The Chronicle January 2020

9 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Stephen Withers Green By Chair of Governors Chris Jones

More than 20 years after Stephen’s arrival at St Edward’s it seems incredible to think that there were quiet misgivings among some Governors about whether he would stick around for long. This was not a reflection on Stephen himself, but we felt lucky to have attracted a very talented young man with a successful business background and it was hard to believe that he would find enough in

he would be a passive order-taker!) Under his watch Teddies was transformed. Full co-education was a major logistical challenge. The co-venture with outside interests to create a modern sports centre was complex and that relationship has been flawlessly managed through significant changes. Boarding houses have been overhauled (Stephen is particularly proud of Segar’s and rightly so) and several new ones built. New facilities for teaching Maths, Science and Music are all exceptional. And the enormous new development at the heart of the School is a very effective swansong. A ‘before-and-after SWG’ aerial shot of the School would be telling. However, bricks and mortar only tell part of the story. Stephen is a man who believes in institutions and underpins that belief with loyalty. He is qualified to teach and he never wavered from his commitment to the true purpose of the School. He cared deeply about his colleagues and even more about our pupils and their families. He has always been alive to the culture of the place and anxious to promote and protect it. Behind his intellectual strength there lie values, quirkiness and kindness. A perfect fit for Teddies really. I can’t see why anyone ever doubted he’d stay for long. Thank you Stephen. Thank you so much.

our placid school life to sustain his interest. As time has told, such doubts were ill-founded. Doubters were wrong for two reasons and it is those reasons which encapsulate why we were even luckier than we thought at that time. Life at Teddies was never going to be too predictable for Stephen because he simply wouldn’t let it be so. He is a strategist and he is a visionary. Unusually with those characteristics he is also a natural partner. He was a trusted mainstay for three very different Wardens and for four Chairs of Governors and Chairs of the Finance Committee. He was a driving force in these partnerships and never a passive order-taker. (Oh how one very occasionally wished that

Enjoying the view from the Reading Room with Rev Katie Jones and Librarian Sarah Eldred.