, Loni
- Center for Biotechnology, Loni
- Center for Social Medicine, Loni
- Dr. Vikhe Patil Foundation, Pune
When I saw these many other professional institutes run by Dr Vikhe Patil Foundation, I was mentally assured, that if my kids do wish to take up any of these professional courses, I know who will give then an open invitation. 😀
Also now school will be CBSE International !
This is review of Lohegaon branch and in no way should be compared with SB road branch.
Hello Mam, I am looking a school for my daughter for JrKg. And I am staying in VimanNagar. Please suggest us best school in our area. Preferably CBSE. Thanks, Nilesh
Kindly fill the contact form
Some ambitious parents with greedy needs have made many schools to start a business in education. Let the regional medium schools grow, which are run by government. Nowadays, education has become a business. There are many good marathi medium, Hindi Medium, and Urdu medium schools in pune, but none of you have taken their names in your website. NMV, Bharat English School, Vidya Niketan, Himgiri Vidyalaya, Modern High School, Moze High school, SNBP school, Huzurpaga, HV Desai, Anglo Urdu High school, Moledina High school, Anjuman-e-Islam School, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai school, Tingre school, Janta High school, Agrasen High school, Joshi Hindi medium school, and many others etc. Education has become a business and on that consultation a big business. Parents are fool. do not go by TV or media...apply your own mind. There are people who had gone to US after studying in Marathi schools. Not all English medium people goes abroad. Half of them are failures after their higher secondary standards or later in life. So do not calculate success of your kid on the basis of school's name. The main value of teaching starts from your own house and then your surrounding and then school. Kids from marathi schools have more respect towards their parents as I have experienced. I hope you all might have experienced it too, but you think that that is a gouti culture. You want to make your kids say, "my dad mind f**ks", typical Indian mentality and so on. I have no offence towards English medium or any other medium as such, but nowadays it has become a business. Earlier, a decade or 2 back, there were few good schools, now that is not the case. it is waste of money to put our kids in those schools.
I would say do not go by status. Select any good marathi medium school in your area and put your kid in that. Earlier, state board schools had English from Std V, that is why they used to have problem in English. Now, every school is having English from Std. I, so there wont be any problem with the language nowadays. If you see, English is only used when you are in marketing or sales industry or if you want to go abroad. otherwise, engineering and medical professionals are not needed to have fluent English. Just to teach English, you are investing a huge amount on your kid's studies, and making him/her work to recover that. It is not a good business deal. If you see performers in every field, you will find 90-95% performers are from regional medium schools, let it be any. You can experience it any field you are in. My idea for my kid is to take his education from some good marathi medium school in my area, and complete his formal education. Then after that, if he has capability, then he can do it on his own. No donations will be provided to him. If he is really capable, then I can just pay the fees, but no jabardasti admissions.
Vikhe patil school fees is around 38k for Std. I to IV. They charge approx 3600 rs half yearly for breakfast (compulsory) and 3600 approx for lunch (optional). Their infrastructure is good as well as the board. If you compare Aman setu and Vikhe patil, then i think you should go for the Vikhe Patil as paying a large amount of fee is worth when the school has huge playground and other facilities. Whereas in Aman Setu, the theme is good, but its not worth the fees, as they have a very small playground, students are very few in each class, so overall development of a kid misses somewhere. This is my thinking, you can decide yourself when you check it out yourself. In all 3 schools, viz. Vikhe Patil, Aman Setu, and Mount St. Patricks, i think Mount St. Patricks is good, but getting admission there is a luck. St. Patrick's fees is less than their transport charges :) The Patrician brothers are really doing a nice job by serving a society by running a school like this with such a low fees. Hats off to them.
Mr. Sandeep, thankx for the info. Ms. Madhurie, please help me with few things: Which all schools in Pune have made transport compulsory? If some parent does not want to avail the facility (if they are staying near school or want to drop their kids themselves), then what are the rules? Some transport companies charges their fees quarterly, why they charge for the months when your kid is not availing the facility? Many of the transport players have not installed GPS onto their buses yet, no attendant is there still in the buses. I know of Aman Setu who is making transport compulsory, though their theme is good, but it can be done free, if they are so insisting on environmental things. They can charge less fees, as they do not have proper infrastructure in their school. Just having a good theme should not attract high fees.
Dear Vilas, Thanks for writing .I know it pains when we have to pay for the services not availed. We pay for the school fee even when there are holidays for 3 months in total. Similarly buses also. These go into paying the salaries of the staff, teachers and bus attendants. It will be better that schools and transport are charged a bare minimum for those months the kids do not avail them. All schools charge the unnecessary fee and we parents keep quiet. So if they're to be a change, there has to a thorough thought out solution that is a win win for everyone. You may write using contact form any worry and solutions too.
