City Montessori School Honoured by College Board for Expanding SAT and PSAT Impact in India’s North Zone – 2026
City Montessori School (CMS), Lucknow, was honoured by the College Board with the Expanding SAT and PSAT Impact in India (North Zone) 2026 award on 9th October 2026 at the India Forum 2026 event in Bengaluru. The recognition acknowledged CMS’s efforts to expand student access to international academic assessments and strengthen pathways to higher education.
Expressing her pleasure on receiving the award, Prof. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, CMS Managing Director, said that, “CMS was the first AP, SAT, and PSAT exam and test centre in Uttar Pradesh, improving local access to these programmes. We aim to align classroom learning with international benchmarks while nurturing curiosity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills that help students prepare meaningfully for the SAT, PSAT and the wider demands of university education.”
CMS was also recognised as the first institution in Lucknow to introduce the College Kickstart courses in Business with Personal Finance and in Cybersecurity. These courses introduced students to practical concepts in financial literacy, business and digital security, helping them explore subjects with relevance to further study and future careers. The recognition highlighted the importance of providing students with opportunities to develop academic confidence, independent thinking and the skills required to make informed decisions about university education.
The award was presented at the IC3 Conference in Bengaluru, where several CMS principals and members of the CMS Career Counselling Department participated in discussions on education, career guidance and university preparedness. Mrs Chanda Kundra, Head of the CMS Career Counselling Department, was a distinguished panellist in a Panel Discussion on the topic “Get Ready for a Global Credential Driven World Through AP Career Kickstart” at the conference. The CMS delegation, including Principals Deepali Gautam, Junu Thakur, Anupama Checker and Kanika Kapoor as well as CMS Career Counsellors, interacted with representatives of College Board India, including Mr Rushi, Ms Meenakshi and Ms Mehak.
Mrs Chanda Kundra, added that “at CMS, we encourage informed choices, consistent preparation and early career exploration so that students can approach university applications with greater clarity and confidence.”
This College Board award complements CMS’s wider efforts to prepare students for higher education both in India and abroad. Over the years, the school had developed initiatives to help students explore academic disciplines, understand admission requirements and identify suitable university options, resulting in 851 CMS alumni securing admissions to foreign universities across the world between 2016 and 2026 in institutions such as Cornell, UPenn, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Imperial College London, the National University of Singapore, University College London, Sydney University and other leading universities.
