Deputy Principal - Teaching and Learning

Cultivating your own character

Schools talk a lot about cultivating character because we believe in it, as teachers, we know our impact extends far beyond the classroom and the academic lessons. Every now and then we hope that we are able to impart life lessons.

This matters at schools like St Catherine’s, because we know that girls carry a particular pressure. Research consistently shows girls tend to outperform boys academically across school subjects, yet success carries its own cost: studies find that for girls specifically, internalising struggles like anxiety can quietly erode the benefit that high standards would otherwise bring to their results. More broadly, perfectionism driven by social and family expectations has risen substantially among students since the late 1980s. The lesson isn't to lower our expectations, it's to help girls cultivate their own character whereby they can hold high standards without letting fear of failure become the loudest voice in the room. 

Like many of you, I spent my holidays transfixed by the World Cup, and it was Norway in particular that captured my attention. A recent Guardian article on Norway's football success, No league tables, no trophies: how Norway made sport fun for kids – and built a football team that beat Brazil (6 July 2026) offers an unexpected lesson here. Norway's governing body for sport bars official results, league tables and trophies for children under nine, with regional competition and rankings only opening at 11, and national-level competition only becoming possible at 13. The philosophy prizes participation and enjoyment over early ranking — and it produced a squad that beat five-time champions Brazil to reach a World Cup quarter-final for the first time in 28 years. The lesson isn't that outcomes don't matter, but that mastery, joy and patience in the early years can outlast a narrow, premature focus on results.

This term, we ask each student to set goals that stretch her mind and character in equal measure — clear and purposeful, approached with curiosity rather than the paralysing pursuit of perfection.  Mandela offered this pearl of wisdom: "I never lose. I either win or learn."

As staff, we remain committed to walking alongside our students — nurturing curious minds and steady character, term after term.

Ms Lisa Hanlon

Deputy Principal, Teaching and Learning