A champion of east London schools, who has shaped the education of teachers and pupils for almost half a century, Jane Barnes was awarded an honorary doctorate in education in 2024, in recognition of her life-long dedication to transforming lives and futures.

Mrs Barnes' teaching career has spanned six schools across London and Essex, where she undertook various roles from history teacher to senior teacher and deputy headteacher.

She has spent 27 years at Stepney All Saints School, becoming the lead for teacher education at the school, in which role she trained countless teachers. Now a senior school professional tutor at All Saints she has been a long-standing partner of the University of East London's Initial Teacher Education programme.

Her citation read, "Jane's commitment to her community, to the practice of teaching and to generations of children whose futures she has shaped and galvanised is a lesson to any graduate in this hall who aspires to make a lasting impact through their vocation."

Reflecting on her 46-year teaching career, Mrs Barnes expressed deep affection for all the schools she worked in but said All Saints holds a special place in her heart. The culmination of this bond was marked by her nomination for a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Department for Education in November 2023. "I still love it," she said of the Stepney school.

I am continually blessed by encounters with, and visits from, former students, even the ones I had to reprimand! And also with parents, many of whom regarded me as their children's 'second mother'".

Accepting her doctorate, Mrs Barnes said, "I started teaching my teddy bears when I was four years old, and it is still a great joy and privilege today. I see teaching as a vocation and a calling. I've loved every school I've taught in but Stepney All Saints and the partnership with the University of East London have always been very special."