Compass Independent School

Discover Compass - the school for thinkers, creators and explorers!

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Guided by our four Compass points - INQUIRE, PLAY, CREATE, COLLABORATE - Compass Independent School offers a small school experience filled with big learning opportunities.

What to expect from our Open Day…

✨️ Hear directly from our school leadership team as they share how the Australian Curriculum comes to life through engaging, active and rigorous learning,

✨️ See our Base Camp learning spaces - Base Camp East (Early primary), Base Camp West (Middle-Upper primary) and our new high school in Base Camp North (Year 7 to 9, with Year 10 from 2027).

✨️ Understand why we prioritise daily outdoor experiences, where children and young people go “beyond the classroom”.

✨️ Meet current families and hear why they chose Compass and what the school experience has been like for their learner.

🗓️ Saturday 22 August, 9am to 11am.

📍Sign-in at 9am with our team at Parer Place (outside La Boite Theatre). The presentation and tours will commence promptly at 9.15am.

Discover if Compass Independent School is where your family might belong. Book your tour spot now!

compassindependentschool.com/event-details-registration/open-day-2026-at-compass-independent-school

Base Camp North Personal Inquiry Spotlight! 🐭 🐭 🐭

In Base Camp North, young people have the opportunity to pursue personal inquiry projects based on their own interests and passions. ⁠Over the coming weeks, we are excited to share some of the Personal Inquiries from our amazing young people!

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For their Personal Inquiry, one of our students wanted to study the interconnection of living things in rural environments and undertake research about Fancy Rats (which are the domesticated form of the wild brown rat).

This integrated and very in-depth inquiry led this learner to:

💡⁠ create a presentation for an audience to share findings

💡⁠ investigate animal classifications, food webs and types of environments

💡⁠ complete a formal risk assessment to be able to bring Fancy Rats into the classroom.

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Our focus on inquiry across the whole school is grounded in what we know from research about student engagement. Learning is strongest when it feels meaningful and relevant. ⁠
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When young people can connect their learning to their own interests, questions and real-world contexts, they are more likely to invest effort, take intellectual risks and persist through challenge because they understand why it matters.⁠

Keep an eye on our socials to see more Base Camp North Personal Inquiries!

Homemade lava lamps, jelly, icy orbs, shaving cream clouds, colouring, some after-school snacks and winter sunshine - our first Compass Community Picnic was a wonderful way to spend a Friday afternoon!

We're grateful to have such supportive and engaged parents, families and carers in our community and we love creating opportunities for them to connect with us and each other outside the classrooms. We're already looking forward to the next picnic!

Inquiry makes the most of a learner’s sense of curiosity and wonder.

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In our high school in Base Camp North, this means young people have the opportunity to pursue personal inquiry projects based on their own interests and passions.

This approach involves:

✅️ Building strong knowledge and understanding in areas that they are genuinely curious about.

✅️ Developing the skills and habits that help them use that knowledge well.
As young people work through their inquiries, these two things naturally grow together.

This approach is grounded in what we know from research about student engagement. Learning is strongest when it feels meaningful and relevant.

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When young people can connect their learning to their own interests, questions and real-world contexts, they are more likely to invest effort, take intellectual risks and persist through challenge because they understand why it matters.

When young people investigate questions, design and make things, test ideas and share their thinking, they are learning how to research effectively, think critically, manage a project over time, communicate clearly, respond to feedback and keep going when things don’t go to plan.

These capabilities aren’t taught in isolation; rather, they are developed in context, through meaningful and highly personal learning experiences.

Over time, young people begin to see not just what they are learning, but how they are learning it and how much they are capable of when they take ownership of their work.

What's been happening in Base Camp West? 🔍️

Our science investigations have also been full of curiosity, exploration and discovery across each year level.

Year 4 children investigated forces and motion, exploring how pushes, pulls, gravity and momentum influence movement. Through hands-on experimentation, children tested different track designs and observed how forces can change the speed and direction of objects.

Year 5 children continued their fascinating exploration of light using water, food colouring and a variety of materials to investigate phenomena such as diffusion, refraction, absorption and shadows.

Year 6 children explored reversible and irreversible changes through a range of scientific investigations. Children experimented with evaporating mixtures to determine whether changes could be reversed and also created Oobleck, a non-Newtonian substance with properties that behaved like both a liquid and a solid.

These exciting hands-on experiences encouraged children to question, predict, observe and reflect while deepening their scientific thinking and understanding of the world around them.

This term, we are so excited to be the recipient of an Australian Government grant!

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This grant gives us the opportunity to work with community sporting organisations and encourage our Compass kids to learn about new sports and give new things a try!

Over the next few weeks, we’ll have specialty coaches from AFL Queensland and Queensland Ultimate Frisbee joining us during Outdoor Learning and Play to teach skills and help us encourage teamwork, resilience, independence and having fun while playing sport!

Thank you to the Australian Sports Commission () and the Australian Government () for your support!

How can the next generation of designers and makers create their own ‘aesthetic’ and express themselves as individuals? This is a question some of our high schoolers are exploring in their Team Inquiry into Fashion and Aesthetics.

As part of their inquiry, this group recently attended a jewellery-making workshop with Meekz Contemporary Jewellery - learning some incredible skills in shaping, stamping and hammering materials and considering how to design pieces of their own.

Practical, real-world learning like this is a fundamental part of our curriculum at Compass - creating opportunities for our learners to develop their creativity as individuals while also collaborating as a team!

At Compass, we have a deep commitment to supporting each child and young person on their individual learning journey - and part of this philosophy is giving them the opportunity to "learn at their level."

We know that children and young people learn best when they work within their ‘zone of proximal development’, an ideal range in which they are able to engage with concepts, skills and strategies. Learning shouldn’t be ‘too easy’ or ‘too hard’; rather, it should be 'just right' - a level in which each child or young person feels guided, supported and gently challenged.

For many learners, working at their year level in English and Mathematics is a ‘good fit’. Others require an earlier or more advanced year level in order to build their skills and progress at a rate that is in keeping with their current stage of development. It’s common at Compass to see children and young people working at a different year level within the base camps, or even shifting to a different base camp during English and Mathematics sessions.

What we love about all this approach is that it creates a culture of acceptance and inclusivity - where children and young people respect and support each other’s learning journeys.

Compass kids know that:

✨️ It is ‘normal’ to work with older or younger peers.

✨️ It is absolutely fine for anyone to go backwards (or forwards) in their learning journey.

✨️ Learning looks different for everyone (and that's good!)

We're incredibly passionate about helping every child and young person 'learn at their level'. We take great pride in this approach and believe it will yield so many benefits for our learners - now and in the future.

We were so excited to welcome the team from to Compass this week to start working on something very exciting! Stay tuned for the results! 🎥

What's been happening in Base Camp North? 📷️

This term, Base Camp North learners have been exploring how to use photography techniques to capture the world around them with intention and creativity.

Recently, Base Camp North went "beyond the walls" for an excursion to . Working individually or in pairs, young people had to choose a location in the parklands and create photos using seven photography techniques: framing, rule of thirds, close-up, whole setting, panorama, cinematic style and blue tone. 🤳🏻📷️ 📸

Young people also experimented with composition, lighting, angles, textures, and scenery and then reflected on how these techniques changed the look and feel of their photos. It's so exciting to see their photography skills developing - enjoy some of their images here!