Choosing a school in which a child will spend many years and gain basic knowledge, for responsible parents very often turns into a real torture. Everyone wants the teachers to have a high level of training, comfortable conditions for children, and the warmest attitude towards them. For many parents, especially financially well off, the issue of image is also important. They want the certificate to be issued to their child by a prestigious school, and their friends could be proudly informed in which elite institution the child is studying.
What do private schools offer and who chooses them?
For such cases, there are private educational institutions. Increasingly, for parents' money, they offer to grow true geeks out of their children, offering various innovative pedagogical approaches and the most comfortable learning conditions for students.
Many such elite institutions work not only in the capital, but also in St. Petersburg. Alma Mater School is one of such private schools. She positions herself as one of the very first
gymnasiums in St. Petersburg with intensive study of foreign languages.
About this educational institution in the public domain you can find many reviews of former students and their parents. Some sincerely consider this language school a second home for children, praise the high level of teachers and their style of presentation. Others, on the contrary, are dissatisfied with absolutely everything and believe that this school is no different from ordinary secondary schools, except for high tuition fees, which are growing almost every year.
In our article, we will try to be as objective as possible and openly consider all the information about this school that is freely available. Perhaps this will help parents who are considering whether to send their children to study at a private school “Alma Mater” (St. Petersburg), make a final decision.
Innovative approaches
The school administration claims that their education system is truly based on an individual approach to each child. Teachers practice the creation of an individual educational route for a student, drawing upon its development on the abilities of each student and his intuitive understanding of a subject.
Unfortunately, the same individual system for assessing knowledge at the Alma Mater school (St. Petersburg) has not yet been developed. But each teacher in this institution has its own approach in determining the abilities of each student.
Address and brief general information about the institution
This gymnasium is located in St. Petersburg, at ul. Shpalernaya, d. 50-a. According to the information provided by the administration on its official website, innovative methods are welcome at the school and a creative approach is used in everything.
Alma Mater pays special attention to the study of such exact sciences as mathematics, physics and chemistry. But the humanitarian direction remains dominant anyway.
What subjects is emphasized in this gymnasium
Alma Mater is not in vain known as a school with in-depth study of foreign languages. Students have the opportunity to study German and English as a compulsory school curriculum. According to his desire, after graduating from the 7th grade, the student can choose another additional language for study - French.
For first graders, the language school provides an opportunity to study in a specialized phonetic circle. There, they learn the sounds and letters of the English language five hours a week.
Further, starting from grade II until the end of the course, children fully learn English 5 hours a week.
Students of grades 3 and 4 of the gymnasium "Alma Mater" (St. Petersburg) offers to get acquainted with another foreign language. For this, a club called "Merry German" operates within the walls of the institution. From the 5th grade, German becomes compulsory for study, and just like English, it is taught in the amount of five hours a week.
After the end of seven classes, as mentioned above, gymnasium students can take another additional foreign language to study - French.
What is necessary for a child to study in this institution
If your family is seriously considering the issue of educating a child in this particular educational institution, then you can familiarize yourself with the list of conditions for admitting students to the gymnasium on the official Alma Mater website. The number of free places for students can be clarified upon request or contact the phone numbers listed on the website.
Most modern private schools (in St. Petersburg and other cities) before enrolling a child in their students, practice some kind of entrance exams or a kind of interviews. As a rule, this is explained by the fact that the educational institution wants to determine the level of development of the student and his preparedness.
School "Alma Mater" in St. Petersburg did not make an exception to such rules. Children who want to study there and get a certificate of secondary education in this institution will also need to undergo a series of interviews. The child will have a conversation with a school psychologist. Those who plan to study in grades 1-5 of this private school in St. Petersburg will have to go through a speech therapist consultation.
In order to determine the level of training of its future student and to develop a subsequent individual learning route for him, the school conducts interviews with the child in mathematics, Russian and English.
Documents for admission
Like any educational institution, before enrolling a child in the ranks of students, the administration of the Alma Mater school in St. Petersburg requires parents to provide some documents, including:
- applications for admission of a child to a gymnasium, written by hand by his parent or legal representative;
- the original identity document of the parent or legal representative of the future student.
How much will the cost of schooling for parents?
The correct tuition for the next 2017-2018 academic year can only be clarified directly from the administration of the gymnasium. But, studying the reviews of former students of this institution, as well as their parents, it is worth paying attention to the statements that tuition fees may increase in its process.
The amount with which parents of graduate students will have to say goodbye may differ significantly from the amounts paid for first-graders. And parents need to be prepared for such promotions.
For an approximate orientation in the price of the issue, we give the cost of studying at the gymnasium (per month) for the last academic year:
- 68 900 rub. for students in grades 10-11;
- 66300 rub. for students in grades 9;
- 62600 rub. for students in grades 7-8;
- 60 700 rub. for students in grades 4-6;
- 57 350 rub. for students in grades 1-3.
A special approach to student safety
Many students and parents confirm that for the school administration, the issue of student safety is truly a priority. The security system in "Alma Mater" is organized at a very high level. At the gymnasium there are:
- video surveillance with recording;
- PPC
- voice alert system (if an emergency occurs);
- quick response button;
- emergency lighting;
- modern fire safety system;
- intercom system.
With such a security system, parents can always be sure that their child will not be able to skip classes, and that no stranger will enter the school grounds where their child is studying.
Also, in case of unforeseen circumstances, all students will be notified in time about the need to leave the room.
Various school reviews
Reviews about this educational institution are very different. You can meet the statements of students who sincerely admire their teachers and love their Alma Mater.
At the same time, there are quite negative reviews. Most often they write that there are very talented teachers, but by and large the learning process itself is not particularly different from that in a regular comprehensive school.
A few years earlier, a large number of negative reviews were associated with the lack of a gym in the school. Parents believed that for a fee that the school charges from their students, a gym could be built in a few years. It is worth noting that today this problem has already been solved, and the new sports ground in a futuristic style is considered one of the best in the Central region of St. Petersburg.
USE results for previous years
Of course, judging the gymnasium by one of the reviews, especially those presented on the Internet, where it is almost impossible to verify their authenticity, is not worth it. The main indicator of success and a well-established learning process in the Alma Mater Gymnasium (St. Petersburg), as in any other educational institution, can be the level of students' knowledge.
Unfortunately, at the moment in the public domain you can find only a comparison of the exam results of Alma Mater students with other educational institutions of the Central region of St. Petersburg over 5 years (from 2010 to 2014).
Despite the fact that a private school in St. Petersburg has long been positioning itself as a gymnasium with in-depth study of foreign languages, in 2010, students showed their best result in the five-year period mentioned above when they passed the EGE in English. Then they took the V place among the remaining 46 educational institutions.
In 2014, Alma Matera students were already in 15th place out of 33. Many will agree that the results of students in an institution that positions itself as a humanitarian gymnasium with an innovative individual approach to learning could be slightly better.
But for the sake of justice, it is worth noting that in 2010 and 2014, students of this gymnasium showed the highest chemistry results in the Central region. They twice occupied the first positions in the region, and this indicates that the chemistry in this institution is taught at a really high level.