‘You’re all intelligent and have a purpose,’ College pupils told

His talk was also delivered to parents and at its heart was how it is important to focus on the good rather than the bad.

Everybody was intelligent, he said, but in different ways: ‘Don’t ask how intelligent is X, but ask how is X intelligent?’ was one of the maxims he used during his talk, getting the audience to stand and say it out loud, but insert their own name for ‘X’.

‘You’re all intelligent and you all have a purpose – and there’s nothing more beautiful than someone fulfilling their purpose,’ he said.

‘It’s about finding something we are good at and something we love doing.’

Mr Shone had spent 16 years as a teacher in boarding schools, but just as he was about to take on the role of head teacher, a brain tumour was discovered. The two major operations he had as a result meant that he lost most of his sight.

He now runs the charity ‘I Can & I Am’, which seeks to inspire confidence in people and enable to get them to know who they are and what they can do.

In his role as an inspirational speaker, he visited Elizabeth College three years ago, and he returned to talk to parents and students at the invitation of the college’s pastoral vice-principal.

People should not let failure define them, but use it as a springboard, he said – something he highlighted with an athlete falling during a race and getting up to finish in the first three.

As for his own disability ‘you just have to come to terms with it’.

He has been told that the little sight he has will eventually go, but he would not let that get him down.

‘You are still the same person,’ he said. ‘You’re still able to talk and communicate.’

Speaking afterwards, Mr Shone said that his interest has always been in the pastoral side of teaching: ‘I’m really against the idea that teachers are academic robots,’ he said.

His talk was watched by a packed school hall comprising students from Years 7 to 10 and afterwards, two of the audience members said they had got a lot out of it.

‘It was very inspirational, coming from someone like him who can’t see,’ said Max Guilbert, 14, who said he is good with computers and so is hoping for a career in that field.

History and biology are the interests that Ethan Ellis, 13, will be focusing on. ‘Just because of what he’s gone through, to be able to stand up and have this confidence and talk to loads of people about his message is remarkable,’ he said.

‘If he can do it, it inspires others to do it.’