Designed for Life

This is the official podcast of the Design and Technology Association. 'Designed for life' aims to entertain, inform and inspire, bringing the worlds of business and industry together. Design and Technology is a wide-ranging curriculum subject that, along with qualifications in other facilitating subjects, can open doors to students across an ever-increasing breadth of career. England was the first country in the world to introduce this subject to its mainstream curriculum offer in 1988. Where we led others, have followed and in various guises, it is now taught in countries around the world including India, Australia, China, USA, France and Finland. This podcast consists of a series of short, informal conversations with people from across the worlds of education, industry and design. The intention is to help to link business, industry and education, as the solutions to tomorrows problems are being educated today!

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Designed for Life

Designed for Life - Live at Simon Langton Boys School, Kent (Part 2)

May 16, 2025 • Tony Ryan CEO Design & Technology Association • Season 4 • Episode 5

In this, the second episode of a two-part mini-series, we continue exploring the journey of school design and technology leaders and departments as we visit and speak with staff, students, and parents at Simon Langton Boys' Grammar School in Canterbury, Kent.

Before anyone assumes this is a story of overprivileged students enjoying an experience facilitated by wealth and connections, please be aware that this is not the case. This department has been carefully crafted from the ground up with a limited budget. It now has over 200 students studying design and technology at GCSE, alongside a mixed-gender, large, and growing sixth form.

The school has achieved huge success in F1 in Schools, winning the National competition, which enabled students to represent the UK in the World Finals. This, alongside other opportunities, is part of an extensive extra-curricular offer presented to Langton students.

We recorded over a full day in school, and there was so much good content that it was impossible to edit it into a single podcast. Therefore, we have decided to break this into two podcasts, released in close succession. If you haven't listened to part one yet, I suggest you go back and do so, as the recording has a sequence.

So sit back, grab a moment or two to yourself and listen to Part Two of Designed for Life, in conversation with the Simon Langton Boys Grammar School in Kent.

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