A Parent's Guide to Compass

The Compass Parent Portal is an online portal that allows you to access up-to-date information about our school and your child’s progress.

The portal is accessible via the web and also via the Compass School Manager App (available for download via the App store on your device).

Within the parent portal are many different features including the ability to:

• Add Attendance Notes

• Communicate with your child’s teachers

• Monitor your child’s homework and assessment tasks

• View Semester and Progress Reports

• Book Parent Teacher Conferences

• Consent and Pay for school events

• Order school lunches via the Canteen

• Make school fee payments

• View school news items

This guide will assist you with navigating the portal and includes step by step information on how to complete key processes.

Please note, some processes detailed in this guide may not be applicable (or in use) at our school. If you have any questions regarding your Compass parent portal, please contact the school for assistance.

Compass is a web-based system that is accessible on any modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc). Every family receives a separate log in to our school’s Compass site. This log in information is provided to you by the school.

If you need assistance locating the Compass site link for our school, go to: schools.compass.education, you will then be able to search for our school and access the link.

To log in, you will require your unique family username and password. These details will be provided to you by the school however if you are yet to receive them, please contact the school office.

You will initially be provided with a temporary password that you will be prompted to update to one of your choosing when you log in for the first time. To log in, go to your school’s Compass site.

Type in your username and password and click ‘Sign in’. Your username will be your parent code at the school. This will be different from your child’s student code, and it will not be your email address.

If it is the first time you are logging in, you will be required to confirm your email address and mobile number. These details may be used by the school for SMS/email communications and password recovery.

Once you have confirmed your details, you will be required to change your temporary password to one of your choosing. When you have entered your new password, click ‘Save’.

Terry Tip! If you attempt to log in using the incorrect details ten times in a row, you will be locked out of your account for thirty minutes. If you have forgotten, or aren’t sure of your details, please contact the school office.

When you log in, you will be taken to the Home Page, which is made up of the following components:

1: Menu options Across the top of the screen, you will see a series of menu icons, each with drop-down options. These are further explained in the following section.

2: Child Information This section will display each child you have at the school. From here, you can access their profile for key information or perform actions such as send an email to a teacher or add an attendance note.

3: Alerts On the top right, you will find a list of clickable notifications that will prompt you to action something.

4: Newsfeed Posts in the Newsfeed allow the school to communicate key information to you. Posts remain accessible for as long as the school has determined, with the most recent posts displayed first. Posts that are set as Priority, however, will always show at the top.

The Home icon can be clicked at any time to take you back to the Home Page in Compass.

The Calendar icon will take you to view the available Calendars i.e. school events, your child’s schedule etc

The Pencil icon opens the Teaching and Learning menu from which you can view all the Learning Tasks assigned to your child/children.

The Grid icon will open the Organisation menu. Here you can access the Events page and also the Course Confirmation page to pay school fees.

The People icon is the Community menu. Here you can book parent teacher conferences (when available). You can also access any School Resources made available from this menu.

The Star icon opens the Favourites menu. This contains links to useful websites the school recommends.

The Cog icon gives you access to the Tools Menu. Here you can opt to change your password, view your payment history and update your details.

If your child is going to be away, you can add in an Attendance note to advise the school. To do so, click ‘Add Attendance Note (Approved Absence/Late)’.

A Note screen will open. Select the applicable reason from the drop down list; add in any additional information if applicable in the Details/Comment box. Select the start and finish date/time of the absence and click ‘Save’

If your child has been marked Not Present without an explanation, you will be required to add an Attendance Note. You will see an alert on your homescreen. Click the alert and it will take you to your child’s ‘Unexplained’ attendance tab where you will see any sessions listed for which they were marked as Not Present or Late.

Select the session (or sessions) that you are adding a note for and then click ‘Explain with Attendance Note’. This will cause the Attendance Note screen to pop open.

Select the applicable reason for the absence and add in the relevant details/comment. Click ‘Save’. This will assign the attendance note to the sessions you selected and they will update to no longer show as unexplained absences.

