Usually parents want the best school for their child and therefore think about paid education. NHS prepared an overview of five private schools in Novosibirsk
In February, we already talked about the best free schools in Novosibirsk — it is difficult to get there even by registration, and parents have to spend the night at the gate in order to have time to apply to the desired gymnasium or lyceum.
Some are even willing to buy apartments attached to elite schools. But registration is not important if you send your child to a private school. How are they different from ordinary ones? How much does the tuition cost and do I need to pay additional fees? We have prepared a review of private full-cycle schools in Novosibirsk in two parts — we are publishing the first one.
«Excellence»
Excellence has been operating in Novosibirsk since 1993. The school is located in the very center of the city, at Kommunisticheskaya, 23. The wooden school building is an architectural monument and was built in 1906. According to the director and founder of the school, Nadezhda Dmitrieva, even at the time of the creation of the school, she wanted to create a place where each student would have an individual approach.
— From the very beginning it was planned that we will have small classes — 6-8 people. A teacher will never reach a large number of children and will not look into everyone’s eyes, — said Nadezhda Dmitrieva.
According to the director, thanks to such chamber classes, children learn the material better, and the teacher can explain it to everyone. Individual work is also set up with parents — every week the class leaders call the parents, tell them the current grades of the children and the average grade for the week.
— Much attention is paid to patriotic education. We have a lot of letters from the hospital of veterans. There are very elderly people, and our children regularly take a large basket for each holiday, each brings an apple or an orange — and we have 100 children. We take a taxi and take a basket there, treat the veterans with fruit. Children recite poems dedicated to the holiday, they can sing a song, — explains Nadezhda Dmitrieva.
Studying at the «Excellence» costs 20,500 rubles a month — this amount includes classes and circles for children.
According to one of the mothers, whose child studied at «Excellence» from 2019 to 2020, in fact, you have to pay more — she says that «about 28-30 thousand» came out per month with a paid extension group, additional classes and meals.
— Plus an entrance fee — 50 thousand, and about 8500 annually for repairs. Training is standard; the only difference is that there are few kids. The class was equipped with old desks, we threw off on new ones, equipped the kitchen, — the woman said.
Users of the Flamp website rate the school 4.1 out of 5, Yandex.Maps — 3.9. On the positive side, users note strong teachers, a convenient location, and a friendly atmosphere. Of the minuses, the old building is distinguished.
Wooden school building — the former apartment building of Maria Pyatkova
«Aurora»
Aurora Private School has been operating since 1993 — it is a full-time all-inclusive school. This means that the children are here from 9 to 18 hours, and the tuition fee includes lessons, circles, an extended day group and meals.
As the director of the school, Lyudmila Degtyareva, explained, the peculiarity of the school lies in its main idea — inclusiveness. Aurora operates as an inclusive school, where there are 1–2 children with disabilities in each class.
Inclusion is the inclusion of any children with any disabilities into the peer community. As Lyudmila Degtyareva said, the school has almost all categories of children with disabilities. As with somatic diseases — with heart disease, diabetes mellitus, and with physical disabilities, intellectual and psychoemotional disorders
— When we accept children, we immediately talk about it. If you come to us, you should simply accept it, because this is our ideology and humanistic idea around which everything revolves. And we think this is correct. If it scares someone, they just don’t come to us, — said Degtyareva. Nevertheless, according to the director, the school is in demand, and now there are no vacant places in it.
Lyudmila Degtyareva explained that the admission of special children to school is limited. As world practice shows, in inclusive institutions there can be no more than 10-12% of children with disabilities, the main environment should be the norm, Degtyareva said.
— If we accept children with disabilities of 30 people, we will already be a correctional school. We will have to change the program and methods. Sometimes parents are offended, — explained Lyudmila Degtyareva.
Inclusion in «Aurora» is provided by a staff of psychological and pedagogical support — these are tutors, speech therapists, defectologists, an oligophrenopedagogue and psychologists.
— More often than not, joint education of children with disabilities and children of the norm is more useful for children of the norm. Because they see what mercy and tolerance are. Not somewhere in a book, but here, in reality: you have a neighbor who does not have a hand. And you have to help him get ready for a walk, for example, — said the director.
In addition to the school, there are 2 kindergarten groups in «Aurora». More than 20 circles of different directions work for schoolchildren. Children who study in grades 1-5 are fed 3 times a day, from 7th to 11th grades 2 meals a day. Tuition fee per month — 27 thousand rubles.
