Hey guys! We are finally launching our school in Pune (Grades 1-12) that I have spoken about in the past. Open for admissions today. (Quite the opposite of doing a remote venture - but 🤷 ) Quite stoked about it. Please do check out the website: https://flourishschool.org and I am all ears for any feedback - tech, education and otherwise. Thanks again. And if you happen to know anyone from Pune who would benefit from knowing about our little enterprise, please do share for good karma 🙂

Looks pretty awesome ! Best of luck 👍

A School 😮 Woowww.. party parrot

Awesome work @loud-glass-33663 This takes a ton of forethought..

Great @loud-glass-33663 !

My question is on the similar lines. So what if people move out of Pune and want to join in regular schools? Like how does it get "graded" (had to use it) in the perspective of other schools, colleges ?

Hey @straight-continent-34777 Thanks. Basically, if you want to get back into the system, there are 3 options available in Maharashtra (2 of which are available across India). 1) NIOS 2) Cambridge Board as an external student 3) Maharashtra Open Schooling SSC exams. We have not yet decided if we would specially prepare children for these exams - but I believe content knowledge wise, students should mostly be covered. We may only have a prep-course on how to give exams, etc.

Cool. I see the value prop you bring to the students - Its a learning by experience and thought provocation exercise.

@adorable-musician-78571 Yeah. Basically we will have a transcript of what the students have achieved every week they were with us. We have a lot of tracking built in. So that should help if you change cities. I have spoken to the founder of a similar no-board school. They are in year 5 now and students often leave mid-term, etc. but haven't had any issues getting placed in other schools.

And again, this is a tech only discussion. For other fields where a formal education is mandatory - Medicine for example, this causes a lot of concern for the parents.

In the end, the school is not for everybody. There is an element of risk involved. As a parent, you need to be okay with the risk. A part of our admission process is to play the devil's advocate and dissuade parents 🙂

Exactly. its not easy especially in India where those who value marks and report cards are more than people who want people who really know stuff.

I get that.

@loud-glass-33663 awesome...

However, there are some scenarios - like medicine, from above that you as an educational institution need to help mitigate for me.

Hmm.. If I can be blunt and you do get to a crossroads when you want to really flip and go mainstream, there are no dearth of "registered" schools, who would accommodate for a small donation. 😉

Money does solve all problems eh? 😉

Yeah. I mean, the worse case. I am not advising that. But in India, that is a way out.

Hahaha... Fair enough.. You still hvent answered my other question!

Which is? 🙂

When are you opening in Bangalore?

Haha .. I don't think I might ever do. You are totally welcome to do so. I can help you set it up and point you in the right direction 😉

@loud-glass-33663 this is great initiative. I have a 2 yr old and I feel our education system hasn't evolved with time. On top of that, I don't believe the current set of syllabus prepares children for the real world. I have pondering about what kind of schooling I want for my kid as we're nearing to start thinking seriously about admissions. I wish our society becomes more open to flourish kind of schooling system & it becomes more accessible in coming years. Best of luck with what you're doing.

Thank you @witty-gigabyte-47737 . I agree. I believe there will be 1000 different types of schools and soon, you would be able to pick out whatever works best for your family. In Pune, we now have a pure nature school (started by Admin of Green School Bali), then we have a Waldorf Steiner school and someone recently started a K-4 Montessori school. All without board affiliations. Quite heartening. Also: @straight-continent-34777 I was serious about starting your own. If this model appeals to you, check out: https://start.actonacademy.org/launch1/ India needs more such schools

Hmmm. Let me see...

Which one is in Chennai? even the so-so one ?

@straight-continent-34777 That is why it helps to be part of a network. We will be hiring our staff anyways. But yeah - it is a leap 🙂

awesome @loud-glass-33663 . All the best. Just watched the video on your website. 👍🏼

@straight-continent-34777 If your kids want to get back to the mainstream, you always have NIOS as an option, no?

Options exist, whats the path in pursuing one is the question. How big is the gap / what is the acceptance criteria, etc.. Thats something I need to educate myself about before I take the plunge

@straight-continent-34777 That is a good point. I would be interested in knowing that as a parent, what data would you like to see to get sold that there is no gap / your children will probably be better?

1. How does a transition from the new model to the traditional happen? 2. What does a student need to work on to ease into the traditional workflow? What would a student ideally be good at? What would a student be lacking in when compared with his / her peers who have been traditionally educated all through their lives? 3. Who accepts the student and on what conditions? 4. How do I prepare my kids mentally so they arent put under undue stress? There's suddenly a whole new world out there! Stress is the last thing my children have to go through just because they want to pursue something of interest. 5. How do we as the mother and father approach a traditional institution? What criteria of eligibility are they looking for and what kind of commitments are they looking for since we went out of the system and now want in again?

@straight-continent-34777 I'm planning to meet another parent to discuss the possibilities. You and your s/o are welcome to join.

Oh nice! When? Where?

No, not yet planned.

Cool

So @straight-continent-34777 They are all good questions. If I can be honest with you, I would never try and convince a parent with any of these questions - I think they need to be convinced already. I can of course guide them as to what the options are - but anything to do with "what my child will lack / not lack", "what will they be good at", etc. is too risky for me to try and answer. Because, the answer is: I don't know 🙂

I would never try and convince a parent with any of these questions - I think they need to be convinced already.

+100. This isn't model that should even attempted to be "scaled". Small group where you discuss "how" and not "why" will be the most productive.

I spoke to a parent earlier today whose 6th grader goes to a similar-ish learner driven school in Pune - but they are probably shutting down due to the democratic nature of the school run. His advise to me was to take inputs from all parents, but it cannot be a democratic endeavor. Also, you need to ensure you are making enough money to keep it interesting. So, it is a challenge - and I think unless someone is taking ownership, it will be hard. In addition, even with learner-driven models, there are lots of opinions (some educated, some not) - so someone will need to specify exactly how things will happen.

I think it will be easier to convince parents by results, instead of arguments. That's what Laszlo Polgar ended up realizing. Remarkable how some things never change.