Kids,
A major consideration for the decision to move the family to Mumbai was the available schooling options. Johnathon, you were going into 1st grade and Christopher, you would need a Pre-School.
Knowing absolutely nothing about schooling options in a foreign country, we did a lot of research. Quickly we found out that an international school was the only option to make sure you three would be prepared to transition back in the US educational system when we returned.
We also learned that the majority of International Schools in Mumbai are structured around the Cambridge Educational System (CES). This is the curriculum utilized in the UK, but can be found in other places like the US, Germany, Australia, and Canada. Naturally, since a school that followed the CES would leave you unprepared for the school structure back in the US, this really shortened our list.
After an exhaustive research project, we reached out to other Expats in the Mumbai area and started asking questions about schools. At this time, the list of Expats we knew in the area was small, but they all were more than happy to help us. During all of our discussion, the American School of Bombay (ASB) was the overwhelming recommendation.
ASB has two campuses in Mumbai, Elementary and Secondary. During our stay, all three of you would attend the Elementary location, which was conveniently located just 15-20 minutes from the area in which we hoped to live. From the time we started getting serious about the move we started following ASB on social media channels and were continually impressed with their students, cultural activities, and staff. You can see some of the content by visiting their website at https://www.asbindia.org/. Taking into consideration everything we had seen and heard, we started the process for admission.
From the very beginning, working with ASB was awesome. Their admissions department was very accommodating and understanding throughout the entire process. After acceptance, we started receiving additional information about the school, recommendations about travel times, and even a designated parent ambassador. Our ambassador helped answer questions not only about the school, but also moving to and living in Mumbai. She was an amazing help and really made our move and transition much smoother. Thanks Nicole!
Your Dad made his first visit to the school in March, to participate in the BMI Annual Day Celebration. His first impression of ASB was “Wow”. Every classroom in the building looked identical to what Johnathon & Christopher had in school back home, and much of the same activities and terminology were the same. We believed this would make for a smooth transition for you boys. Madelyn, you were a clean slate so we weren’t worried about disrupting your norm.
We made another trip to the school in June, while in town to look at apartments, and your mom’s reaction was the same, ‘Wow’. It was during this trip that we first met other ASB parents and started networking to find out any and all recommendations for the move. Our shipment was scheduled to leave only 3 weeks from our visit. It was a ‘drinking from a fire hose’ experience – so much information and no way we could process it all. In the end, all the advice was spot on and we’re very thankful for their input. It really paid off when trying to finalize our moving plan.
Love, Mom & Dad
The Hotovec's 