Stuart Busby 1986 - 1991

After leaving Langley I completing my A levels at Solihull sixth form before reading History at the University of Exeter.

Since graduating I have held a range of positions in education including headteacher, National Leader of Education and most recently School Improvement Advisor.

I live in Exeter with my wife and two gorgeous children. I still have fond memories of Langley and hope to pop in for a visit one day.

Sarah-Jayne Butler 1996 - 2001

Thanks to Langley’s brilliant drama department, I left senior school knowing that I wanted to pursue a career in the arts. After completing my A Levels at Stratford Upon Avon College I subsequently went on to study Drama and English at Sussex University and then onto train as an actor at LAMDA, the UK’s oldest drama school.

The variety of my education and training coupled with the people I have met along the way, has meant I have been able to pursue and explore numerous paths in the arts industry. As an actor I have been fortunate enough to perform across stage and screen - at The National Theatre, in the West End and internationally. On screen I have worked for the BBC, Warner Bros and Fox Searchlight and can be seen in the critically acclaimed Love Me Till Monday, Theresa vs Boris and Sherlock Holmes: a Game of Shadows.

No time spent in the performance industry is without it’s quieter periods and whilst at University I co-founded Tucked In, a theatre company which continues to make original work that encourages learning, creativity and emotional development amongst the young and old alike. The shows regularly tour nationally, and over the years we have created work in collaboration with Greenpeace, The Lyric Hammersmith, Oxford Playhouse and Bath Theatre Royal. The company not only gave me a creative outlet when times were quiet, but I also learned management and facilitation skills which were vital in building a sustainable career that I felt in control of.

Alongside acting I work as a coach to actors from amateur to professional and over the years have worked with The National Youth Theatre, The National Student Drama Festival and LAMDA amongst others. The transferable skills that a drama training gives you are invaluable and the benefits of that training are not exclusively for performers. Confidence, imagination, creativity, gravitas and presence are just as vital in the board room as on set or stage. Alongside my work in drama schools, for film or with theatre companies, I also work with businesses and their employees across the globe to enhance their communication and presentation skills.

There is no one path, no right way. If you stay open to learning and remain curious, the adventures and opportunities that open up are often surprising and wonderful! These days I am more likely to be found on a film set, where I work regularly as an on-set acting coach to a number of major film studios in the UK and LA, including Disney, Universal and Fox Searchlight. Recent work includes: The Nutcracker and The Four Realms, Goodbye Christopher Robin, Tolkein and the upcoming Come Away and The Voyage of Dr Dolittle starring Robert Downey Jnr.

If you had told me that this would be my path when I was 15, I would never have believed it!

James Stanyer 1998 - 2003

My name is James Stanyer, I attended Langley between 1998-2003, it seems a very long time ago now. My form tutor was Mrs Hamilton, basing us in the art block which was transformed during my time at the school. At Langley I represented the football and cricket teams and enjoyed trips to Aachen, PGL and New York and Washington. I was inspired by my head of year David Scriven who was very interested in cricket, the same as me, and we had many chats about it!

After leaving Langley I studied for my a-levels at Solihull Sixth Form College. Following on from that I spent some time working in Birmingham airport and for a leading supermarket. At the age of 25 I self studied a fourth a-level and in 2013 I became an undergraduate student at the University of Wolverhampton. I read Politics and Social Policy emerging with a first class honours degree and the Universities Politics Award.

From there I joined the University of Birmingham where I read for an MA in Social Policy, graduating with merit. My particular focus was on food banks, asylum seekers and refugees and discourse analysis. In 2017 I also commenced employment with the University of Wolverhampton as a visiting lecturer, a post I continue to hold. I primarily lecture social policy students across all undergraduate modules, most prominently Contemporary Social Policy and Approaches to Poverty and Social Exclusion.

In addition to this I am also working on my PhD as part of the Institute for Community Research and Development under the supervision of Dr Steve Iafrati and Dr Stuart Connor. My PhD is concerned with the role of inclusive growth in the West Midlands.

My future aspirations are to continue working in academia, continue to research and continue to teach. I would also like to play an active role in maintaining links between schools, colleges and universities.

Amy Flanagan 2000-2005

I am filled with only happy memories from my days spent at Langley and once I received your email I was keen to share my experiences, past and present.

My Form Tutor and Drama teacher was Mrs Whitehouse and without sounding too cheesy, she was someone I always looked up to and she has inspired me to become the Teacher I am today. She was always so supportive, kind and encouraging- the type of person who made you believe in yourself. She taught me to have confidence in my abilities and strive for success. I will never forget the lessons she taught me.

From school, I went on to achieve A-Levels in English, Theatre Studies and Media Studies, then progressed to University to study Drama. I am now a qualified Teacher, teaching at Solihull College.
Although I now teach English Language, not drama, I do believe that my time studying performing arts made me into the person I am today. I will always have a passion for the subject and I believe that more children should be encouraged to develop their confidence through this subject.

I am proud of how far I have come in the past few years as I am now a Teaching and Learning Coach as well as a full time English Tutor. Who knows, maybe I’ll delve back into the arts one day, but for now, I will continue to try and inspire and motivate my pupils like Mrs Whitehouse did.

Also, I am now married to Richard Harris who was in the year above me at Langley. He is now a successful Electrician and we couldn’t be happier building our life together. I hope one day we can send our children to Langley to make their own happy memories.

Lauren Bundy 2008 - 2013

So since I left Langley…

With the help of Mr Talbot, I went to college in Birmingham at BOA (Birmingham Ormiston Academy) studying Dance, after doing it at GCSE and having it as a passion of mine since I was very little. I completed my BTEC there in 2015 with D*D*D* (the equivalent of A* at A-level) and secured a place at the University of Roehampton in London, on the Dance Studies course.

Since I have been at university I feel I have achieved many things, I have joined and competed in sports fixtures on behalf of the university, been involved in volunteering, become a flat representative for new students, run as a candidate in a student election, performed as part of a professional dance company, and most importantly made so many new friends. I was never set on going to university, I very much fell into it, but it has definitely been the best, most eye-opening, and personally liberating thing I have done so far in my life.

I have now completed my three years of undergraduate study and graduated in July 2018 with a BA in Dance Studies with a high 2:1.

Upon completing my undergraduate degree, I secured myself a place to continue at the University of Roehampton with the postgraduate study on a masters course, studying Dance Politics and Sociology. I am currently finishing the last two modules and beginning to work on a 20,000-word thesis, to complete my year of masters study, and will be graduating in January 2020.

Amanda Smallman (Hanson) 2008 - 2013

I think the message I would be really keen to convey to students is that it’s okay if you don’t have a clear idea yet what you want to be, but what is important is the development of your transferable skills. These have taken me from my early roles in Customer Service through the ten years I spent working at Solihull College to my current role as Head of Partnerships for a national charity.

As I know you’ll appreciate, transferable skills will underpin any career and can include communication skills, problem solving and team work – everything that students will be putting into practice day in and day out through every subject. My career has required me to demonstrate tenacity and perseverance and I’d really encourage students to think about their mindset, to develop a “can do, will do” attitude and to embrace set backs with resilience and a determination to try again.

I’m almost five years into this phase of my career within the charity sector and it’s where I can see myself staying. My ambition is to become a CEO of a charity within the next ten years. I also think it’s really important for school girls to have positive career mentors in this “have it all” age. I’m proof that it is possible to raise three children (and over the last six years I’ve done that as a single Mum) and to maintain and develop your career. It takes creative thinking, and a certain degree of chutzpah to overcome people’s perceptions of what can be achieved in part time/home based roles but for each and every single student the sky really is the limit.