The Compass

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 22 October 2024

The Compass is highly successful at gaining pupils' trust and confidence so that they re- engage with learning. Staff are unrelenting in their ambition to give pupils every chance to achieve and be positive members of their communities. This is very much the shared vision and ethos of the school. Pupils appreciate the efforts from staff to make them feel safe and valued, after previously negative experiences of education. The school's expectations of pupils' academic and wider development are high. New pupils join the school regularly. They settle in well because of the well-embedded nurturing and respectful culture. Through their positive interactions with each other, staff inspire pupils to replicate this culture. Pupils use the support that is readily available to manage their emotions and behaviour with increasing success. The result is that pupils enjoy being in school and achieve the outcomes they need to succeed in their next stage. The school prepares pupils well for their next steps. It achieves this in many ways, for example, through a rich offer of vocational learning and opportunities to experience the world of work. Staff know pupils well. They get the best from them, no matter how long they are at the school.

What the school should improve

• The school's strategy for reading has focused mainly on re-engaging pupils with reading for pleasure. As a result, pupils do not improve their reading abilities as well as they could. The school should ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills that they need to support pupils to learn to read well, so that they can access their learning with greater independence across the curriculum.
• Many of the school's recent changes and developments, made in response to the ever- changing cohort of pupils on its roll, are not fully embedded. As a result, at times, staff do not have the extent of knowledge and expertise needed to support pupils in a range of ways, beyond reliance on an adult. The school should now take the time to embed the training and expertise that many of the staff have benefited from, to make the best possible impact on pupils' achievements and increase their independence.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)