Skip to main content
D C G Logo

Derby College Group (DCG)
Telephone: 0800 028 0289
https://www.derby-college.ac.uk
enquiries@derby-college.ac.uk

0800 028 0289

  • Contact
  • Jobs
  • How to Apply
  • About DCG
  • Home
  • Courses & Careers
    Course SearchSubject Areas at DCGCourse Types at DCGCampuses & Course LocationsDCG Success StoriesCareer SearchCareer PathwaysDownload a ProspectusFree – ESF Fully Funded Course
  • Employers
  • Student Support
  • Parents
  • News/Events
    EventsNewsEvent Registration
DCG Role Models Catherine Connolly

DCG Success Stories

Catherine Connolly

Catherine Connolly with a pile of books

Study Type: Higher Education
Study Location: The Roundhouse
Subject Studied: Teacher Training, Coaching and Mentoring

PGCE was “best thing” for Derby College English teacher Catherine

Former teaching assistant Catherine Connolly says qualifying as a teacher with Derby College has allowed her to work smarter, with more flexibility and on better pay.

A puppeteer and performer, Catherine, 52, said signing up for DCG’s part-time Post 14/19 Level 7 PGCE was the “best thing I have ever done.”

She now works three days a week for DCG, teaching English Functional Skills to adults. Catherine has upskilled from a specialist teaching assistant role at an independent school for alternative provision.

She hopes to have a better work life balance, with more time for her puppetry.

After school Catherine took a BA Hons Degree in English and American Literature at the University of East Anglia.

She also discovered the world of puppetry and performance, enjoying it so much that she followed it as a career.

For many years Catherine went into schools and other venues as a creative practitioner.

Catherine liked working in schools and with the arrival of austerity impacting on her puppetry work, she became a teaching assistant, initially on supply.

She realised she needed to upskill as a mature student to progress and after much consideration bit the bullet and signed up for her PGCE. Catherine landed her job having just finished her course.

She said: “It’s a massive change to work with adults, but I’m enjoying it. I’m telling everyone, get your PGCE!  I’ve upskilled myself and I’ve got more time now to get involved in puppetry, fingers crossed.

It’s an increase in salary, which is important. It’s given me the opportunity to work less and work smarter. I don’t want to be a principal or anything, but I do want to have that flexibility.”

Without the college, I wouldn’t have got where I am.

D C G Logo
  • Derby College Facebook
  • Derby College Youtube
  • Derby College Instagram

Courses

  • Course Search
  • Career Search
  • Subject Areas at DCG
  • Career Pathways
  • Course Types at DCG
  • Campuses & Course Locations at DCG
  • Download a Prospectus
  • Chart Your Future

Students

  • Student Support
  • Student Services
  • Login to inTouch
  • Report an Absence or Lateness
  • Moodle VLE
  • Think Alumni
  • Student Bursary

Staff

  • Staff Intranet
  • Remote Desktop
  • Systems Hub
  • Email

DCG

  • Governance
  • Policies and Papers
  • Why work for us?
  • Meet the Governors
  • Who’s Who
  • Website Accessibility Statement
  • Data Protection
  • Freedom of Information
  • Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Statement
  • Modern Slavery Statement
  • Environmental and Sustainability at DCG
  • DCG-Annual-Accountability-Statement-2024-25
  • DCG Strategy and Regulation – Accountability Statement 2025-26

Study with Us

  • DCG Success Stories
  • DCG Covid Safety

Student Life

  • Derby College Students Union

More

  • Covid Safety
  • Apprenticeship Vacancies
  • Open to the Public
  • Term Dates
  • College Calendar 2025-26

Quick Links

  • Contact Us
  • How to Apply
  • Make a Payment
  • Report an Absence or Lateness
  • Jobs at DCG
DCG Logo Derby College Group
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}