Priti Sait
Co-founder
Priti co-founded her first preschool in 1984 under the mango tree of her family’s colonial bungalow, located opposite Richards Park, in East Bangalore. A pioneer of Montessori education in Bangalore, she spent the next 35 years as teacher and educator, establishing five successful schools that have shaped the culture of learning in the city.
Kai is guided by Priti’s unmatched expertise in Montessori practice and experience in early years education. Her positivity, empathy and whole-heartedness lie at the heart of our school.
“I am deeply grateful to all the parents who have given me the opportunity to help their children explore, learn and grow. I feel blessed to be a learner and to serve the Kai community as an educator and mentor. "
Saad Sait
Co-founder & Executive Director
Saad is a passionate educator and principled professional committed to early years education. In 2009, he returned to India to lead Legacy School and pioneer a change in K-12 education. Over the past nine years, he has steered Legacy School as the Executive Director, established India’s leading Montessori preschool – Legacy Early Years, and now launched, Kai Early Years. Never one to accept the status quo, he is constantly seeking out progressive, international best practices to implement across his schools, for which they have won numerous recognitions and awards.
Saad pursued his education in India and the United States and began his professional career in the field of education at a top-ranking, private US university. He has recently completed certificate courses in Leading Change in Education from the Business and Education Schools at Harvard University and the International Baccalaureate. Saad is regularly invited to speak at prestigious fora on a range of education transformation and school leadership topics. In September 2018, he was recognised among the Top 50 Visionaries in Education, and awarded the Education Icon of the Year 2018, by Education Today.
“At the heart of a great school are its passionate educators who come together every day to champion children and their learning. Kai aims to transform practices in the early years for educators, parents and schools across India and internationally, for the years to come."
Jennifer Sait
Co-Founder | Academic Director | Parent
Jennifer strongly believes in providing each child with the most enriching experiences available in international education that will allow them to thrive to their absolute potential. She motivates each educator by mentoring and empowering them with optimal opportunities to enable their personal growth and professional development. She is committed to providing high-quality teacher training and development to ensure that our practices at Kai are consistently aligned with the school’s philosophy to instil a love for learning, while ensuring improved student engagement and advanced learning outcomes.
Jennifer’s career has been an enriching journey that began with teaching English to non-native speaking children and as a IB-PYP educator. She has had the opportunity to travel across to several countries, live and teach in the United States, South Korea, Ecuador and India. Over the years, she has worked with children and educators right from the early years till high school, and has a broad repertoire of experience of various curricula – which includes the IB – Primary Years (IB-PYP) & Diploma Programme (IBDP), Cambridge International Pathway, Montessori, Early Years and New York City curricula. As a learner herself, Jennifer continually seeks meaningful opportunities to advance her knowledge and upskill her experience. She has most recently completed several certificate courses in Leadership from the Business and Education Schools at Harvard University and the International Baccalaureate. She presents on international platforms to share her experiences to help motivate and inspire more educators and school leaders.
Jennifer’s enriched knowledge of these internationally recognized curricula and pedagogical practices have empowered and enabled her to lead the team at Kai to successfully complete the IB Accreditation process. Kai Early Years is an IB World School, and India’s first stand-alone preschool that is accredited by the IBO and authorized to offer India’s first dual IB-PYP-Montessori Program. Under her able leadership, the school has been awarded numerous times and received international appreciation and recognition.
“Enabling our children to think of their role in the world and their impact on it is essential if we want our children to be the kind of human beings that will make the world a better place to live in."
Nidhi Udani
Co-founder & Director, Operations
An engineer by qualification, Nidhi is process-driven, has a strong EQ and deeply values relationships. She leads operations and human capital development at Kai. Nidhi has successfully completed the AAIE International Child Protection Leadership Team Certification Programme and has assisted in developing our child safeguarding policies and practices. Always a learner, she has recently completed certificate courses in Educational Leadership from the International Baccalaureate, as well as a course in managing and leading operations in educational institutions.
“Working as a leader in school administration has been a journey of self-discovery, of unlearning and learning, leading and following, to ensure that we achieve a sense of well-being, and create a thriving community."
Abhinav Reddy
Co-founder
An experienced civil engineer and successful entrepreneur, Abhinav designs and builds living and learning spaces for urban environments. Combining aesthetics, engineering intelligence, responsive urban planning, and modern construction management practices, his projects are considered landmarks in and around Bangalore.
When Abhinav’s search for a safe, spacious, and well-rounded preschool for his 6-year old daughter, in his part of town, Whitefield, yielded no results, he recognised a need and an opportunity. Around the same time, he met early years educator, Saad Sait, who was also exploring ways to respond to Whitefield parents asking for a world class, preschool in their locality. The two connected and the idea for Kai was born. Kai Early Years and KaiCircle were built in record time, adhering minutely to international standards and guidelines for safety, accessibility, and functionality.
Abhinav holds a Master’s Degree in Urban Transport Planning from the University of Southern California, USA.
“We built Kai in such a way that early learners have abundant freedom to explore their world and engage with it. The diversity of indoor and outdoor environments; a generosity of space and corridor-less access to it; natural light yet climate-controlled; all come together to give early years education in India, the importance it deserves."
Sharayu Thampi
Head of School
As a seasoned educator and experienced teacher trainer, Sharayu has dedicated the last twenty years of her life to early childhood education. She finds herself at home in school and cherishes having the opportunity of sustaining a caring, nurturing and friendly school environment. She strives to achieve this with both students and teachers, to ensure that they truly enjoy their learning and teaching experiences and uncover their potential.
As someone who has been part of the IB accreditation journey during her tenure, Sharayu is passionate about constructing meaningful learning opportunities in the Early Years, and greatly values the Montessori and the IB-PYP for their proven approaches, experiential, inquiry-based curriculum that empowers each student and adult to become life-long learners.
Sharayu has a Master’s Degree in Education and Child Psychology and continues to be an active learner; apart from completing multiple IB workshops, she has attended a host of Early Childhood Programs and Workshops on the Reggio Emilia and Montessori Philosophies.
“Every child should be valued as a citizen with rights and must be given opportunities to make contributions to society now and in the future. To give children both - choices and a voice, we create an environment that enables our learners to make a difference."