Our Vision 

Having realised, with your support, our vision for the first three elements of our campaign to Create the Future at St Catherine's, we are delighted to be planning the final stage of this exciting project - The CATalyst. 

In 2017 The WonderLab was opened by Maggie Aderin-Pocock, providing a  fabulous space where Prep School girls can explore Science in a fun, hands-on, purpose-built laboratory. In 2021 we opened The 6, welcoming girls into a building designed with them in mind - 44 study bedrooms, a fabulous kitchen and Common Room and all the hot water they could want for post-Lacrosse and early morning showers! In September 2022 we opened The Art & MakerSpace @ The John Palmer Centre, uniting all the Creative Art in a single space for the first time and allowing collaborative thinking and working for girls of all ages. 


While the School is committed to building The CATalyst and preparing girls for careers in STEM, we are conscious too of the current economic climate and the effect that it has had on us all.  Whilst the full £15m capital investment in the new building is not possible now, the Governors are exploring the possibility of The CATalyst Stage 1. This approach would prioritise the creation of the Community Lab and kick off the build. The build would include the largest laboratory in The CATalyst, which has been designed specifically to accommodate both Prep and Senior outreach activity - the location for Summer Science Camps, Coding Workshops and Science teacher training. During the School day the lab would be used by Senior School girls for core curriculum work and extra-curricular clubs such as Dissection Club, Astrophysics Club, Maths Challenge and the Sixth Form Medical Reading Club.  Once we have secured the necessary financial resources we would then be able to move to the full CATalyst build, for which plans are approved.

The ability to start the CATalyst Stage1 project will be made possible through a combination of the School's positive cashflow, composition fees, parent loans and your generous donations. A staged programme of building would also limit future capital expenditure, mitigating against the need for temporary classrooms when the full CATalyst is built.  The Community Lab is a brand new lab, in the style of others to follow, and some newly refurbished classrooms above would give a vision of what is to follow in the next stage, maintain a sense of excitement and provide new and exciting learning spaces for current students.

You can find out more about our ambition to deliver not just Stage 1 but the full CATalyst building below.

To find out more and to join us on our journey do get in touch.

Pippa Carte, Development Director
00 (44) 1483 899754   pippa.carte@stcatherines.info

Jane Pink, Capital Campaign Officer
00 (44) 1483 899787  jane.pink@stcatherines.info

"I am honoured to be able to have the opportunity to be able to contribute in a small way to the community of St Catherine's, and to be able to support some of the strategy for the future. I am keenly aware from my work, my research, and indeed through having a daughter in Prep School at St Catherine's, of the need to develop all children for a future which will be significantly different from today. The rate of technology change continues to increase, alongside increasing penetration into all areas of our lives. It's hard to believe that 20 years ago 85% of the UK did not have Broadband; Facebook and YouTube weren't founded; Google hadn't gone public and you wouldn't find Google Maps for another 3 years; and believe it or not, our first camera phone had only just arrived. We were either in some kind of dark age, or alternatively living in enlightened times. Either way the next 20 years will accelerate that pace and we need to prepare our children for a very different future, where STEM will become an increasingly important element." 

Mr K, Current Parent