Preschool set up

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why do we need a curriculum for preschool?

It has been identified that the early years from 2-6 yrs are one of the most important

time for brain development and learning in a child. It has been proven by experts world

over repeatedly that the capacity for a child to absorb concepts and learning is the

highest during these years of a human being’s life. So, it is very necessary to identify

areas of development that need to be focused on during these years of the child’s

development and ensure that the same is imparted in an effective manner to the child.

Blackboard learning and learning by rote does not work during these years. The child

learns through experience and repeatedly performing activities that interest him / her.

For the 1st to 12th grades in schools, a curriculum is defined by whether the school

follows ICSE, CBSE or State boards based on what the school has adopted. But, no such

standards have been defined in the preschool segment. Hence, it is extremely important

that a clear cut curriculum is defined enabled by materials which can be used to develop

a variety of skill sets, interests and intelligences in the child.

2. If I want to set up a preschool, how can Kreedo help me?

Kreedo provides a complete preschool solution that enables you to set up a premium,

world class preschool that includes the following:

a. Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum that imbibes best practices from

several established education methodologies. We have identified various

intelligences / skills that could be either interest based or need based as the

case may be and have identified methodologies, techniques and materials

that would develop and enable those skills in the child

b. High quality Educational Materials to support the curriculum

c. Furniture to create a high class environment

d. 2 Day Teacher training workshop at the client site giving an orientation on

the curriculum as well as provide training on how to market the schools

effectively to parents.

e. A multimedia based teacher training software that includes videos on how to

present the materials to the child.

f. A child evaluation software that enables the teacher to create an Individual

Education Plan (IEP) for every child and track the development of the child in

the environment by effectively observing and recording information about

the child’s activities on a day-to-day basis.

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g. We also help you with effective marketing strategies that a preschool can

adopt to get the parent’s interested.

3. What is the post setup support that I can expect from Kreedo?

a. Kreedo will provide every customer with regular updates on new activities that

can be performed in school. These activities will not need any materials and can

be devised as individual or group activities by teachers to implement and present

various concepts to the child – for e.g., a volcano eruption can be effectively

demonstrated by shaking a coke bottle

b. Every customer will be provided with a special “Ask The Expert” form that can be

used to fill in any problems that the customer may have related to admissions,

lesson plans, usage of materials or issues that kids may have (For e.g., getting

“toilet trained” could be a big issue for kids in the environment). Our team of

experts will revert to you on the most effective way to handle such scenarios in

the environment within as short a time as possible.

c. At nominal additional costs, Kreedo will also provide you continuous spare

support to ensure that the materials need to be replaced everytime which

reduces the total cost of ownership of the equipment purchased. Also, we will

undertake repair work from time to time on materials that can be repaired.

Replacement sets are also available as and when required.

d. Kreedo will also arrange special workshops / training that may be required by

your school on topics of relevance. Charges for the same would be

communicated in advance. If there are any extra training requirements that your

school might require, we could send our trainers to your premises for the same.

Charges for the same will be mutually agreed upon before the same is finalized.

e. The curriculum will be constantly upgraded. Hence, new ways of working with

equipment as well as new materials will be introduced every year or as and when

they become available. These will be provided to all franchisees at a nominal cost

which will allow them to keep themselves up to date with the latest in the

preschool education space.

f. For any other special requests, we are always just a phone call away.

4. Which age group is the solution targeted at?

The preschool solution is meant for the preschool years from 2 years to 6 years. We

have broken up the packages such that the investments can be staggered. The first

package is for the age group of children between 2 years to 4 years. The second package

is for children between the age group of 4 years to 6 years.

5. Do we provide any school kits like dresses / uniforms / stationery etc.?

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No, Kreedo will provide you with guidelines for the above as part of our curriculum. For

e.g. stationery items will not be too relevant for children between the age group of 2-4

yrs as they would have just started writing activities at the age of 3.5 yrs and hence,

basic notebooks must be provided which the school can ask the parents to purchase.

With regards to the 4-6 yrs curriculum, we will provide you with guidelines on purchase

of stationery that either the school can procure locally and provide the parents or

request the parents to purchase.

Also, quite a few activities will be provided with printables as part of the teacher training

videos which the teacher / administrator can print and use for classroom related

activities / for giving to parents to do at home as the case may be.

As regards to dresses / uniforms – we again encourage the school not to have rigid

classroom uniforms for the preschool and allow the child to dress the way they would

like. The main rule that can be enforced is to ensure that the dressing is simple without

being flashy and not have too many writings on the T shirts and dresses. Also, ensure

that you have an ethnic day as part of the weekly dressing.

