Compass School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 11 June 2024

Pupils attending Compass School value the time they spend there. Staff are patient, calm and kind. They are well trained to understand pupils' social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs. Staff develop warm, professional relationships with pupils. Pupils feel listened to, known and accepted for who they are. Staff are ambitious for pupils. They help pupils to understand their emotions and re- engage with learning. Pupils behave well in lessons. Staff carefully manage any occasions where a pupil becomes distressed so that they quickly return to learning. The curriculum is well designed. It focuses on the most important knowledge that pupils need to secure during their time in the school, so that they are ready for their next stages in education. There are lots of opportunities for pupils to pursue their talents and interests, and to engage in activities in the community, including in music and sport. Pupils are very proud to have represented the city when they spoke about how to improve young people's mental health at an event at Wembley. Staff focus on the positives and encourage pupils to persevere. Pupils develop a 'toolkit' of ways to manage their behaviour and emotions. This helps pupils to sustain improvements to their behaviour, and to successfully reintegrate back into mainstream schools.

What the school should improve

• Some pupils in the secondary phase do not develop their reading and writing skills well enough. This hinders their achievement. The school needs to make sure that pupils are given enough opportunities to practise reading and writing across the curriculum.
• Some pupils who join the school have been out of full-time education for some time, and some struggle to attend school regularly. The school needs to improve the curriculum for pupils who are severely absent so that they quickly re-engage with education and attend more regularly.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)