The human race has built-in curiosity and the need to explore. Evolution itself has made human beings highly social and inquisitive. So, who are we to curb nature? Who are we to restrict our children to textbooks when the world has so much to teach them? Why are we adamant about classroom learning when the best form of learning happens amidst nature, in an open space?
Such questions lead to the establishment of Keystone School, one of the best schools in Hyderabad, which has transformed the norms of Indian education by using innovation, thought, and modern means. At Keystone, the concept of education revolves around authentic projects and communication, enabling children to learn from real-life experiences.
Let’s take a closer look to understand how this actually works.
Srilakshmi Reddy, the Founder and Director of this intriguing institution, is a visionary educator with a Master’s Degree in Education Administration (Santa Clara University, USA). She went on to work as an independent researcher, curriculum developer, and a teacher trainer in the USA.
She founded Keystone School with the aim to bring international innovations into Indian education and to prepare her students to succeed globally.
Just one visit to Keystone is enough to make you think about it for weeks together! True to her dream of matching international standards and bringing innovation into education, Srilakshmi conceptualized and designed a campus that enables project-based learning.
It is located in Nanakramguda in Financial District in a vast, peaceful environment, protecting children from noise & pollution, and enabling them to explore their surroundings every day.
Keystone is affiliated to IGCSE (Cambridge Curriculum) but it doesn’t just blindly go by it. There’s innovation in every single concept that’s taught here. Teachers (or educators) use the curriculum’s guidelines and design their own lessons with the help of projects and activities. The educators here are designers that sketch each child’s future.
Like we hinted earlier, you won’t be able to take your eyes off this beautiful campus. It has been built horizontally and not vertically, which means there’s just the ground floor! The green building (platinum-rated) has a plethora of future-ready facilities for its children.
You won’t find a single conventional classroom here. Instead, you will see learning studios with ample amount of natural light and ventilation. Plus, most of these studios have glass walls so that children feel closer to the beauty of nature while learning.
For events, competitions, and gatherings, the school uses its open-air amphitheater that has a large seating capacity.
The school offers an indoor sports academy as well as a convention area that children can utilize to play tennis, basketball, badminton, skating, and more. The Keystone management strongly believes that learning happens in the playground just like it does in a classroom. That is why sports and activities have been integrated into the curriculum itself.
Since Keystone’s teaching methodology revolves around activities and projects, you shouldn’t be surprised to see world-class studios for different activities. There are dedicated areas in the campus for theater, dance, music, art, etc.
Keystone has its own fleet of buses that enable children to come to school without hassle each day, even if they reside in far off places.
At Keystone, there are three learning stages. We shall discuss them individually in this section:
Inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach, the KEY program focuses on social-emotional development, physical fitness, language & literacy development, numeracy & reasoning development, environment development, creative development, and second language acquisition development.
At this stage, the school follows the homeroom teaching concept to bring lessons to life. The concepts are designed to help children become “self-directed learners”. The educators encourage children to research independently, learn from the environment, and interact with others to gain knowledge.
This stage can be quite difficult for children because they are transiting from childhood to adolescence. They experience physical, intellectual, and personal changes that can get quite overwhelming. This is why Keystone devised a multi-dimensional approach to help them develop skills such as communicating freely, critical reasoning, and expressing creativity. All these skills strength children’s confidence and make them more adept to face real-life challenges. Every child in this stage is encouraged to pursue his/her passion through multiple programs.
You can take all the time you want to process the offerings of this new-age school. But, once you are done, we urge you to visit Keystone and experience the Keystone Difference yourself.