Caedmon College Whitby Principal's praise for students and staff

Simon Riley said it had been a challenging time since schools and colleges closed in late March, but he was "really proud" at how well staff and students at Whitby Sixth Form had pulled together in recent weeks.

"Learning has moved online, with teachers working tremendously hard to prepare an impressive range of digital resources and making use of video conferencing," he said.

"Year 12 students are well used to much of this way of studying and we have been working to ensure that their learning continues as smoothly as possible.

"We have also launched our online Virtual Sixth Form to support Year 11 students from both Eskdale and Caedmon with their progression onto sixth form studies during this period when they would ordinarily have been revising for GCSE exams.

"But it is our Year 13 students who have been uppermost in our thoughts.

"They have faced the disruption of their final A-Level exams being cancelled at short notice and all of the uncertainty that has come with this.

"We are confident that, once their final grades are published in mid-August, all those who have applied will still be heading to university.

"Whitby can be very proud of these young people.

"It remains to be seen how the Government will propose that schools and colleges will re-open, but I am confident that everyone at Whitby Sixth Form will rise to whatever challenges this poses.

"I publicly thank the families of our students for their continuing support."

Mr Riley hopes to be able to share more information with the town in the weeks to come.