Elizabeth Stone has been appointed to lead Winchester College from autumn 2023, The Times reports.
Stone, who will be the school’s first female head, will take over from Dr Tim Hands, who is retiring.
Her appointment comes as Winchester prepares to admit girls for the first time this September – a reform introduced by Dr Hands.
Stone has spent the past eight years as principal of Queenwood School, Sydney, an independent girls’ school with 900 pupils.
Winchester said that she brought a wide range of previous experience from co-educational and single-sex, day and boarding schools in Australia and the UK.
She was vice principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College from 2012 to 2014 and, immediately before this, spent three years at Winchester as a maths teacher and under master.
Stone was educated at Ascham School in Sydney and studied maths, German and law at the University of New South Wales.
After taking a master’s degree at the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, she began working at the Supreme Court of New South Wales. She also held an academic appointment at the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law, where she specialised in commercial contract law, before starting her teaching career.
Sir Richard Stagg, the warden of Winchester College, said: “We are very fortunate to have appointed such an outstanding candidate. Throughout the competitive recruitment process, we were impressed by Elizabeth’s breadth of experience and by her values and vision.
“These are aligned closely with our own, as we continue to increase access to the school through an expansion of the bursary programme and the admission of girls in the sixth form.”
On joining the college, Stone said: “I am delighted to be rejoining Winchester College, which is already a special place for me and my family, and feel deeply honoured to be invited to lead a school with such a proud history and contemporary outlook. I look forward to getting to know all the pupils, staff, parents, and wider community.”
