Compass School or Chesterbrook in Naperville?

Hi,

I actually checked up on both schools for my 2 1/2 year old daughter and I felt that Chesterbrook and Compass school came close in comparison but Chesterbrook was slightly cheaper. You can take your child for trial day...that is what I did.

Hope this help,
M.

Dear L.:

I wanted to let you know, I used to be the preschool teacher at Chesterbrook and it is wonderful. The teachers are very well trained and well educated. I have never in all my years (10+) as a teacher seen such a great group of people and resources, the company that owns Chesterbrook is entirely focused on education and the well-being of each child. I would most definately say that Chesterbrook would be a wonderful place for any child. I know I sound like their personal PR dept. but they really are wonderful and I have never worked for such a great school. I hope this helps and good luck.

I had my son in Compass school on the corner of hobson and naper. He was there for a little over a year. I liked the program compared to the other options in Naperville. The problem was the turn over rate of the teachers. I became friends with one of the teachers and from what I understand the pay was on the low end of the scale. I am friends with another mother whose child is still there and she is keeping her son in because of the proximity of the school to her home but she is also upset with her son getting a new teacher every few months. The other problem is the director.I know there are accidents, but my son was bitten by a child and when my ex-husband picked him up he was not told anything. He noticed something on his arm that night in the tub and when questioned the next day I was told that the teacher should have made out a report then the director had said that it was made out but just not given to my ex-husband. The date on the report appeared to have been changed. If she had been upfront and said that the teacher didn't write the report or that she didn't realize what had happened, I would have been ok with that. When I felt that she was being deceptive, I became uncomfortable and felt that the director was not being truthful. I pulled my son out that day.

My son is in Knowledge Beginnings on 75th Just west of modaff on the south side. If that is not to far from you I would highly recommend checking that out. The program is amazing. They prepare the students for school. My son is 5 and he is learning upper/ lower case letters. writing. reading. addition. subtraction. None of the teachers have been there less then 5 years. They have a very low turnover rate. They have monitors in the front when you come in by the desk that are programmed into each room. You can actually watch your child in class. I have one son and I checked out almost every other school. I didn't check out chesterbrook but even without knowing anything about that preschool, I would choose that preschool over compass.

S.

Our son goes to Compass and it is fantastic. He is 4 years old also. The director came from another school our daughter attended (creme de la creme) and two other teachers for the specials (mr. bart and the spanish teacher-now I forgot her name) are there as well that we really liked (they came from creme too). Compass has been a fabulous school. Our son has Apraxia (some scarring on the brain that has affected his speech/fine motor and cognitive to where he is about 1.5 years behind) and they put him with a teacher (miss nicole) that has just been a blessing to us. They allowed for certain items to be used for him in the classroom and his language and social skills (playing with the kids etc) has jumped up immensly. The kids in his class are wonderful as well as the two teachers. Kathy and Erica (the directors) have been absolutely wonderful and having experience with Erica it was good to know what we were going to get. We also interviewed Chesterbrook but liked the Compass structure and knowing some of the staff and to have Miss Nicoles experience made it an easy choice. Call me at ###-###-#### to chat more if you want about Compass and can be more detailed if you would like.

R. C. our sons name is Garrison and he is in Miss Nicole and Miss Autumns (Autumn is very sweet and soooo good with the kids and parents too :)) class

I don't know too much about the Chesterbrook on Naper, but I do know that my experience with their school at another location was very poor. Lots of times teacher ratios were not being followed. Teacher turnover was unbelievable! yet - the director remained (you'd thnk the company would get rid of her after all the turnover). Teachers who left there - I would run into in the neighborhood and they had so many stories to share about what happens behind closed doors. Poor nutrition. My kid would be starving by the time I picked her up. Books in bad shape or none at all. Lack of materials. etc etc. I seen it all there. And frankly if they didn't market themselves as being so perfect and having it all together -- maybe, just maybe I wouldn't have been so annoyed to see that in fact they don't offer these things. They set themselves to disappoint when they market themselves as being so amazing. When in fact, they are average to less then average.

If this is helpful - my son goes to the Chesterbrook in Wheaton and we have been extremely happy. Chesterbrook Academys are run very well and have great staff! H.