As a girls' school, St Catherine's ensures that its students develop in an environment which suggests to them in everything they see around them that there is nothing that a woman cannot achieve.

We believe that St Catherine's girls are well placed to pursue their education when they leave school at eighteen as sensible, caring and competent young women who will have much to offer in life.

Academic results are important - the school is comfortably placed in the infamous league tables - but we believe that there is much more to an all round education for the young women of the 21st century.

The breadth of opportunity afforded to our students and the special atmosphere of support and encouragement are the hallmarks of the school. The philosophy that happiness at school is the key to success and enjoyment for each individual underpins everything we do.

Please read our recent ISI Report which you can find in full on this website. We are justly proud of the ISI’s findings; they highlight many areas of the School deemed to be outstanding. However; the concluding remark sums up best of all what St Catherine’s is about: Educational provision, in the full sense of these words, is outstanding because, above all, St Catherine’s is a learning school in which a state of satisfaction with anything but the best is not on the agenda

The Ethos of St. Catherine's School is embedded in its Aims which are to:

• provide an excellent all-round day, boarding and weekly boarding education which will prepare girls for happy and fulfilling lives
• provide sound academic teaching, up-to-date facilities and a wide range of extra-curricular activities
• foster the personal, social, spiritual, cultural and physical development of our pupils as well as their academic development
• see each girl as an individual and encourage her to see herself as an individual as well as one of a group
• give our pupils enough confidence and guidance to help them develop fully their own talents and abilities both in and out of the classroom
• encourage a love of learning and an ability to think creatively and independently
• encourage Christian values, thoughts and deeds
• encourage our pupils to treat everyone with respect and courtesy and show concern for the needs of others, fostering team work and community spirit
• encourage each girl to develop skills of leadership and a sense of responsibility and reliability towards others
• provide sound advice and guidance on further education, careers and promote an awareness of the need for economic wellbeing

It is part of the ethos of St. Catherine’s that our able young women of all ages and stages are encouraged to take on leadership. Starting with first steps in the Pre-Preparatory years where putting on an assembly presentation leads the school in worship, and into the Prep. School years where they can take up monitor responsibilities, form captaincies, school council membership and so on, culminating in year 6 prefect positions of all kinds in preparation for serving the community both in their senior schools and in life in general.

In the Senior School, form captaincies and eco-monitor posts are given out termly, and within the house system there are many opportunities to lead groups or activities as the years go on. All girls may make presentations to their house group on something interesting that they have done, and by the time they reach Year 10, several girls are ready to assume stand-in house captaincies and games captaincies during the study leave of the girls in years 11-13. 

In the Sixth Form, leadership can take the form of being selected to be a member of the prestigious Sixth Form Charity Board, to running a Young Enterprise Company.  You can be a Duke of Edinburgh Award Junior Leader, or a PE Junior Sports Leader.  You may be involved in directing the house drama competition of conducting the house singing.  The Houses have prefect posts for all the Upper 6 girls. 

Alongside this sits a raft of Subject Mentor positions for girls who work with Heads of Department to promote their subject area or to help support younger girls with their studies and offer advice from the pupil perspective when options are being chosen for GCSE or AS Level. 

Finally, the School Officers, taking up post for a year from Easter of their Lower 6 year, play a very significant part in helping run the School. They can be chosen for a great many different posts which play to each girl’s individual strengths. Job descriptions exist at this level and a real preparation for leadership at university and beyond is the goal.

Leadership is something that is often intuitive, but it can also be learned, through a proper programme of experience, built up over many years.  We are very proud of our girls as they lead their peers at many different levels and it is our expectation of them that wanting to lead in an area where you are confident is something to be proud of, and to aim for.

Alice Phillips - Headmistress (Senior School)
Naomi Bartholomew - Headmistress (Preparatory School)