George Wood at Thomas Cowley High School in Donington is one of many inspired students who apply rigorous and inventive thinking to their design work. Working alongside His teacher James Hannam and others, he took a simple brief and added layer after layer of research and making activity, including relationships with commercial companies, who provided significant sponsorship. George intends to use his school experience as a platform to study design.

Maddie Elms, a Year Twelve student at Caistor Grammar School, took what her teacher Graham Dobson calls 'a contemporary twist on a traditional form' in designing and making a table from ash. The result is satisfying in all respects.

'I feel that, out of all the subjects I take, Design and Technology gives me the most freedom and choice when it comes to my own study and it is for this reason that it is my favorite subject'

Maddie's comment is commonly made. D&T brings together theory and practice in a way few other subjects can match.

Rachel Fisher, taught by John James and others at St Georges College of Technology in Sleaford, has that important mix for successful students, of hard work and passion. Amongst successful products she designed and made a puppet theatre, and more recently, researched and proposed a design for a eco visitors centre for Freiston Shore.

I feel design is my future and I have worked hard to realise my potential, she says and her teachers agree. Rachel starts an Interior Design BA at the University of Lincoln this Autumn.