Which competitions will my child enter?
That depends on their age, their current project and what is actually open at the time, and we are deliberately not going to print a list here because specific competitions change their dates, rules and eligibility from year to year. What we do is watch for open-entry events whose timing and subject fit, tell you the date, and reorganise the quarter around it. Your school will often know about routes we do not.
Can you guarantee my child will be selected or place?
No, and anybody who tells you otherwise is describing luck as a service. For school-age students, entry to many competitions runs through the school rather than through a private provider, and judging is done by people we have no relationship with. What we can promise is preparation and a complete, honest, finished entry submitted on time.
How much does it cost?
A group batch of five to eight students is USD 100 a month and one to one teaching is USD 150 a month, billed in US dollars, the same flat figures everywhere outside India. Competition preparation is part of the track rather than an extra, so there is no separate charge. The first class is free without a card.
Is my child too young for competitions?
For timed algorithmic contests, usually until about thirteen. For project and science-fair style entries, considerably younger, because those reward a clear question and an honest method rather than speed. What we would avoid is entering an eight year old into anything with a leaderboard, which teaches the wrong lesson at the wrong age.
What if my child does badly?
They will still have a finished, documented, published project, which was the actual objective. We are quite deliberate about this framing from the first session, because a student who has been told the medal is the point and does not get one concludes something untrue about themselves. A student who was told the deadline is the point simply has a finished project and a result they did not like.
Does this take time away from school work?
In the five weeks before a deadline it takes more focus, yes, and that is exactly why we do not schedule an entry into an examination term. Where those collide, the examination wins and the competition is skipped. That advice is set out properly on the BJC and BGCSE page, and we give it even when it means a quieter quarter.
Do students compete as individuals or teams?
Both, depending on the event, and team entries are genuinely valuable for a different reason: dividing work and then integrating it is a skill no solo project teaches. Within a batch we sometimes pair students at similar levels for an entry, which also means two people have to agree on a scope, which is instructive.
Are there Bahamian competitions specifically?
There may well be, and we would rather say we would need to check than assert something that turns out to be out of date. National and school-level events exist across the region and change year to year; your child's school is the better source. What we bring is the preparation and the finished entry, which travels to whichever event is open.
Is competitive programming the same as what you teach?
Overlapping and not identical. Timed contests reward speed and precision on well-defined problems, which needs deliberate practice at data structures and algorithms. The track teaches building and evaluating systems, which is a different skill. Students who want the contest side specifically should say so early, because the preparation is genuinely different.
What happens after we send the form?
A mentor telephones you at a Bahamian hour to arrange the free session. Nothing is charged and no card is requested. If competitions are your main interest, say so on the call: it changes which parts of the track get emphasised and how early we start pushing on scope control.