As regards to items such as school bags / water bottles, again these can be requested by

the parents to purchase and the school can just provide guidelines. Again, since the

curriculum is not designed to burden the child heavily by providing too much homework,

we will not be having heavy schoolbags that the child will be carrying back and forth.

6. What is the methodology all about? How are children taught various concepts? Do we

use books to teach children?

The curriculum is based on didactic educational materials that have been designed to

teach children various concepts. These are learning aids that help the child understand

various concepts and develop their skills. Books are a limited part of the curriculum and

are not the core.

For the age group of 2 yrs to 4 yrs, the curriculum has a few pictorial books that are

intended to develop the reading habit and understand pictorial illustrations. Books play

a bigger role in the 4 yrs to 6 yrs curriculum, but a majority of the concepts are taught

with wooden educational materials rather than books. Books just serve to reinforce

some of the concepts and are used as workbooks more than anything else.

7. Is it a traditional classroom concept? Will we have tables and chairs and so on?

No, this is not a traditional classroom concept of having benches and desks and having a

teacher teaching with a blackboard. The methodology is to have a classroom where the

materials are arranged in such a way such that children will work with the materials and

while doing so learn and develop various skills at their own pace. Teachers play the role

of observers and directors where they present the materials to the child and then allow

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the child to play, learn and discover. A majority of the work and presentations are done

on the ground where children sit on mats and work with low level tables called Chowkis.

The table and chairs (which are limited in number) provided as part of the environment

are used only for specific activities which are defined as part of the curriculum.

8. What is the ideal teacher to child ratio recommended?

The teacher to child ratio recommendations vary based on the number of children in

various age groups. For children between the age group of 2 yrs to 3 yrs, the ideal ratio

would be 1:8. For children between the age group of 3 to 4.5 yrs, the idea ratio would be

1:12, and for the age group of 4.5 yrs to 6 yrs, the ideal ratio would be 1:15.

9. What is the area required to run the preschool?

The area required obviously depends on the number of students the school will

accommodate. Typically for about 30 students, we require a minimum of 900 to 1000

sqft of space and as the number of students go up, the area requirement will increase

though not necessarily proportionally

10. How many students can the package materials and curriculum accommodate?

The educational materials / equipment provided with the package for the 2-4 yr age

group is sufficient to accommodate about 60 children provided there are enough adults

/ teachers to manage the children. The furniture set up provided with the package

initially is good enough for 30-40 children. For the additional admissions beyond 40

children, the school may have to invest in a few additional furniture pieces such as

sitting mats, chowkis and so on. Investment in additional material will only be needed if

the count goes beyond 60 children.

11. How many of each variety of material is provided with the kit?

Most of the educational materials as part of the kit are 1 in number as part of the

package except items such as chowkis, sitting mats, working mats, chairs and so on

which we provide more than one as per the requirement of the classroom. Please do

look at the kit break up sheet to know exactly what is provided with the solution.

The idea is that each child will work with different materials in the environment at any

point in time. The child is also taught to wait his / her turn when some other child is

working with materials of his / her interest.

12. What would be the costs? What would be included in the costs?

The costs of the preschool solution range from Rs. 1.2 lakhs to 4 lakhs varying based on

the age group, kind of curriculum required and existing set up if any. This is a one-time

set up cost and there are no mandatory recurring costs (such as royalties). Please do

send us your requirements and we will revert with the best possible solution for your

requirements.

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13. How will Kreedo help in marketing our school to get admissions?

Kreedo will provide you numerous tips on how to effectively market your school in your

locality to ensure admissions. We will also review any marketing collateral that you

would need to circulate. We will provide you with ideas for events that will captivate the

parents.

The package includes a 1 day parenting workshop that can be used to either train the

administrators / owners of the preschool on how / what and when to talk to parents.

We will also conduct this workshop on behalf of the school if required but the

responsibility of bringing the parents on a common platform would be that of the

preschool.

14. What do I need from my side to set up the school?

We require the following as a necessity to set up a preschool:

a. Passion to work with children

b. Teachers with an educational background preferably in the preschool segment

c. Physical Infrastructure

Guidelines for the physical infrastructure and number of teachers needed would be

given after understanding the requirements of the preschool.

15. How do I get teachers? How do I train them?

Kreedo will put you in touch with the nearest teacher training institute or other such

resources close to your planned location. We will also provide you strategies to recruit

teachers for your preschool.

