Co-Founder Eshita Kalidindi: Bringing Harvard Research on Child Development to Hyderabad Classrooms
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], July 20: Co-founder Eshita Kalidindi is bringing the developmental science she studied at Harvard University and NYU directly into the classrooms of Sagebrook International School, the new IB PYP candidate school opening this July in Hyderabad’s Financial District. Eshita holds a Master’s in Human Development and Education from Harvard University and a B.A. in Psychology (summa cum laude) from New York University. She has built every layer of Sagebrook around what science says young children actually need.
At NYU, Eshita worked as a research assistant in a Social Psychology lab focused on child and adolescent mental health. Her academic work has since centred on early childhood development, learning science and the relational foundations of learning. At Sagebrook, that work moves from theory to practice.
“Research tells us clearly what young children need,” Eshita says. “Our work is to listen carefully and build a school that actually answers.”
The translation begins with Beginnings, Sagebrook’s parent-toddler programme for children aged 18 to 36 months. Drawing on neuroscience showing that over a million neural connections form every second in the first three years of life, the Beginnings programme prioritises warm, responsive exchanges over instruction. Parents stay on campus through the three-week transition to support secure attachment. Teachers weave songs, gestures and stories through the day. Similarly, the signature Block Building Programme, scaffolded across the early years, draws on decades of play-based learning research showing how open-ended construction develops spatial reasoning, mathematical thinking, language and executive function in young learners.
The same evidence base shapes Sagebrook’s Social Emotional Learning framework, which blends identity, empathy, social awareness and meaningful action into the daily life of the school rather than reserving them for weekly lessons.
“SEL is a core part of our curriculum at Sagebrook, not something we do in addition,” says Eshita.
Sagebrook’s biophilic campus, designed by internationally recognised school architect Prakash Nair, extends the same logic. Sunlit classrooms, natural materials, reflective nooks for self-regulation and a school-wide filtered air system are choices grounded in research on how the environment shapes children’s attention, mood and learning.
The school’s approach and partnership with Whitgift School in the United Kingdom further strengthen its global learning ecosystem. Sagebrook’s International Advisory Board includes Dr. Elizabeth City of Harvard University, Dr. Swati Popat Vats of the Early Childhood Association of India and counselling psychologist Dr. Varudhini Kankipati, ensuring evidence-based practice runs through every level of the school.
For families considering international schools in Hyderabad, Sagebrook offers something distinct: an early years education designed around what developmental science has been telling us for decades.
Sagebrook International School welcomes its first cohort from Beginnings through Grade 2 in July 2026. Admissions are open. Visit www.sagebrook.in.
