Student capacity to double at Compass Catholic Community in $9m expansion for northern suburbs
Redevelopment plans at a unique Catholic school include space for an extra 120 students and a ‘tinkering workshop’. See the designs.
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Young mum Kaity is the first in her family to finish Year 12, and she did it with her baby boy by her side at a unique school in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.
Now a $9m expansion of the Compass Catholic Community campus will make space for double the number of young people seeking a fresh start in their education.
Kaity was 22 – and James just one month old – when she began learning at Compass about a year ago.
Each school day started with a communal breakfast, before Kaity would send her baby over to the on-site creche and begin her studies.
“My goal was to finish year 12 to prove to James that anybody can,” the single mum told the Sunday Mail.
“I’m the first person in my entire family that’s finished their Year 12. I wanted to prove that, no matter what, you can do anything you put your mind to.”
When Compass opened in 2022 it had about 30 students. Word of mouth spread quickly and this year there were 133 teens and young adults enrolled.
The demand prompted Catholic Education SA (CESA) to commit to a $9m expansion that will increase capacity to 240.
Catholic Education South Australia director Neil McGoran said the demand for places at Compass meant “we are looking at how we can extend this learning model to other regions across the state”.
A new multipurpose hub, designed by Swanbury Penglase Architects and built by Horizon Construction Services, will open in term 3 followed by learning spaces, counselling rooms and a “tinkering workshop” in term 4.
This will add to the existing 20-child creche, hospitality kitchen and learning rooms including a podcast and music studio.
Compass is open to 17 to 24-year-olds who have struggled with mainstream education.
There are no uniforms, no class bells and no fees thanks to state and government funding for about 100 such special assistance schools across the country.
Compass principal Kelly Bunyon said some students were homeless, or transient, so there are shower and laundry facilities on site and breakfast was provided.
“We do things differently here,” she said.
“A lot of students here, the only interaction they’ve had with the principal is when they’re in trouble.
“We work with each student so that they can achieve their goals and move toward living a life that is meaningful to them.”
For some of the school’s 40 graduates this has involved securing jobs, apprenticeships or a place in university foundation courses in fields including hospitality, nursing, youth work, child care and criminology.
For Kaity it meant achieving her SACE and getting a full-time job as a bus driver.
“When I’m driving I just feel at peace and my mind stops racing,” she said.
Kaity has dyslexia and dyscalculia and was “severely bullied” in mainstream school. “I was acting out, and then I decided to just stop going altogether,” she said.
At 17 she left school, and home, and cycled through a series of houses and jobs before learning about Compass.
“They accept you for who you are and you can learn your own way,” she said. “They don’t judge.”
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Originally published as Student capacity to double at Compass Catholic Community in $9m expansion for northern suburbs
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