The first school, with Miss Cameron of Sellicks Hill as its first teacher, opened the doors of the Roadman's Cottage on 3 July 1899. Nine students enrolled on the first day, another by the end of the first week, and another two a few weeks later.

Miss Cameron walked to the school from Sellicks Hill in time for school on Monday mornings, and returned on foot after school closed on Friday afternoons. Presumably, she brought with her enough reference books and materials to enable her to do the job.

After four years in the wattle and daub building, the school moved to a substantial stone structure further south along the Victor Harbor road. As numbers increased, it became obvious that the time had come to establish a school that would be used specifically for the purpose. In 1934 the red brick structure on School Road was built and the 51 students moved in in July 1934. Half of them faced to the front of the room and took their instruction from the teacher while the other half faced the back and continued with their set work.

There was another period of strong growth in numbers during the 1950s and towards the end of that decade School Committee members lobbied on behalf of others in the community for a secondary component and Mount Compass School became an Area School in 1962.

The school made another leap forward in 1988 with the introduction of Year 12. Since then numbers have continued to increase, and students have continued to be successful.

The school looks forward with enthusiasm to the challenges and opportunities for the next one hundred years.