Choosing a school for your daughter is one of those decisions where everyone has an opinion and nobody has the full picture. Friends recommend their own school. Brochures show their best photos. Tours are always on a good day.
If you’re looking at girls’ schools in Mohali, it helps to decide what you’re checking before you start visiting. A short list of questions, asked the same way at every school, makes the differences much easier to see.
Here’s the list I’d use, in the order I’d use it.
1. Start with the curriculum and where it leads
Find out which board the school follows and what your daughter will sit at each stage. Cambridge International, CBSE and ICSE all have loyal supporters, and none is right for every girl.
Ask what happens after Year 10. Some schools stop there, and some run a sixth form, so she may or may not have to move at 15.
Parents should check:
- Which qualifications are offered, and in which year groups
- How progress is assessed through the year
- What extra help is available when a girl struggles
- Where older girls go next, in India and abroad
A good school answers the last one quickly. If the reply takes a while, that tells you something.
2. Decide how much of her week is at school
Some families want a standard school day. Others want boarding, and some want something in between. Many schools now offer more than one format, so ask which ones and from which year.
At full boarding, girls live on campus during term. Flexi boarding sends them home on alternate weekends. Day boarding is a longer school day with lessons, activities and supervised prep, then home in the evening.
Residential boarding often starts a few years into primary school. Check the minimum year before you get attached to a campus.
3. Look at safety, health and who’s on site
Safety shows up in how a school runs on an ordinary Tuesday. Written policies are fine, but you want to see the gate, the staff and the medical room.
Ask these:
- Who can enter the campus, and how are visitors checked?
- Is a medical professional on site, and at what hours?
- Is a counsellor available, and how does a girl reach one?
- If it’s a boarding school, which adults live on site?
Girls get homesick, fall out with friends and feel exam stress. What matters is whether an adult notices and does something about it.
4. See what girls do outside lessons
A sports list on a website tells you very little. Ask how often each activity runs, who coaches it and whether a beginner can join.
It’s also worth asking who leads. In a girls’ school, girls should be captaining teams, running clubs and speaking at assembly. That’s the whole point of the setting.
Bedford School Mohali, for example, lists squash, swimming, shooting sports, gymnastics, tennis, pickleball, football, cricket, hockey, volleyball, basketball and badminton on its site. A list that long is worth a follow-up question: how many girls play each one, and how often?
5. Do the commute yourself
A 20-minute drive on a map can turn into something longer at 8 a.m. Try it on a weekday, at the real hour, with your daughter in the car.
Mohali sits right next to Chandigarh, so many families come from across the tricity. That makes the school run a real factor. Ask whether the school runs its own transport, what the routes are and who supervises the bus.
For a young child, a shorter commute is a genuine advantage. For an older girl who boards, it matters much less.
6. Get the fees in writing
Tuition is rarely the whole bill. Ask for a full breakdown that covers:
- Tuition, and boarding or day-boarding charges
- Meals, transport and uniform
- Exam fees, trips and activities billed separately
- Payment plans and what happens if you withdraw
Then ask about scholarships. Some schools award them for academic ability or for what a girl adds to school life. Find out the criteria and deadlines early, since they’re easy to miss.
7. Ask how new the school is
Older schools can show you years of results. Newer ones can’t, but they often have fresh facilities and smaller year groups.
Neither is better by default. What you need is honest answers. For a newer school, I’d ask:
- Who founded it, and who runs it now?
- Is another school or partner involved, and what does that partner actually do?
- How is quality checked, and by whom?
Bedford School Mohali is a good example of why the question matters. Its first pupils joined in the session beginning April 2026, and it was set up with Bedford School UK. Whatever school you look at, ask what a partnership means in practice.
8. Visit, then ask her
Go in person if you can. Brochures and websites make claims, and a visit lets you test them.
Visit at drop-off or break time, when the school is least rehearsed. Watch how staff talk to girls, and notice how staff respond to your questions. Short, direct answers are usually a better sign than a polished presentation.
Then ask your daughter what she thought. “Did you like it?” gets a shrug. Try “What would you do there on a Tuesday?” or “Who would you sit with at lunch?”
Before you decide
Write your questions down, ask them everywhere and compare the answers that evening, while the tours are still fresh. If boarding is on your list, a top boarding school for girls will normally explain its formats, ages and fees on its website, so you can narrow the list before you drive anywhere.