16. Are there any government regulations / accreditations that are required for a

preschool?

Currently, there are no regulations / accreditations needed in opening a preschool.

17. Do we need to run the school under the “Kreedo” brand name? How is it different

from a preschool franchisor? Is there any royalty?

Kreedo is NOT a preschool franchisor. We believe that you can successfully build your

own preschool brand with the tools that we provide you with. We only franchise our

curriculum and hence, we request all the preschools that adopt the Kreedo package to

mention “Follows Kreedo Curriculum” on their advertisement / hoardings. There is no

royalty. The major chunk of the investment will be one time as mentioned above in the

package costs.

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18. How does the “Kreedo” brand help us?

As we will be simultaneously working to increase parent awareness for understanding

the importance of preschool curriculum and also the effectiveness of the Kreedo

curriculum, we believe that following the Kreedo curriculum will assist the school in

building its own brand.

19. If I am running a preschool, how can Kreedo help me?

As mentioned above, Kreedo has developed a revolutionary preschool package that can

take your existing preschool to the next level in terms of the type of education imparted

to the child, feedback to parents on the strengths / interests of the child and also

ensuring that there is a structured path for every child to develop skills and interests.

Hence, adopting the Kreedo curriculum would help you get better return on your

investments as well as providing the best for the child in your preschool.

20. Can we choose selected materials from the package?

The package cannot be broken up piece meal as there are a lot of inter-dependencies

that ensure the effectiveness of the package. Removing even a single cog from the

wheel would result in a dip in the overall effectiveness of the package and its benefits to

the school. But, we do provide package options which allow you to gradually upgrade

your curriculum.

21. Does this model work in a non-Metro area?

The package was developed with focus on semi-urban areas, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. All

these places usually have a high demand for quality education. The parents are less

likely to be carried away by fancy brand names, and more likely to attach importance to

quality education.

The low set up cost ensures that you can provide state of the art preschool education in

an effective manner to children in the non-metro areas at an affordable price. Also, the

“Wow” factor for such a premium curriculum would be a lot higher in the non -metro

areas which would attract the parents a lot easier.

22. What is the Return on Investment? When can I break even?

Kreedo is not a franchisor and hence we do not commit to any return on investment as

is the market norm. What we can assure you is that since the set up costs are low, the

school would break even a lot faster and the return on investments would be

considerably high. Also, since it is not a royalty based model, there are no recurring costs

from a curriculum perspective which again increases the RoI.

23. Can I take a basic package and upgrade to the next?

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Yes, the investments can be staggered where the customer can adopt a basic package to

start with and gradually upgrade the curriculum over a period of time.

24. How will the curriculum be updated?

Kreedo will regularly update the curriculum by introducing new materials along with

training videos and evaluation strategies which the customers could upgrade to. Also,

we will be providing regular activities through our website which can be adopted by

teachers to apply in the environment.

25. How are we different from a franchisee?

Kreedo is a solution provider. We are giving you all the tools you need to run a preschool

and for this, we charge a fixed one time charge. There are no royalties. We encourage

the customers to build their own preschool brand and we believe that with the tools and

expertise we provide, the customer can run a best-in-class preschool. Given our

attractive package offering, the investments to start a preschool are quite low and hence

the return on investments is much faster.

Also, the curriculum solution being provided ensures that the customer does not have to

be dependent on Kreedo for ongoing support. This we do through teacher training

videos, knowledge base support and other such mechanisms.

The curriculum itself is a revolutionary package incorporating methodologies from the

best in class theories and practices in the world today (including Montessori, Multiple

Intelligence and so on) - and if implemented in the right fashion – it will provide a

benchmark in preschool education that others will find very difficult to match or

achieve.

26. How was the curriculum developed?

We have taken inputs from:

a. Several early childhood educationists

b. Various books related to the cognitive as well as overall development of the

child

c. Special educators

d. Montessorians

e. Preschool Owners

f. Teachers who work with the children

We have taken 2 years to do research in several areas and combined this with our

experience with preschools for 20 years and developed this curriculum. It has been

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made with a lot of emphasis on the overall well being of the child, but keeping in

mind the competitive world we live in today and helping the child adapt himself into

this environment.

27. What is the company background? What experience does the company have in this

space?

We have been working in the early childhood space for 20 years. We manufacture

Montessori materials and other preschool aids of very high quality.

28. Do we run preschools of our own in the name of Kreedo?

No, Kreedo will not be setting up preschools in our own brand name.

Preschool set up

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