According to the Flamp service, the school is rated at 3.8 points out of 5, Yandex.Maps — at 4.5. The last negative review on «Flamp» is dated 2016:
— It seems like an elite school, but still not connected to the Dnevnik.ru service. I just don’t know how it is possible, — wrote one of the users.
On the positive side, they note the “friendly atmosphere”, the teaching staff, attitude and nutrition, the program, safety requirements, “quiet and clean territory”.
«Aurora» is located in Zayeltsovsky district, on Timiryazeva, 70/1
Union
«Union» is located in Akademgorodok, and this, according to the director of the school Yekaterina Orlova, leaves an imprint on the level of communication and on the out-of-school life of children.
— There is an educational program that is implemented by all schools that have a license and accreditation. Another question is under what conditions and by what methods this program is being implemented. We pay a lot of attention to the upbringing of the child, his culture of behavior, communication, interaction between children, teachers and parents. We have a very small space and there is no room for a teacher’s room as such. Therefore, we fenced off a section for teachers in the lobby. That is, we are all here in plain sight. And the situation in the school depends on how teachers communicate, — explains Ekaterina Orlova.
Union also works full-time in small classes — no more than 10 people. A year of schooling costs 198 thousand rubles: from September to May, parents pay 18 thousand a month, in the summer months — 12. The price includes 3 meals a day.
In small classes, children and teachers develop a different level of communication, says Ekaterina Orlova. She emphasized that children are not trained for the Unified State Exam and the OGE, and during the year they have almost no practice exams, the material at school is studied systematically.
— When we talk about the level of psychological comfort, we mean a little bit differently: that everyone likes everything. In fact, this is far from the case. Psychological comfort is when a child has a low anxiety threshold, he is not afraid of mistakes, he is not afraid of school, he is not afraid to work. In such a situation, there are a lot of opportunities to convey the ways of working with the material, — said the school director.
According to Orlova, the school successfully managed to postpone the period of distance learning — teachers worked with children in Zoom, and after classes they allocated another hour for homework consultations.
The average school grade on Flamp is 5 out of 5, on Yandex.Maps — 4.1 out of 5. Mostly parents write good reviews.
— For me, the main thing is that this school is not dangerous for the psyche of children, here they feel themselves under the protection of attentive and kind teachers. The grandson is not an excellent student, but in those subjects that he likes, his knowledge is far ahead of the school curriculum — he has never studied with any tutors, ”a user under the nickname irasamakh writes on Flamp.
«Union» is located in Akademgorodok, the school has been operating since 2006
«Our school»
The educational complex «Our School» has been operating in Novosibirsk for 26 years. Children from 4 years old study here. The school provides a full cycle of education — from preschool to 11th grade. The complex also works on the principle of full-time schools — children are there from 8 to 18 hours with their inclusion in lesson and extracurricular activities, as well as in the format of club work (circles, internships, meta-subjects, practices, sections).
The cost of one year of schooling is 330 thousand rubles, or about 27.5 thousand rubles per month. This also includes food for students: depending on their age, they are fed 3-4 times a day. In kindergarten children have 5 meals a day.
According to the general director of the educational complex «Our School» Valery Nikolaev, among other schools there are several positions:
— The first is the educational and technological environment, which includes both digital technologies and humanitarian technologies. It is a technological platform that orientates parents, students and teachers to soft skills and meta skills — flexible skills and meta-skills as an educational result, » explains Valery Nikolaev.
Soft skills are flexible or soft skills. Unlike professional skills, they do not depend on the specifics of a particular job, are closely related to personal qualities (responsibility, discipline, self-management), social skills (speed of adaptation, communication, in particular, listening; teamwork, emotional intelligence) and managerial abilities ( time management, leadership, problem solving, critical thinking).
Meta skills — meta skills. Literally, these are “out of bounds” skills. These include: mindfulness, planning, personal productivity, communication, critical thinking and assessment, learnability, adaptability and proactivity.
There are two more important points that Valery Nikolaev notes: child-adult interaction at school and a change in the usual educational space:
— We work like a full-time school. And in this sense, our task is to create a space where a transformative type of consciousness is formed. Not adaptive, where the child gets used to what is. And non-adaptive socialization, when the child can change the situation, set tasks, carry out correct communication, explained Valery Nikolaev.
The complex houses the Academy of Film and Television Skills and its own summer camp in Gorny Altai, where there are educational programs in pedagogical, language and media areas.