If your child has an upcoming event that requires your consent and/or payment, you will see an alert on your home screen. Click the alert and it will take you to the Events page (alternatively you can click the grid menu icon at the top of the screen and select ‘Events’).

On the ‘Action Centre’ tab you will see any events requiring your action. If you have more than one student at the school, events will be listed here under each child. Click the event you wish to action.

You will see the details of the event.

Next will be any administrative information that you are required to review or respond to.

If you are required to review a medical Action Plan to confirm that it is current, you will need to tick the acknowledgement box to proceed (if the Action Plan on file is no longer current, please contact the school office to advise). If your child has any further medical conditions not listed, please add the details in the available section. If they do not have any additional medical conditions, you can leave this field blank.

You will then see the current contact details on file for you. If these need updating or different contact information is required for this event, please add that information in the space provided.

You will then be required to provide consent and payment (please note, not all events will require both, it will vary depending on the type of the event set up by the school).

Once you have completed the consent/payment, the event will update to show your child as ‘Attending’. The ‘Events’ tab will show all events, both processed and those still requiring your action. To access information on upcoming events that you have already processed, click the event.

Sometimes the school will offer optional events. These may have attendee limits and work on the first in first served basis. Anytime there is an optional event that your child has been invited to, an alert will show on your dashboard. When you click the alert, you will be taken to the Events page.

Click the option to expand the list of Opt In events available. From the list, click into any events you want your child to attend.

You will see the event details and have the option to decline or accept the invitation.

If you choose to accept the invitation, it will move from the ‘Opt In’ section to the ‘Upcoming Events’ section and show as requiring consent/payment (note, if the event did not require any consent or payment, your child will show as ‘Attending’ and no further action is required).

To secure your child’s place, you will then need to click the event and proceed to complete the consent/ payment per the usual event process. When your child’s status for the event shows as ‘Attending’ they have a secured place.

Terry Tip: If you do not proceed to process the consent/ payment before 11:59pm on the day you accepted the invitation, your child will no longer be considered an attendee of the event. Their status will revert back to ‘invited’ and you would need to re-accept the invitation to secure their place in the event. If there is an attendee limit for the event, being able to re-accept their invitation will only be possible if the maximum attendee limit for that event has not already been reached.

To email your child’s teachers, click the option listed under the name on your dashboard.

This will open the email box with all your child’s teachers pre-loaded as recipients.

Remove any teachers that the email is not relevant to by clicking the red cross next to their name. To add any additional staff, click ‘Add Recipients’.

Add in your subject information and email content. Click ‘Send’ to issue to the listed recipients. You will receive a copy of the sent email to the email address listed for your profile in Compass.

Learning Tasks are used to issue homework, projects and assignments. They can also be used to provide assessment and feedback on work being completed in class. To view your child’s tasks, click the ‘Profile’ option for that child on your dashboard.

This will take you to their profile page. Click to their ‘Learning Tasks’ tab. Here you will see their tasks listed.

Terry Tip: The school may have archived some past tasks, you can click ‘Show Hidden Tasks’ to have archived tasks displayed in the list.

Click the title of a task to view the details and any results/feedback provided by the teacher.

If you have more than one student at the school and wish to view all their Learning Tasks collectively, you can click the pencil icon and select ‘Learning Tasks’.

If you are required to assist your child in submitting work online for a Learning Task, you can do so by going to their ‘Learning Task’ tab and clicking the title of the applicable task. This can be done via their student log in, or from within your parent portal.

When in the task, click ‘Create Submission’. If you don’t see this option, it means online submission has not been enabled for this task; please contact the teacher for further assistance.

Select the file you want to upload from your device, it will then show as a submitted file.

You can click the little disk/arrow icon next to the file to download it if at a later date you want to view it.

To view your child’s report, click the option under their details on your dashboard.

This will take you to the ‘Reports’ tab of your child’s profile. Here you will see any available reports listed. Click the blue title of the specific report you want to access and it will download as a pdf file to your device for viewing.

