DCG Success Stories

Derby College student Melissa Odorizzi always hoped to work in education one day, but never imagined she’d be doing so in a Derbyshire school.

Melissa, who is from Italy, first came to Britain in 2019 to improve her English and initially got a job as an au pair in Derby.

She said: “I wanted to interact with English speakers and there wasn’t the opportunity back home.

“I also knew I wanted a job in education, so I looked at the course on the Derby College Group website and enrolled on the Level 2 Certificate for Teaching Assistants, while also taking GCSE English.”

During her Level 2, Melissa began volunteering at Riddings Infant and Nursery School in Alfreton and was later taken on as a TA in the Year One class.

She is soon to finish the Level 3 Diploma for Teaching Assistants but plans to continue her journey with Derby College by enrolling on the British Sign Language Level 1 course.

She added: “I did the free basic BSL course at DCG’s Ilkeston college and feel really passionate about the subject. I want to keep learning.

“All my college tutors have been fantastic. I can rely on them – they’ll always help me if I have any questions.

“The TA course content has been so interesting too. Recently we’ve been looking at children’s play and leisure time and what activities, indoors and outside, work best.

“It’s also been good interacting with other students on my course. We’re all in different settings so we get to learn about other teaching environments.

“My grandma was a teacher so she was my role model.

“In Italy it’s in our culture to look up to teachers and teaching is something I always thought I’d do. I just never imagined it would be in a school in England!”