UPDATE FOR FUTURE PARENTS
Welcome to our Spring edition of Inside Intelligence. If you have kindly been considering St Catherine’s for your daughter, we hope that you have been able to join us at an Open Event. We believe that it has never been more important for schools and parents to work together on our shared mission of educating young people to gain the confidence to take on challenges and have the self-belief they need to achieve and succeed in life beyond school.
At St Catherine’s we are focused on nurturing and encouraging our girls to acquire selfbelief, through their studies, their extra-curricular passions, and in their interaction in our House system which underpins the structure of the whole Senior School. With self-belief they go on to achieve and thus to succeed. It is a simple process which we watch lived out daily.
We warmly invite you to come and visit us if you have not already done so. Please contact us at admissions@stcatherines.info, or visit stcatherines.info/open-events to book onto one of our Open Events.
St Catherine’s has faultlessly supported and encouraged our daughter to develop her strength of mind, moral courage, perseverance, intellectual curiosity and humour in the face of adversity. We are not sure any more could have been asked for from a school.
Mr and Mrs Brown, past parents of a 2023 Alumna
EXPERTS IN GIRLS’ EDUCATION
Our Senior School Headmistress, Alice Phillips, has been recognised for her global contribution to girls' schools with the Ransome Prize, the International Coalition of Girls' Schools most prestigious award for achievement. The Prize is awarded to ‘a woman who has made outstanding contributions to the Coalition and one of its member schools to further the Coalition’s purpose to be the leading advocate for girls’ schools, connecting and collaborating globally with individuals, schools, and organisations dedicated to educating and empowering girls.’ We are thrilled that Alice Phillips's leadership, commitment and contribution to the world of girls education has been recognised in this way.
Interactive Open Event:
Friday 21st June 2024
Thursday 19th September 2024
Wednesday 16th October 2024
Please visit our website for more information on key admission dates:
stcatherines.info/admissions/openevents
To book a place for any of the dates, please complete our online booking form or contact the Senior Registrar, Clare Woodgates: 01483 899609
admissions@stcatherines.info
Our L4 (Year 8) girls had an exciting day last term at the annual SATROFest 2024 (Science And Technology Regional Organisations). The event focused on the pathways and career opportunities available in STEM and provided the girls with an opportunity to visit various company stands and take part in workshops with industry involvement by a variety of companies from KPMG to The Pirbright Institute.
GIRLS-ONLY CHESS TOURNAMENT SATROFEST 2024
We were delighted to host the semifinals of the National Girls’ Chess Championships tournament, run by the English Chess Federation. This event marked the 10th Anniversary of St Catherine’s as the event’s host and sponsor. Over 300 players took part in this prestigious event making up 97 chess teams from across the entire South-East. Our own U19A and U19B team were placed in equal 12th which was a great achievement and highlighted our talented players and their strategic skills. What a wonderful way to demonstrate how this game can bring people together, and at the same time build confidence and problemsolving skills, all so vital in today’s world.
In a girls’ only environment, free from gender bias, it is no surprise that within St Catherine’s over 76% of our Sixth Form study Maths, Further Maths or STEM subjects. The love of all that is STEM is supported from the girls’ earliest years within the Senior School both in and outside the classroom. Our Science Club is an incredibly popular extra-curricular activity which sees girls experimenting with Van de Graaff generators, building hovercrafts using a balloon and CD, and turning copper coins into gold! Our girls also recently enjoyed STEM Day, during which they heard talks from young female professionals describing the various opportunities available in the field of engineering. At St Catherine’s we are proud to be proactively addressing the societal challenge to increase the number of women in senior leadership positions within the field of Science and Technology.
THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGES SCIENCE CLUB
Learning a language teaches us to be careful listeners, problem solvers and critical thinkers, not to mention the fact that language skills are associated with increased employment opportunities. We are fortunate at St Catherine’s to have both a thriving Modern Foreign Languages Department (French, German and Spanish) and a Classics Department (Latin and Ancient Greek). The outstanding teaching, and the emphasis we place upon languages, ensures that we regularly send our students to some of the country’s most prestigious universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Durham and Exeter to continue such studies or to become ab initio (new) students of Arabic or Chinese, to name but two.
SHREK, THE MUSICAL!
INTERNATIONAL STEM EXCHANGE PROGRAMME AND ROBOTIC COMPETITION - AUSTRALIA
We are extremely excited to be working on a new initiative: a STEM focused exchange programme with St Catherine’s School in Sydney, Australia. This exchange opportunity, to launch next year, will allow those selected Year 9 students to participate in the FIRST Robotics Competition (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) held in Sydney.
