Playgroup
Ages 2–3
First time away from home, handled gently. Sensory play, early language, routine and confidence.
Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross…
Children leave here ready for Lucknow’s best schools.
Parents rarely come to us looking for a pre-school. They come because a child who spends these years at Banbury Cross arrives at the convent admission door already prepared — in speech, in confidence, in manners, in independence. Thirty-five years of that record is why our name alone opens the conversation.
1990Established
35+Years teaching
ConventsWhere our children go next
4.8★112 Google reviews
Why parents choose us
The years that decide the next twelve.
Lucknow’s old convent schools are selective, and they assess a five-year-old on things no parent can coach in a fortnight: how clearly the child speaks, whether they can sit and listen, whether they can answer an adult without hiding, whether they can hold a pencil, tie a lace, ask for the toilet, wait their turn.
That is precisely what these three years are for. Not worksheets. Not rote. The unglamorous, patient work of turning a two-year-old into a child who walks into an unfamiliar room and holds their own.
Children from Banbury Cross have gone on to the top selective schools in Lucknow — primarily the old established convents — consistently, for thirty-five years. It is why we have never advertised, and why most of our admissions still come from a parent telling another parent.
We prepare children thoroughly. We do not promise or arrange admission anywhere — each school selects on its own criteria, and no pre-school can honestly claim otherwise.
What we actually build
- Speech that carries — phonics, elocution, diction and English pronunciation, daily
- Confidence in front of adults — public speaking and stage time on our own amphitheatre from age three
- Manners that get noticed — etiquette, table manners, greeting, waiting, sharing
- Independence — Montessori practical life exercises: dressing, pouring, tidying, managing themselves
- Readiness to be assessed — sitting, listening, following a two-step instruction, answering a stranger
- A found strength — Multiple Intelligences work so every child has something they are visibly good at
Programmes
From first steps to first classroom
Every stage is taught by qualified early years staff in small groups, with a child–adult ratio high enough that individual attention is a routine, not a promise.
Nursery
Ages 3–4
Pre-literacy and pre-numeracy through activity, plus the social skills that make big school easier.
Kindergarten
Ages 4–6
LKG and UKG. Jolly Phonics, early mathematics and general knowledge, at a pace that keeps curiosity intact.
Daycare
Half & full day
A home away from home, with an in-house kitchen, nurse on campus, rest cots and supervised play.
About us
A school that chose to stay small on purpose.
Banbury Cross Educational Academy is a pre-school, kindergarten and daycare in Mahanagar, Lucknow, established in 1990, whose children go on to Lucknow’s most selective convent schools. It teaches children aged two to six on a single 13,500 sq ft campus and is a dedicated early years academy — deliberately never expanded into a high school.
That choice is the whole point. In most schools, early years is the smallest department, staffed last and funded least. Here it is the entire institution, which is why it is one of the only independent premium-stature private nurseries in Lucknow to have maintained this status.
Children who attend our pre-school go on to be accepted into the top selective high schools in Lucknow and across India — primarily the old established convents. There is an excellent child–adult ratio at every stage, so children get the attention this part of the learning journey actually requires.
At a glance
- Established
- 1990
- Focus
- Early years only
- Ages
- 2 to 6 years
- Campus
- 13,500 sq ft
- Curriculum
- EYFS + Montessori
- Rating
- 4.8 from 112
From the Principal’s desk
‘I touch the future. I teach.’
We have never actively engaged in any marketing or publicity for our school in more than twenty-five years. I never ran it as a business, but only for child welfare and as something I really believe in giving back. I firmly believe our quality and our work speak for themselves.
Mrs. Kumkum RawatPrincipal · M.A. Hons & M.T. (USA)Imagination, creativity, inquisitiveness and confidence are the cornerstones of a child’s experience here. We have a very gentle settling-in policy, with no pressure put on the children — at the very start, all we focus on is that they are happy and feel settled. Children leave Banbury Cross confident and happy. We want them running to attend their school.
Curriculum
The Early Years Foundation Stage, with Montessori woven through.
We follow the EYFS framework, and a number of our teachers are Montessori trained — so we incorporate aspects of the Montessori method into everyday teaching rather than treating the two as rival systems.
Mornings are made up of literacy and numeracy alongside science, art, craft and cooking. Children also have weekly music, dance and activity classes taught by specialist teachers. Afternoons are for yoga, etiquette, English pronunciation, Zumba dance and storytelling.
