Year 9 Design & Technology Careers Morning
On Friday 21st November, the Design & Technology department held a successful Design Careers Day for Year 9 students. The event was designed to broaden students’ understanding of the creative and technical career pathways available within the field of D&T.
Across four lessons, a diverse group of industry professionals delivered a series of engaging workshops. Students explored how impressive buildings and spaces are illuminated with Simon Thorp; discovered sustainable fashion, zero-waste design, and pattern; worked with Russell Ford, a Year 12 parent and Head Chef at Kimpton Fitzroy London, to develop a new dish using unusual ingredients; and collaborated with former student Hollie Watson to design new pizza toppings for Domino’s Pizza. They also spent time with Matt and Ali Grey, a husband-and-wife design duo responsible for transforming an industrial water tower in Tonwell into a stylish and modern Airbnb, learning about the importance of keeping the customer at the heart of the design process. Ali led a workshop on women in design, and Matt ran workshops where students had to imagine a redesign of the interior in four different places – a train carriage, a double decker bus, Presdales School and an abandoned fortress island.
The morning was a great success, leaving students better equipped to make informed decisions about their GCSE D&T choices.
The Design & Technology team would like to extend their thanks to all the designers who generously gave their time to work with our Year 9 students at such an important stage of their journey.
The Design Speakers
H
ollie Watson
After attending Presdales School, Hollie studied Food Science and Nutrition at University and then went into Food Product Development, working for PepsiCo international, then moved to a supplier who produces all of the sandwiches, sushi & wraps for M&S. She currently works for Domino’s Pizza as a Food Innovation Manager designing and developing new pizzas, sides and desserts for Domino’s customers to enjoy- a pretty cool job that not a lot of people know anything about!
She’s passionate about getting more girls into STEM and the food industry in particular as its such an incredible industry to work in!
It’s also a great option for those who love food and cookery but do not want to go down a chef route or have more of a science based background.
She works in a cross functional team which has members from marketing, food safety & technical, research and insights and demand planning.
Russell Ford
As a recognised professional in the food industry, Russell Ford is executive head chef at the Kimpton Fitzroy, the luxury hotel located in Bloomsbury. He has 30 years’ experience as a chef and manager of kitchens in a variety of establishments. The diversity of his role at the Kimpton Fitzroy is extremely exciting and he is looking forward to seeing how it develops in the future.
He says:
“It is important for me to nurture Kimpton Fitzroy London’s up and coming chefs, helping them to develop their careers and champion the amazing talent that the hotel chefs have. In addition, I am looking forward to making my mark on the event, room service and Burr & Co menus.”
Ford has previously worked for The Marylebone Hotel and The Kensington Hotel as executive head chef.
Matt and Alison Grey
Matt has over thirty years of experience in the application of Product, UX, Web, UI, Architectural, Packaging, Brand and Graphic Design.
He works in the medical, consumer electronic, fashion, retail, exhibition, print, hospitality and FMCG industries.
He enjoys company, he loves people, he loves work, and works to make a difference. He has a family, many hobbies, a backlog of personal projects and an ongoing industrial building conversion.
Ali has been developing physical and digital products for over 20 years. The first 10 years were spent working in product design engineering and interaction design and Ali founded and ran a software product business for 5 of those years.
The next 10 years were embedded within the satellite communications industry. Ali led Inmarsat’s Product Strategy and Innovation team before leaving in 2022 to pursue her family business in property development and experience design.
In terms of what makes Ali tick, she says it’s a combination of being a catalyst to innovation and giving others a chance to show how exceptional they are and can be. She is a proud mother of two wonderful girls who inspire her every day.
Simon Thorp
Simon is a lighting designer living in Hertford. He has worked on a wide range of projects across the world over the last 20 years. His research and experience working on exterior projects at LAPD Lighting Design drew his attention to the impact that artificial lighting at night has on human health and our surrounding ecology.
Simon became a DarkSky International delegate in 2024 and raises awareness of the growing problem of light pollution by working with communities, creating events such as Dark Skies Hertford and through his existing lighting design projects.
Zoe Hillyard
Zoë Hillyard is a Senior Lecture and Course Leader for BA(Hons) Textile Design at Birmingham City University. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and has over 20 years of lecturing experience in both national and international contexts. Zoe is also an established textile artist craft practitioner working with consumer waste streams through the disciplines of textiles and ceramics, creating work exploring relationships to possessions. She is a member of the Contemporary Applied Arts gallery in London and a member of the Society of Designer Craftsman, undertaking commissions and exhibiting widely.
Zero Waste Repeat Pattern Activity
Student feedback :
Last Friday, my year group and I took part in a D&T Careers Day to help us decide which GCSEs we might want to take. This was led by a number of visitors from the D&T industry and was really fun. We learnt all about what sort of jobs might be open to us if we choose Technology as a GCSE option and how the subject can help us in the future. My favourite part of the day was when we were able to design the inside of a train, bus or lighthouse. I particularly enjoyed that part because we got to be creative and think of bold designs and patterns. Although this day has not influenced my options, I still really enjoyed the morning with my friends, and I learnt a lot of new things about D&T.
Amelie Martin
Last Friday some special guests from the tech industry such as chefs, lighting engineers and product designers came to Presdales to talk to us about their jobs and how they managed to achieve this. I found many of these presentations very inspiring and I will definitely take many of these job opportunities into consideration in the future. Even if some of them were not my cup of tea I found it very captivating with all of the features you need to take into consideration.
Jasmine Lund
