Ethos & Aims
St. Catherine’s is about education in its broadest sense. Moreover, 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 further education when they leave school at eighteen as independent, sensible, caring and competent young women who will have much to offer in life. We provide sound advice and guidance on further education and careers and we prepare them to take their place as citizens of the world.
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.
Our hallmarks are the breadth of opportunity afforded to our students and the special atmosphere of support and encouragement. The philosophy that happiness at school is the key to success and enjoyment for each individual underpins everything we do.
The Ethos of St. Catherine's School is embedded in its Aims which are:
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to provide an exceptional all-round education which will prepare girls for happy and fulfilling lives
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to create a safe and healthy school environment in which our pupils enjoy their education
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to provide excellent academic teaching, up-to-date facilities and a wide range of extra-curricular activities
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to foster the personal, social, spiritual, cultural and physical development of our pupils as well as their academic potential
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to recognise each girl’s unique character and encourage her to see herself as an individual
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to encourage our pupils to treat everyone with respect and courtesy and show concern for the needs of others, fostering team work and community spirit
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to give our pupils the right guidance and self-belief to help them develop fully their own talents and abilities, both in and out of the classroom
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to encourage a love of learning and an ability to think creatively and independently
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to encourage Christian values, thoughts and deeds
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to encourage each girl to develop the skills of leadership and a sense of responsibility towards others, within School and beyond
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to develop a strong partnership between staff and parents to support the girls throughout their school years
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to encourage the girls to embrace the inclusive spirit of St. Catherine’s as active members of the St Catherine’s Association for life.
Values
Leadership
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 moments or role. They start 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 and 13 while they take public examinations.
In the Sixth Form, leadership can take the form of being selected to be a member of the prestigious Sixth Form Charities Board, to running a Young Enterprise Company. You can be a Duke of Edinburgh's 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 also 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
Naomi Bartholomew - Headmistress (Preparatory School)
Our Site
The Governors’ Strategic Plan for the School and 20 year development plan for the School site is revisited annually and advice and guidance sought from the School Architects. The balance we strike is always in favour of expenditure on teaching and learning, and having the right academic staff throughout the school. This is what we call our A* priority.
To deliver outstanding lessons, teachers need many resources, including technology, materials and to a lesser extent books etc. The buildings in which they work are important too, and a balance has to be struck to ensure that the facilities are ‘fit for purpose’ and enabling teachers to excel as they educate all our girls.
Schools aim to make a modest surplus from their income to invest in new buildings and facilities. Below we offer you a quick look at building projects over the past decade and what is on offer for our students.
In particular we highlight here:
- The 125th Anniversary Halls were dedicated by HRH the Duchess of Cornwall in February 2014. The whole school community benefits from this award-winning facility which includes a 300-seat auditorium, boasting some of the best acoustics in the country. An orchestra pit, technical box and recording studio provide girls with exciting opportunities to enjoy Music and Drama. In addition the Drama Studio is in full dark mode. The Auditorium offers a capacious environment for weekly Senior School assemblies and has proved a perfect venue to host prestigious speakers. Prep School girls also make the best use of the facilities with their drama productions and nativity plays. The Forum Cafe and Bar enable an event to have a wonderful social element.
- The equally impressive sports’ facilities, adjacent, offer a multi-purpose sports’ hall, dance studio, gymnasium, swimming pool, squash court and fully-fitted fitness suite.
- The Sixth Form Library - enables Lower and Upper Sixth Form girls to study quietly and this independent learning leads into the introduction to University.
- The Music Block - home of different sized music rooms, a small recital room and music technology.
- The Prep Music Room - this is no ordinary music room. It is a Soundscape. Allowing Prep girls to explore, discover and be immersed in music.
- The Prep Science Laboratory - our WonderLab – opened in 2019, this space is carefully designed for young minds to be inquisitive about science and hands-on with experiments.
Other School buildings include:
- The Lecture Theatre – a superb lecture space for smaller presentations and conferences which allows the girls to have a closer interaction with subject leaders.
- The Littlewood Lodge - named by former Prep School girls, this garden building nestles at the edge of the little woods. This building provides Prep girls with an education inside space outside.
- The 6 – our new Sixth Form boarding and social space for all Sixth Form girls.
To see how the School site has evolved since opening in 1885, please see our timeline.
To read about our plans to Create the Future at St Catherine’s through further enhancing our facilities and the opportunities available to girls in both the Arts and Sciences please click here.