Each term we organise special events and trips: Sports Day, Green Day, Mother’s Day, Independence Day, Graduation Day and all the major festivals.
Our teaching is built on Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences — the principle that children are clever in different ways, and that a school’s job is to find which way, not to rank them on one. It is why music, movement, nature and picture work sit alongside letters and numbers here rather than beneath them.
The seven areas of learning
- Personal, Social & Emotional Development
- Communication & Language
- Physical Development
- Literacy — Jolly Phonics and Letters and Sounds
- Mathematics
- Understanding of the World
- Expressive Arts & Design
The campus
13,500 square feet, built for two-year-olds
One of the largest pre-school premises in the country. The strip below moves on its own — hover to pause, or tap any photo to see it full size.
How they’re kept safe
CCTV throughoutConstant camera surveillance and recording
Fully air-conditionedEvery classroom and play area
Generator backupUninterrupted power across the campus
Nurse on campusOn site through the school day
Child-designed washroomsHygienic, separate for girls and boys
The school’s own vansOur vehicles and our staff, not a contractor
In brief
What makes this school different
Where our children come from
Seven neighbourhoods, one campus
Children travel to us from across north Lucknow. Our own vans run to each of these areas at a nominal charge — ask the office which route covers your street.
MahanagarOur own neighbourhood — walking distance for many families
AliganjVan route, roughly 10 minutes
Nirala NagarVan route, roughly 10 minutes
KapoorthalaVan route, roughly 10 minutes
Khurram NagarVan route, roughly 15 minutes
Vikas NagarVan route, roughly 15 minutes
Kursi RoadVan route — ask about pickup points
Elsewhere in LucknowCall us — routes are reviewed each term
We are a play school, pre-school, nursery and kindergarten in one — Playgroup, Pre-Nursery, Nursery, LKG and UKG, plus half-day and full-day daycare for children aged two to six.
महानगर, लखनऊ में प्ले स्कूल, प्री-स्कूल, नर्सरी, एलकेजी, यूकेजी और डे केयर । 1990 से स्थापित ।
Round-the-year classes
Taekwondo and Phonics, taught properly
Two year-round programmes that run alongside the school day and are open to children beyond our own students.
Taekwondo
Recognised grading, not a weekend activity
Government-recognised belt-certified courses — Yellow, Green, Blue, Red and ultimately Black. Run under UPTA, affiliated with the UP Olympic Association and the Taekwondo Federation of India, recognised by the Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs, and leading ultimately to World Taekwondo grading.
UPTAUP Olympic AssociationTaekwondo Federation of IndiaMinistry of Sports & Youth AffairsWorld Taekwondo
Phonics & Phonetics
Sounds before spellings
Phonetics is the study of the sounds of human speech. Before a child can read a word, they have to hear it — which is why we teach the 44 sounds of English through Jolly Phonics and the Letters and Sounds programme rather than starting with the alphabet by name.
44 sounds of EnglishJolly PhonicsLetters and SoundsBlending & segmentingRhyme & syllable work
Children learn to blend sounds into words, break words back into sounds, and hear rhyme and syllable patterns — the three skills that predict reading fluency more reliably than anything else at this age. Elocution, diction and clear English pronunciation run alongside, so children are understood as well as understanding.
Picture & video gallery
What a normal week actually looks like.
Class activities, outdoor play, sports day, annual presentations, festivals and graduation — photographed as they happened, not staged for a brochure. Tap any photo to enlarge.
Videos
See the school in motion
What parents say
4.8 out of 5, from 112 Google reviews
★★★★★
“The teachers are friendly, patient, and truly care about the children.”
Google review
★★★★★
“Spacious premises with rich experienced teachers make Banbury Cross outshine its peers.”
Google review
★★★★★
“All motor activities and co-curricular activities promoted from school.”
Google review
★★★★★
“Lovely ambience motivate little kids to learn and grow day by day.”
Google review
Verify these yourself. Every review is unedited, unfiltered and outside our control — we can’t delete a bad one, and neither can anyone else.
Also at Banbury Cross
Two more things worth knowing about
Annual programme
Summer Camp
One of the longest-running and most coveted summer camps in Lucknow. Two weeks each May, ages 3 to 12, open to every child in the city.
See the camp →For investors & partners
Franchise & Partnership
We don’t sell franchises — we run the school and you own it. The market compared honestly, and our model set out in full.
See the model →Admissions
Come and see the school
The best way to choose a pre-school is to stand in one. Call and we’ll arrange a time when classes are running, so you see a normal day rather than an empty building.