Sanfort is a well-established name in the early learning space today. The brand has spread over to 200 locations in India and neighbouring countries in less than 9 years. The child-centric curriculum and approach towards early childhood learning have been widely appreciated by the industry and the parent community, says Sneha Rathor, CEO – Academics & innovations, Sanfort Group of Schools, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).
What have been the key factors behind the success of your school’s brand?
We have a strong branding, demographic research, and child-centric curriculum that parents love. Our curriculum involves effective, time-tested elements of traditional learning infused with cutting-edge technology, which bridges the learning gap. Our curriculum is crafted in the hexagram of ‘Core Value Circle’ which helps children in the Refinement of their senses, Gross & Fine Motor Development, Creative Development, Social development, Psychological & Personality Development and Practical life care for Self, Others and for the Environment. Sanfort with their unremitting research system have created an innovative curriculum and interactive pedagogy for preschoolers and have revolutionised the Indian preschool learning system. Sanfort is pioneer partner of TRINITY College of London for The Trinity Stars Award to encourage the teaching and learning of English language through drama, music and performance for early learners. We are also an active member of “British Association of Early Childhood Education” – U.K. & “Preschool Learning Alliance- U. K.”
What kind of infrastructure & facilities are provided at Sanfort to make the learning delightful, yet keeping children safe?
We believe that learning initiates from the environment itself, hence we have a beautiful childfriendly infrastructure with colourful thematic classrooms, activity area with lots of role play models, puzzles, blocks, educational games, toys and play equipment, our infrastructure is so attractive that children are not willing to go back home. Dealing with little one’s safety and security is our prime concern; hence we have anti-skid flooring in all the classrooms & activity area and soft spongy flooring in the play area for the safety of the children. All the doors are fitted with finger-guards and the school premises remains under CCTV surveillance.
Sanfort uses “True Smart Learning System”, how it helps the students in their learning?
Our classrooms are set up with world-class technology-enabled teaching tools with the objective of making teaching more effective and funfilled. Children play on the large touch panels with specially designed software and simultaneously learn alphabet, numbers, shapes and various early learning concepts. Our software is in sync with our curriculum, which gives students an experience of joyful learning.
What is Sanfort’s approach for the Holistic Development of children?
As times change, so does our approach to teaching and learning. Though we are a technology-enabled preschool chain but we never forget about the basics. Our teachers are being encouraged to get back to the basics by focusing on the classic teaching methods with a holistic approach to support early childhood development. We strongly believe in the principle of exploring and discovering. Childhood should be about free play, where children are allowed to play with sand & mud, fall and dust themselves up and discover their natural self through play.
We strive to provide an enriching learning experience to early learners by creating a tranquil, curious and challenging environment that foster’s their social, physical, emotional and cognitive development. We create an engaging environment by using colourful and intriguing concepts, activity areas and space for creative and free play. Supporting children as they learn at their own pace is important for development in the early years and we always encourage and take every opportunity to explore their interests by valuing and nurturing their individuality.
We have circle times where we allow children to express themselves, and explore their own thoughts and understand themselves better. We believe in understanding every child individually, which helps us to guide children to discover their passion and turn it into a learning opportunity. By building a strong relationship with them we create a strong engaging and communicating environment.
At Sanfort we aim to imbibe social, moral and cultural values in early learners through various events and celebrations, which induces in them the feeling of respect and concern towards people, society and environment.
Moreover, we believe that to create an engaging learning environment you need skilled teachers. At Sanfort we empower our teachers by equipping them with in-service orientation, education and intensive training programs to help them become a skilled and powerful early year educators.
You are on Franchise Model and in a franchise model, a lot depends upon your franchise partner what are your criteria to choose the right franchise partner and how well you bond with them?
Franchising is a great way to expand as we have people to manage our schools without tapping much of our own capital because franchisee owns the cost to open and operate the branch and will work much harder than employees. But in a franchise model success or failure of a brand depends on the success or failure of the franchises. So, it is very important to choose the right partner. We look into their financial status, social reputation, their educational background and their passion towards this profession. Once we chose a partner we give them proper training and inputs to run the school and complete handholding to make the venture successful.
What is the vision and plans of Sanfort?
Today, we have more than 200 schools and adding 10-12 preschools every month. We are targeting to reach 500 schools by the end of the financial year 2020 and we also have strong plans to open company-owned primary and K-12 schools in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