If your child has been given access to the student Compass portal (generally Secondary students), they are able to place orders from their account. You can also place a canteen order on their behalf from within your Compass parent portal. To do so, go to the people icon at the top of the portal and select ‘Canteen’. This will take you to the Canteen page. Click ‘Get Started’ and you will be taken to the ordering tab.

On the ‘Place Order’ tab, select the child you are ordering for and then click ‘Next’.

Next you will need to select the date the order is for. Some dates may have more than one menu available, for example, there may be the standard canteen menu and then perhaps a ‘special’ day, like a sausage sizzle menu available for that date. If there is more than one menu available to order from for the date you selected, you will need to select which menu you are ordering from. Click ‘Next’ to proceed.

You will see the menu items listed, scroll through and click ‘add item’ for each item you want to order for that date.

You will then see the added items show under the order details. You can also adjust quantities if needed for the added items. When you have finished adding items, click ‘Proceed to review order’.

Review the order. You can remove an item by clicking the cross icon next to it. You can also add any additional information in the available section. When you are happy with the order, click ‘Add order’.

This will add the order to your cart. If it is the only order you are placing at this time, click ‘Confirm and pay’. Alternatively, you can proceed to make additional orders for other children or other dates and add them to your cart. Once all orders are added to your cart, you will need to click ‘Confirm and pay’ to pay for them in order for them to be received by the canteen.

Select the card you want to pay for the order with (or in the card drop-down, select the option to add a new card if required) and click ‘Process Payment’.

To view any existing upcoming orders or past orders for your child, click to the ‘My Orders’ tab.

Terry Tip: If you need to cancel an upcoming order, you will have the option to do so when viewing the order on the ‘My Orders’ tab provided you are attempting to cancel the order before the cancellation deadline set by the school.

For students using their Compass Student ID card to place canteen orders or purchase ad-hoc at the canteen, parents can top-up the child’s card balance. To do so, go to the cog icon in the top right of your portal and select ‘Wallet’.

On the Wallet page, click the child whose balance you want to top up. You will see their existing balance and two top up options, one to set up an automatic regular top up and another for a once-off top up.

Terry Tip: Before proceeding with any top up, ensure you have selected the correct child from the left hand side list of users whose balance you want to top up. You are not able to move funds between different Compass Wallets after they have been added. If you need funds moved or refunded, please contact your school office.

To set up a regular automatic top up, click that option. It will expand to show the possible selections.

Choose the card you want to link to automatic top-ups. Set the minimum Compass balance to trigger the top-up for your child (i.e. when their balance reaches $10, a top up payment will trigger).

Then set the top-up amount that is to occur (i.e. when their balance reaches $10, top up with a $40 payment). Once you have made your setting selections, click ‘Enable automatic top-up’ and the automated system for that child’s card will be in place.

If you ever need to remove the automatic top up, click ‘Automatic top-up is enabled’ and it will expand to show the details. You will then have access to click the ‘Remove automatic top up’ red button.

To simply do a once off top-up, click ‘Top up account now (once off)’. It will expand and you can select the card to be debited and also the top up amount. Click ‘Confirm Payment of $ to account’ to process.

When a parent teacher conference cycle becomes available, an alert will appear on your dashboard prompting you to make a booking. Click the alert.

This will take you to the conference cycle and you will see the Welcome message from the school that will include details about the conference. Click the ‘Show me how to book’ option for guided instructions on how to secure your conference booking.

This section is only applicable for participating MSP schools.

To order your child’s school photos, click the link on your dashboard.

Alternatively you can click the people icon at the top of your screen and select ‘Photos’.

Click into the current year to order photos. On the right hand side there is an option to view past orders if required.

Add the packs you want to purchase from the available list to your cart and then process the payment.

If you need to change your password, go to the cog icon and select ‘Change my Password’.

Key in the required information ensuring your new password meets the set guidelines. Click ‘Save’ to update.

If you need to update the mobile number or email address on file for your account, go to the cog menu icon and select ‘Update my Details’.

Add in your new contact information. This will trigger a notification to the school advising them of these changes.