Mt st patrick is a good school. Their office staff is very cooperative and welcoming. The school is very neat and tidy with a huge campus and playground. My 2 kids are in that school from last 4 years.
Sorry for my English. I know many of you will not understand my english.
I need to tell you 1 thing about Mount St. Patrick that the transport facility is optional, but the admin of the school who has his own fleet of buses make sure that everyone who gets admission falls in the bus route. Also, it seems the admin is more authoratative than the school principal. Rest, the school and management is good as far as fees and other facilities are concerned. You can say one of the best schools in the Lohegaon area (18000 rs annual fees). I do not know how can a school authority allow their employees to become contractor for the school. Even if someone complaints about rash driving, the complaint is going to be handled by the admin, the same person......
I am not really very clear. Can you mail me using the contact form pls.
Mount St. Patrick has transport facility which is optional. It is not compulsory for parents to opt for the transport. If parents want, they can arrange for their own transport. The school fees is not inclusive of transport. The bus owner is also the admin person of the school who looks after other maintenance services also. I want to say that if in case of rash driving, if we complain, will the school authority listen? Because we are going to call the admin, who himself is the bus owner. In that case, he will just ask driver not to drive rash. Another thing is that, when you pay the fees, the school staff need to tell you that there are various option you can take for transport. But they will say it only when you ask them. But it has been observed that whenever a person pays the fees and starts to walk out of the school, this admin person is standing at the main hall exit and asks every parent to pay the transport fees in the transport office. Now, the parents feel that it is compulsory to take the school bus from that provider itself. Now, if you stay just 3 km from the school and you have different providers at your place, then you have the options, but this guy does not allow you to take other transport. I would have given you my identity, but as my 2 kids are studying in that school, that is why I cannot show my identity. I request other parents who are seeking admission to Mount St. Patrick school that they be aware of this issue. No harm in using his bus, if you have no other options. Lastly, if you want to take admission to Mount St. Patrick School, if you stay in nearby areas where the admin's buses ply, you will get first preference. I hope I am clear. I wanted to reveal my identity, but I am scared about 2 kid's future. Other than this transport thing, I am 100% satisfied with the school. It is one of the best school in lohegaon area with so low fee structure. Thanks all.
No need to reveal your identity on the site. You may write to my using the contact form.
Hi Sandeep, I agree its not fair to have the transport owner be the one who administers it too. But nothing wrong if the person is fair. In this case I would be able to take it with the concerned people only when there not less than 8-10 parents facing the same worry. Also I am a firm believer of finding the solutions when I approach a school. So in this there a few things. One, you all may get together and find out a few solutions with giving good thought to each solution. Solutions should be such that it does not go against those who are making their living out of the fee being charged. And then I can approach the school. Nothing is impossible.
MOst info is on the website. For more you will have to book appointment.
nice information very useful but need to know that which is better st. patrik, vikhepatil or aman setu. shifting to dhanori pune form lonavla.
Hi Madhuri: I have been keep visiting your site & forum reviews. I think this is the best effort any one has done so far to help parents finding right educational institution in Pune. Hats...Off to you! I just want to re-confirm "amarhulle" comment on the fees that yes VPMS is charging 48000/-. I don't think there could be any flexibility, but will await to hear from you. My question is more precise about it's comparision with and detailed review about Mount St. Patrick Academy. I tried google about Mount St. Patrick but didn't get any reviews. Even in your sites and forum only the name apears but hardly any review or comments about it. Can you please help me as I'm consdering either VPMS or St Patrick? The only hitch I always have about those schools charging high is that you never know when they will again increase their fees. Today they develop themselvs from hard money of parents and tomorrow they will go out of the parents' budget who gave them initial money to thrive. Thanks Shailendra
hi madhuri, the fees indicated in above review is INR 30,000 but as per latest school document it is ~ 48,000. Do you have any idea that VPMS offers any flexibility in fees?
hmm I 'll check it with VPMS. I donot think they need to charge so high!
hi madhuri, cd you pls let me how far (approx) would be VPMS from vishrantwadi? I am thinking of this school for my son to Class 2. geeta
It's 10 Km. , I visited it yesterday only
try maps.google.com pls
Hi Madhuri, Can you pls tell me what is the education ladder of VPMS.Forms ar out for jr. kg and my son's age is appropriate for it and I m going to fill this but I m bit confused at what age he will go in 1st standard?
Between 5.5-6.5yrs kids shud be in class 1. Check my post about "what is the right age..." For any more queries, do attend my workshop.
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