#NoWrongPath: A conversation with Lucia Capaldi Carousel Training

At the age of 17, Lucia finished her 6th year at school. She had originally applied for Primary Teaching but didn’t achieve her English qualification. Lucia took a gap year and secured employment in a Bilingual pre-school in Italy. How did she get from that pre-school to Carousel Training?

After working for a year abroad, I decided I wanted to continue my career in Early Years back in Scotland, so I looked into various different options on how to become a qualified Early Years practitioner. I applied to Carousel Training Centre for a Modern Apprenticeship after seeing their website on Google.
 
Throughout my apprenticeship, I worked with children aged 0-5 years old. I quickly realised how much responsibility I had in the nursery, even as a Modern Apprentice. I received regular visits and online support from my Carousel Assessor who was very approachable and encouraging throughout my training. She communicated well with my employer for them to work together to help and support me.
 
I also attended regular classes to which I found myself taking an abundance of knowledge back to my Nursery, allowing me to become a better practitioner in the workplace. Like any qualification it was challenging, but the support I received from my employer and Carousel Training were second to none.
 
I qualified with my SVQ Level 3 in 15 months, which felt amazing. It also gave me great pride because I was given more responsibilities in the nursery as a fully qualified practitioner, such as; having my own key group of children and being a mentor for the new Apprentices who started in the nursery. Within months of graduating, I was offered a ‘second in charge’ position in the pre-school room at Four Seasons Nursery which led to me being promoted to ‘Room Supervisor’.
 
After five more years in the nursery I felt that I had achieved everything I could, and I decided to look into the training side of things. This is when I started working for Carousel Training where I have now worked proudly for 3 years.
 
I get to share my own experiences with new candidates and support them to start their own career in Early Years. Some of my duties at Carousel include interviewing potential candidates and assisting them to find employment. I use my own experiences to encourage them and show them that by working hard you can achieve any goal you set your mind to.