This was our first meeting of the New Year 2025. President Paul Russell welcomed our guest speaker, Ms Elizabeth Stone, the first lady Headmaster for Winchester College. Paul also welcomed club members to our new dinner venue, the Mercure Wessex Hotel. The food was excellent, served on time and hot.
Elizabeth Stone’s talk preceded dinner. Before taking up her post as the new Headmaster of Winchester College she had already established a notable reputation as Principal of a large, leading independent girls’ school in Sydney. Her previous education experience has encompassed co-education and single sex schools, day and boarding, in Australia. Previously, she was Vice Principal of Cheltenham Ladies College and before that she spent 3 years in Winchester teaching maths.
Elizabeth Stone’s thoughts for the evening concerned 5 issues she considers relevant to education today.
Problems are not solved by problem solving; a ‘quick fix’ is not the answer. Contemporary challenges are complex, always changing: she believes in being engaged with the world, socially, economically and culturally. We don’t know much about how people learn. You only know you have learnt something when you can remember it later.
It is clear her thoughts and concerns are children centered. She believes children need a plain learning space with no distractions. (She made no apologies for the absence of Powerpoint to support her talk). Her presentation was so dynamic and interesting she certainly didn’t need any props. She discussed the bottleneck of learning memory. Cognitive overload causes a block to learning – just tell children what they need to know – this is teaching not cheating.
Critical thinking skills came next. Elizabeth Stone demonstrated her open-mindedness and flexibility of thought – outsourcing thinking, encouraging children, a small amount at a time, to look beyond their curriculum.
Teach X at the expense of Y. School curriculums today are far too big with too may choices within each subject. Teachers can only teach so much and children can only assimilate so much. What is being asked of schools today cannot be done. Teachers and pupils are under constant pressure.
Kids are not attending school enough. Teachers should be more engaging. Elizabeth Stone’s experience shows that it is more important to engage with children in a project and talk less. To do rather than just talk immediately captures enthusiasm, understanding, fun and friendship between teacher and pupil.
Finally, Elizabeth Stone raised the issue of poor mental health among young people. Too much mindfulness research causes mental health problems. Diagnosis and defining makes the situation worse.
It is clear that Elizabeth Stone is a supreme educationalist: inspiring, compassionate and devoted to the education and enlightenment of children, helping them to understand and meet the challenges of life today.
Thank you Elizabeth Stone for finding time in your busy schedule to give Winchester Rotarians an insight into your thoughts on modern education. How fortunate are those who benefit from your values and vision.
Diana Brooks
