Personality Profile: Catherine Hobbs
Catherine moved to Portsmouth in 1999 from Newbury, where she had lived since she was six months old, to take up her position as Head of St John’s Cathedral Catholic Primary School, thinking ‘I’ll give it a go for five years!’
Born in High Wycombe (‘Mum Irish, Dad English’), Catherine has an elder brother, one of whose teenage children has just started studies at university in Portsmouth.
Having graduated from La Sainte Union College of Higher Education (Southampton), Catherine went into teaching. It was from Springhill, the largest primary school in the Diocese and where she was Deputy Head, that she moved to take up the Headship at St John’s Primary.
‘I like to keep on the go,’ comments cheery Catherine, whose energies extend to include responsibilities not only in the parish but also wider afield with the development of R.E. Teaching & Learning and Primary School Management.
As someone who likes to keep her feet firmly on the ground (‘Sailing and flying are certainly not passions of mine!’), Catherine spends what little free time she has catching up with friends and family, going to the theatre, cooking and travelling … but ‘preferably not by plane or boat!’