When a parent describes your school to a friend, what do they actually say?
Not what you hope they say. Not the mission statement or the tagline. What words do they use at the school gate, or over dinner, or in a WhatsApp group you’ll never see?
I spoke this week with Selina Boyd from the Good Schools Guide. Her job is to visit schools and decide whether children are genuinely thriving there. And the way the Good Schools Guide figures that out might surprise you.
It starts before anyone sets foot in the building. Families are spoken to first. Not to tick a box, but because that’s where the real story lives. The team listens for specific words. Belonging. Welcomed. Blossomed. When parents start using language like that unprompted, it signals something no website or prospectus ever could.
Then comes the visit itself, and it’s the small things that matter. Whether a child comes running up to show off a piece of work. Whether older students meet your eye in the corridor and actually want to talk. And Selina’s favourite signal? Walking around with a head who gets treated a bit like a celebrity, because kids keep stopping them to share what they’ve been doing.
That’s not something you can stage.
We also got into what authentic school storytelling actually looks like. And it cuts both ways as a leader. Authentic leadership isn’t what you say about yourself. It’s what others say about you. The parents who can reel off stories about bumping into the head at the school gate. The child who goes home and talks about their teacher. That’s your reputation, whether you’re actively managing it or not.
There’s a dinner party analogy worth borrowing here. If someone spends the whole evening talking about themselves, you switch off. But when someone tells you a story about another person, you lean in. Schools are no different.
The most trusted version of your school’s story isn’t on your website. It’s what your parents say to each other, what your students share, what your staff carry with them outside of work.
The practical bit is straightforward, though most schools miss it. The ones doing this well aren’t just good at marketing. They’re making it easy for other people to speak up. Are your parents in spaces where they naturally talk about you? Do your staff feel comfortable sharing what’s genuinely good? Are your students, especially older ones, given any kind of outlet?
One school Selina visited had a sixth form student who’d found the school himself online, done his own research, and then persuaded his parents it was the right place for him. The school didn’t do that. The story did.
So what does that look like where you are? Who in your community is telling your story, and are you making it easy for them?
Hit reply. I’d genuinely like to know.
Shane
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