Mrs Eastman Retires After 45 Years!

In July we were extremely sad to say goodbye this summer to a St Bart’s institution – Mrs Eastman (formerly Hollinshead)! Over the past 45 years, Mrs Eastman has had a wonderful impact on multiple generations of students, inspiring them to cook with confidence and lead healthy and fulfilled lives.

Now Head of our Food Faculty, as well as the school’s Personal Development Programme Lead, Mrs Eastman first joined St Bart’s in 1981. In November of the previous year, she had joined St Bart’s as a student teacher on a practice placement. The then Headteacher, Basil Cooper, watched her teach and at the end of the lesson offered her a job on the spot and since then she has never looked back.

Mrs Eastman said: “I have always felt so at home at St Bart’s. I have continually had the opportunity and support to progress my career, even through the years of bringing up my children. The job is endlessly interesting, the children are fantastic and I cannot thank enough all the wonderful members of staff I have worked with over the years.”

Mrs Eastman’s career has spanned six St Bart’s Headteachers, including Mr Basil Cooper, Mr Robert Mermagen, Mr Stuart Robinson, Mrs Christina Haddrell, Ms Julia Mortimore and, our current Headteacher, Dr David Fitter. She has seen huge changes in the school, not least the move to the new school building; the Ad Lucem project. This move was a fantastic opportunity, as Mrs Eastman and her team were able to contribute to the design of the technology classrooms. These were built to the bespoke requirements of the Technology Department, with details such as tray sliders under the tables enabling students to stow and access utensils – a simple and clever idea that adds to efficiency and work space in lessons.

Mrs Eastman has said that her love of cooking comes from her mother and grandmother, who were fantastic cooks. Together they encouraged her love of the subject as well as teaching her the importance of sharing food – both for community and wellbeing. Mrs Eastman also credits her first Head of Department at St Bart’s, Doris Hughes, as a huge inspiration. She says: “We had fascinating conversations about the best way to support and engage students”.

Mrs Eastman has taught many, many students over the years but claims it never ever gets boring and that she is still learning all the time. Her sons now live in Bali and she is set to join them after hanging up her teaching hat for the last time. She says her current obsession is Indonesian cooking, which offers a whole new world of methods, spices and flavours. After watching the harvesting of individual rice grains from the paddy fields, Mrs Eastman she says it reminds you to appreciate the humble rice packet every time you open one – an appreciation that she continues to pass on to her students.

Mrs Eastman is passionate about influencing and inspiring students’ eating habits through increasing their knowledge and awareness of food issues, including what constitutes a healthy diet and hygienic food preparation, cooking, and storage methods. She says: “We are so lucky at St Bart’s, as the subject of Food is always taught in 2 hour lessons (rather than 1 hour, as in many schools). It really enables us to immerse the students in the subject, demonstrating the techniques and discussing the science, before letting them loose on their own bag of ingredients. It is a tangibly rewarding experience as the students get to literally see, smell, taste and share with their family and friends the product of their hard work.” What could be better than that!

There have been plenty of memorable moments, not least Margaret Thatcher eating Mrs Eastman’s chocolate cake during her visit in 1985. Mrs Thatcher confided in Mrs Eastman that the only cooking she did in those days was boiled eggs on toast on a Sunday! There was also the time in 2006 that Ofsted chose to only inspect one Faculty…..Food. This has not been seen before or since! Luckily, under Mrs Eastman’s leadership, the inspector awarded an ‘Outstanding’ – stating it as the best he had seen in over forty years of inspecting. We can attest that Mrs Eastman has maintained the standards since!

Never has it been more important for students to understand food nutrition, how to interpret the food labels they see in the supermarket and how to cook a meal on a budget. These are skills for life. We can’t help but reflect on just how many lives Mrs Eastman has impacted in this hugely positive way – what a fantastic legacy!