Analogy: House vs Home

We all recognise that a great home isn’t about the house; it’s about the people in that house.

With that in mind, why do many parents think that a great school is about the school building?

The heart of any school is the teaching team. Bad teachers equal an unhealthy school.

Unfortunately, many schools pitch their facilities as their selling feature, and make finding information about their teaching team extremely difficult.

The school website menu may be structured in such a way as to make it unclear where you would even find information about their staff.

Information about most schools’ teachers is often limited to the names of the teachers and the classes that they teach. You may find their qualifications, but you’ll rarely see any detailed information about their level of experience, their teaching philosophy or anything else for that matter.

With schools structuring their websites and brochures like this, it isn’t surprising that parents focus on the least important factors about a school, i.e. the building!

In contrast, Pear Tree Elementary provides extremely detailed about its staff. Why? Because we are proud of our teacher and we want you to know about them!

For parents choosing a school for your child, make sure that you ask detailed questions about the school’s teachers; after all, they are the ones educating your child.

A school building is like window dressing. If the people inside are amazing, the building is a nice addition. However, the building is only as good as the people inside.