The Little Engines Greater Noida

The Little Engines Greater Noida
NS-13, Block I, Beta II, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201308, India
http://thelittleengines.co.in/
The Little Engines Greater Noida is an independent, co-educational progressive school set on a four-acre green campus in Knowledge Park III, Greater Noida. Founded in 2019 by a group of IIT/IIM and Lady Shri Ram College alumni, the school currently serves learners aged 2–12 from pre-nursery through Grade V, adding one grade level each year so that the inaugural cohort can travel with the school to Grade XII by 2030.

Pedagogy: The curriculum blends the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) framework with interdisciplinary, experiential learning inspired by Bank Street and Reggio Emilia approaches. Learners spend 35 % of their week in “imaginaria” labs—makerspaces, edible gardens, performing-arts studios and a computer-science lab—where capstone projects are mandated every semester. Maths is taught through block play and city planning simulations, Hindi through graphic-novel creation, and science through long-term ecological studies of the Yamuna floodplain visible from the rooftop astronomy deck. Assessment is narrative and portfolio-based; traditional marks appear only from Grade VI onward.

Faculty & Ratio: The staff of 72 includes 46 full-time facilitators (50 % with postgraduate degrees in education or child development) and a resident “tinkerer-in-residence.” The learner–facilitator ratio is 6:1 up to Grade II and 10:1 thereafter.

Campus & Sustainability: Four LEED-Gold modular blocks are arranged around a central piazza shaded by neem and peepal. Solar panels provide 70 % energy needs, kitchen waste feeds a biogas plant, and greywater irrigates a native-plant biodiversity plot used as a living lab. Air-purifying plants and MERV-13 filters maintain indoor AQI under 100; an indoor 25-yard pool and 200-seat black-box theatre give year-round movement and performance venues irrespective of NCR air quality.

Pastoral Care: The school employs two full-time counsellors trained in play and art therapy, conducts weekly “circle time,” and offers parent-partnership modules on adolescent mental health and restorative discipline. Every learner keeps a “gratitude+audio journal” captured on school iPads to track emotional milestones.

Specialist Programmes:
– “Car-to-Class” initiative in which 3-D-printed mini electric karts are disassembled and reimagined by Grade IV–V students for energy efficiency.
– Monthly “metro rides” to Delhi museums and science fairs built into the timetable; transportation analysed post-visit as geography-math integration.
– Spanish and Korean electives from Grade III, taught by native speakers via partnerships with Jawaharlal Nehru University.
– NASA SCoPE student balloon launch collaboration for atmospheric data analysis.

Admission & Social Impact: Admissions run from the first Monday of October to the fourth Friday of November through a child-friendly “play n’ conversation” assessment and parent dialogue; sibling and neighbourhood quotas apply. Need-blind admissions fund 15 % seats at 100 % fee remission and another 15 % at sliding-scale support; the endowment is seeded by alumni of the founding team’s previous ed-tech venture.

Timing & Transport: The instructional day runs 8:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. with after-school studios until 5:00 p.m. A fleet of six electric buses—female attendants, CCTV, live GPS tracking—covers Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad with geofenced stops.

Accolades: The school was shortlisted for the 2023 Education World “Innovative Pedagogy” award and is a member of the Progressive Education Network of India (PEN India).

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