The daughter of Maryana Beryazeva Vlada studies in the 3rd grade of Our School. Maryana is satisfied with the school: there is no obsession with studies, and «the child remains a child: plays, studies, communicates with friends and has fun.»
— Small classes, adequate teachers, adequate parents. 3 meals a day, the child is at school from 08:00 to 18:30, full-time, I can work, not think about anything. I see that they are not overloaded, there is no “faster, stronger, higher” attitude, an endless race, tons of lessons. The program is very harmoniously distributed: a lot of walks, physical activity. They not only learn, but also develop harmoniously. The child goes every day with joy and interest, — said Maryana Beryazeva.
She emphasizes that she pays a fixed amount for tuition every month, there are no additional fees and charges. Speaking about the size of the fee, Maryana says that circles, meals and a nanny for a child in a budget school would cost a similar amount.
Our School is rated 3.3 out of 5 on Flamp, and 4.4 on Yandex.Maps.
— Firstly, the approach to teaching children is non-standard, teachers use innovative approaches in education, independent practices. Teachers are polite and open to children, this is very important. The atmosphere at school is friendly, if there are conflicts between children, as without it, the teachers suppress them and «reconcile the warring ones.» In general, children are under control. Of the minuses — the general level of education is low, a lot is written off to students, some teachers turn a blind eye to gaps in knowledge instead of focusing on this and raising the level of knowledge. But in general, my assessment of «Our School» is positive, — wrote a review on «Flamp» user under the nickname trueman79.
«Eureka»
«Eureka» is also one of the oldest private schools in the city — it was founded in 1991 and operates full-time. Here, children are also brought to classes on a shared bus. The bus route is drawn up at the beginning of each academic year in accordance with the place of residence of the students.
As indicated on the school’s website, learning is based on generally recognized psychologically oriented models: personal, developing and enriching.
“We are trying to maintain a balance between the time spent on meeting the mandatory state standard and the time required for the development of the child’s creative abilities, his general outlook and socialization,” the school’s director, Oleksandr Papko, is quoted on the website.
School lessons begin at 09:15. After the first lesson, the children have breakfast, at 13:15 — lunch, at 16:00 — afternoon tea. In the afternoon, hobby classes, circles, studios, a swimming pool, excursions to museums and exhibitions, outdoor games, individual lessons in subjects are organized.
For example, in elementary school, children are taught design, woodcarving, English, as well as a puppet theater and a literary circle.
As the parent of one of the pupils of the school, Aleksey, told the NGS, there are 7-10 people in the school’s classes. Alexey admitted that «he did not go into the training system, but the quality is clearly better.»
— We pay 20 thousand rubles a month, plus 3-4 thousand for the bus, but we live in «Prigorodny Prostor», and the bus picks up and delivers to the door. The food is good. Some additional activities, of course, are paid: swimming pool, equestrian club. Every autumn there is a trip of the entire school to the camp for 3-5 days, also paid separately. The school building is in long-term lease, new and solid, there are no additional fees. We are absolutely satisfied with the school, — concluded Alexey.
«Eureka» users of «Flamp» rate 4.1 points, the same rating on «Yandex.Maps».
— Studied here from 1st to 11th grade. I sent my child to this school from the 1st grade. I have no doubt that I made the right choice. The most important thing in this school is the team and the attitude towards students. When choosing a private school «Eureka» is the best option. In addition, it is also the most affordable in terms of cost, — wrote on «Flamp» user Alexander Antonov.
Of the minuses, poor training in the physical and mathematical profile is noted.
Which is cheaper — buy an apartment next to a prestigious school or pay for a private
After some simple calculations, we got the average cost of a month of education in a private school — 23,400 rubles. 280,800 rubles are issued per year, for 11 years of study — 3,088,800 rubles. They ask for a little more for a one-room apartment on 4 Pravdy Street in Akademgorodok, attached to gymnasium No. 3 — 3,750,000 rubles, a two-room apartment in this house costs 6,400,000.
A two-room apartment in a building at 59 Bluchera, attached to the Engineering Lyceum of NSTU, is exhibited on the N1.RU website for 3,299,000 rubles. «Treshka» in houses on Vertkovskaya, attached to the Lyceum of Information Technologies, costs 4-5 million.
But the price for a three-room apartment on Sibirskaya, 35/1, attached to gymnasium No. 4, starts at 8,000,000 rubles. A one-room apartment in a neighboring house is on sale for 3,080,000, a two-room one for 4,600,000.
