Looking forward to hearing from Compass Education at The Norfolk Headteachers' Conference!
The power of choice in response to the recent investigation into ESS SIMS 3 year MIS contracts.
As many of you will be aware, the Competition and Markets Authority have recently concluded their investigation into the actions of ESS SIMS. The investigation was in relation to the mandatory enforcement of 3 year contracts which tied many thousands of schools into a SIMS agreement until March 2025. We believe that many schools would not have been able to properly consider if a 3 year contract with SIMS was right for their school, prior to becoming tied in. We worry that this may have resulted in many schools having an MIS that is not best serving their needs or the needs of their school community.
The outcome of the investigation is that ESS SIMS are now offering schools a new option to exit their contract early if they meet the eligibility criteria. This is great news and we very much welcome this intervention. Any school wishing to take advantage of this offer does not have long to act though – February 10th is the deadline to apply.
While this is good news, we worry that the number of schools which qualify for this new break clause is potentially quite small. We also worry that the number of schools that have the bandwidth and resources available to follow the prescribed application process may be even smaller.
At Compass, we believe that choice is powerful. We believe that the education of our young people is too important for all schools not to have choices. And we believe that a school’s MIS is too critical to be letting you and your pupils down.
If you’re tied into a long term contract with an MIS provider, be it SIMS or otherwise, and you wish to choose something better, then Compass can help. We promise that, for as long as you’re paying for your current MIS, you can switch to us and Compass will be completely free until your current contract ends. No eligibility criteria, no application forms, no deadlines. We call it the Compass Choice Commitment, but you can call it having a choice.
Watch the video to find out more!
Pete Collison
With thanks to the Compass Education blog!
About Compass Education UK
Compass is a fully featured, cloud based MIS supporting over 2,000 schools every day, helping to make the school day more productive, more impactful and more enjoyable. With over 40 available modules, Compass easily handles all areas of school administration from student and staff management, reporting, statutory returns, parental engagement, to timetabling and much more! Allowing you to create the right combination of tools to unlock productivity for administrators, and make life easier for teachers and parents.
Schools that use Compass tell us that they spend less time on administration, drive better parental engagement and spend more time delivering inspiring learning experiences. We’d love to help you do the same!
