Year 9 Design & Technology Careers Day
On Wednesday 17th November, Year 9 D&T students spent the morning working with engineers from GSK, with designers from the world of fashion and textiles, product and furniture design, interior design, and with members of the food and hospitality industry.
We had two speakers – an ex-Presdales student, Kelly Scanlon, and a furniture/product designer/lecturer, Alex Hellum, who has a daughter in Year 12. Zoe Hillyard and Warren Malkin recorded presentations, and the GSK team did a live online session with the whole of Year 9 in the Lecture Theatre.
One of the fashion workshops run by Kelly involved a t-shirt design task. Kelly chose an overall winner – Amelia Costa in 9AS. Kelly was really impressed with Amelia’s design work; the colours were exactly to the brief and she had really thought about placement and detail.
The Year 9s were attentive, creative, and interested and they participated in all the sessions. We hope the experience will help them with their decisions concerning their D&T GCSE options.
On Wednesday 17th November Year 9 D&T students spent the morning working with designers in the world of fashion and textiles, product and furniture design, interior design, food and hospitality industry, and with engineers from GSK.
We had 2 speakers – an ex Presdales student Kelly Scanlon, and a furniture/product designer/ lecturer Alex Hellum, who has a daughter in Year 12. Zoe Hillyard and Warren Malkin recorded presentations, and the GSK team did a live online session with the whole of Year 9 in the Lecture Theatre.
One of the fashion workshops run by Kelly involved a t-shirt design task. Kelly chose an overall winner- Amelia Costa in 9AS. Kelly was really impressed with her design work, the colours were exactly to the brief and she had really thought about the placement and the detail.
The Year 9s were attentive, creative, interested and participated in all the sessions. We hope the session will help them with their decisions with their D&T GCSE options.
From a zoom call with GSK employees, Kathy Freeman, Victoria Dormand, Deanna Butler and Charlotte Lucock, we learnt about the different technology and production in science and the different opportunities for us to try at GSK, even at a young age. They told us about what it was like as a Respiratory Technologist who is a graduate, in Tablet Production, in Digital Projects and Engineering, and as an apprentice for engineering. It was interesting to learn about the jobs and what we could do in an industry like that.
With Alex Hellum, we learnt about designing models as a help to production. He has designed for shops, larger companies, personal use and more. He showed us some designs he had made and some models he had created for them. Then, we got to make some of our own sized down models out of paper, like some designers may do.
From Zoe Hillyard, a textiles designer with a degree in Embroidery, we were told about how big textiles are in our everyday lives and how important it is. We got to try looking at different ways of creating textiles using patterns, textures and old resources. We learnt how old or unwanted things could be used to create something new.
And there was more! Overall, it was an incredibly interesting day that helped us understand more about Design and Technology and what jobs or opportunities could be awaiting us if we were to study more of Design and Technology. It was great to have interactive activities and even if not everyone could be there in person it was still a fun and incredible day!
Amelie Wiltshire and Madison Scully 9JC
Our Design & Technology Professional Team
Warren Malkin has a degree in Mixed-Media Textiles and has used his pattern and product development skills to design shoes. Through his business, Pencil Led Design, he has worked for brands such as Merrell and Caterpillar and has travelled to factories in China to oversee their development into production. He is also a collector (cheese labels and orange wrappers amongst other things!). He uses found materials to create one-off art pieces and loves to draw.
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Zoë Hillyard is a Textiles designer. She has as a degree in embroidery and went on to be a knitwear designer. She loves to travel and has previously worked in Mongolia, helping communities to develop yak knitting yarn. She is now a textile artist selling her ‘ceramic patchwork’ pieces through galleries. She is also a Senior Lecturer at Birmingham City University teaching students on the BA Textile Design course.