As a girls’ school, this focus on STEM is extremely important given the current environment in which a gender pay imbalance exists within most employment sectors, but most acutely within STEM, and in particular, in the study of Physics. Our Head of Physics, Dr Kathleen Puech, has recently carried out her
own research into this, focusing on the factors that discourage the study of Physics amongst women. This research found that enjoyment of the subject, confidence to do well and the perceived relevance of the subject for the future were all factors explaining why Physics underperformed in recruiting female A Level students relative to other STEM subjects. Here at St Catherine’s our ongoing efforts to address these issues exemplify our commitment to fostering a more inclusive and engaging environment for Physics education, which will ultimately pave the way for a more diverse and vibrant future in the field.
Last term our 350 seat Auditorium was bursting at the seams as our Senior School performed Shrek, the Musical! Over 150 girls were involved in this production: acting on stage; as part of the Tech Crew; backstage helping with costume, hair and make-up; or in the orchestra pit. So why Shrek? Miss Parkinson, our Director in Residence, was drawn to the story because, ‘I wanted to celebrate difference; how living in a land with diversity only adds to the rich tapestry of life and experience. The fairytale characters sing, ‘What makes us special makes us strong’’. We need to recognise how special we all are and to embrace our individual characteristics. Here at St Catherine’s, we are fortunate to have a thriving Drama community – known as the DramFam – which allows every girl to be involved in Drama during her journey through the School whether in her curriculum lessons throughout Years 7-9; by taking part in the annual House Drama Competition; through Speech and Drama Lessons (LAMDA) or in one of the many extra-curricular clubs or productions on offer. We are proud of the opportunities we offer our girls to explore and express themselves through drama.
ST CATHERINE’S FASHION SHOW
The annual St Catherine's Fashion Show and Talent Contest was as ever a huge success with a sell-out audience of over 500. The Sixth Form leadership skills were clear to see, as they had been responsible for the planning and marketing the entire event, auditioning the various talent acts, sourcing the clothes that appeared on the catwalk from retail brands and choreographing the show. Evening dresses, leisure wear, Nigerian dance, bands, vocals, dancers and more took to the stage and the audience was treated to a spectacular evening of entertainment. The event was expertly compered by four U6 (Year 13) students, and their teachers provided encouraging and witty adjudication of the talent acts.
TO THE RACE TRACK!
BOARDING AND THE LUNAR NEW YEAR
Here at St Catherine’s members of our boarding community enjoy a full and varied array of weekend events and activities. As each term’s activities are tailored to the changing seasons, these can vary from a visit to a London gallery to a trip to laser quest. We are fortunate that this community includes over 18 different nationalities from the UK and across the globe which ensures that our girls become more open-minded and learn to empathise, understand and appreciate other cultures and cultural practices. Most recently, the boarders enjoyed such an experience as they celebrated the Lunar New Year with a banquet and a traditional Dragon dance performed by our Sixth Form girls (Years 12 and 13).
This year marked the second year of the Sixth Form Design Engineering Programme in our wonderful Art & MakerSpace. Girls were invited to join Mr Alastair White, Head of Design & Technology, to take part in an exciting new project: to build from scratch a Westfield racing car. The team worked collaboratively to problem solve, think creatively and engineer solutions. Girls studying Maths and Physics tackled the project as engineers; those with a flair for the visual offered a different view of challenges as they arose, and every girl has found her role. This experience culminated in a track morning at Goodwood, where the Westfield was put to the test. We are now looking forward to the delivery of our next Westfield which will allow a new cohort to embark upon this incredible engineering challenge.
LACROSSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2024
St Catherine’s has an extremely talented Lacrosse department which has seen many of our alumnae and staff represent their country. Consequently, we are extremely excited by the news that Lacrosse is once again to be included in the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, in 2028.
It was wonderful to see current pupil Grace, Head Coach Vic Alexander, and alumnae Bonnie (Year of 2023), Honor (Year of 2023) and Grace (Year of 2022) come together to train and compete recently in Florida as part of the England U20 tour. This is part of their preparations for the U20 World Championships in Hong Kong, this summer. The tournament will be hosted by the China Hong Kong Lacrosse Association with support from World Lacrosse as the top women’s programmes compete at the junior level world championship.
BAND OF THE WELSH GUARDS
We are incredibly proud that eight of our U4’s (Year 9) to L6 (Year 12) girls travelled to Wellington Barracks, London, recently to perform with the Band of the Welsh Guards during their St David’s Day Concert in the Guards Royal Chapel. Well done to Serena (Trumpet), Scarlett (Oboe), Morwenna (Alto Sax), Libby (Flute), Jess (Flute), Beatrice (Percussion), Amelia (Percussion) and Annabel (French Horn). What a privilege and experience for our talented musicians to have been part of such an event! The gracious hosts were kind enough to describe our students as, ‘wonderful young musicians.’
