Schools eligible to upgrade to Compass+

To upgrade to Compass+, schools must meet the following criteria: 

1. They must be listed as an eligible school type by the Department for Education. 
2. They must use a Management Information System (MIS) compatible with Compass+. 

How do I find out my school type and whether it is eligible? 

To find out whether your school is an eligible type to upgrade to Compass+, firstly access the Get information about schools page on the GOV.UK website: 

https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk 

Search for your school using its name or a reference number, such as its Unique Reference Number (URN). When you have found your school, click on ‘Search’ to view its record: 



To upgrade to Compass+, your institution must be an eligible school type. Your school’s type is display in the ‘School type’ field:



The following table lists the school types that are eligible and not eligible to upgrade to Compass+: 

School type	Eligible to upgrade / Not eligible to upgrade
Academy alternative provision converter	Eligible to upgrade
Academy alternative provision sponsor led	Eligible to upgrade
Free schools alternative provision	Eligible to upgrade
Pupil referral unit	Eligible to upgrade
Secure units	Eligible to upgrade
Academy converter	Eligible to upgrade
Academy sponsor led	Eligible to upgrade
City technology college	Eligible to upgrade
Community school	Eligible to upgrade
Foundation school	Eligible to upgrade
Free schools	Eligible to upgrade
Institution funded by other government department	Eligible to upgrade
Studio schools	Eligible to upgrade
University technical college	Eligible to upgrade
Voluntary aided school	Eligible to upgrade
Voluntary controlled school	Eligible to upgrade
Academy 16 to 19 sponsor led	Eligible to upgrade
Academy 16-19 converter	Eligible to upgrade
Further education	Eligible to upgrade
Free schools 16 to 19	Eligible to upgrade
Sixth form centres	Eligible to upgrade
Academy special converter	Eligible to upgrade
Academy special sponsor led	Eligible to upgrade
Community special school	Eligible to upgrade
Foundation special school	Eligible to upgrade
Free schools special	Eligible to upgrade
Special post 16 institution	Eligible to upgrade
Other independent special school	Eligible to upgrade
Non-maintained special school	Not eligible to upgrade
Other independent school	Not eligible to upgrade
Miscellaneous	Not eligible to upgrade
Offshore schools	Not eligible to upgrade
British schools overseas	Not eligible to upgrade
Service children's education	Not eligible to upgrade

Please note: in addition to the above list, the following institutions are also not eligible to upgrade: 

• Colleges 
• Institutions that have requested to do the Compass for colleges evaluation type (this evaluation type is not available in Compass+).

What MIS systems are compatible with Compass+? 

To upgrade to Compass+, an institution must also use one of the following Management Information System (MIS):  

• Arbor 
• Bromcom 
• CMIS 
• Compass
• Engage
• iSAMS (including Ed Gen)
• Cloud School (formerly known as Progresso)
• Pupil Asset 
• RM Integris 
• SchoolBase 
• SchoolPod
• ScholarPack 
• SEEMiS
• SIMS
• WCBS 

I have confirmed my school is eligible to upgrade to Compass+. What are the next steps?

To start your upgrade to Compass+, simply login to Compass Classic and click on the ‘Upgrade now’ button. You can find out more about upgrading to Compass+ here:

How to upgrade to Compass+