Celebrations are underway as Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College students achieve their best year ever for Oxbridge offers.

Students from across Teesside have received 12 offers to study at Oxford and Cambridge this coming September.

For the past decade the number of offers made to Prior Pursglove students has been steadily increasing, with this year being the most successful to date, topped up by tremendous success at Stockton Sixth Form.

Vice principal, Olivia Wytcherley said: "Helping students to prepare for and make a successful application to Oxford and Cambridge requires commitment and hard work from both our students and staff.

Darlington and Stockton Times: Students who have received offers from Oxbridge

"The students are encouraged to take part in academic competitions, visits of interest, summer schools and subject specific masterclasses to broaden their understanding of their chosen subject beyond the curriculum, with many students also seeking out their own additional opportunities to do this.

"The hardest part is the wait to find out the decisions at the beginning of January.”

The students are formerly of Laurence Jackson School, Outwood Academy Bydales, Freebrough Academy, Outwood Academy Acklam, Acklam Grange School, Teesside High School, Huntcliff School, Our Lady and St Bede, Sacred Heart Catholic Secondary School and Nunthorpe Academy. They are studying courses including philosophy, politics and economics, experimental psychology, law, chemistry, history, natural sciences, classics, mathematics and chemical engineering and biotechnology.

One student, who is going on to study law, said: "Receiving an offer from Oxford is a significant achievement and a goal I've aspired to achieve since secondary school. Although this achievement wasn't easy, it was most certainly worth the effort, and I am very excited to study there after the summer."

Principal, Asma Shaffi said: “We are celebrating a historic moment at Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College. By far this is the best outcome that our staff and students have yielded by securing 12 places at Oxbridge. The students’ tenaciousness and in-depth subject knowledge provided a strong foundation to get through a complex selection process.

"I am indebted to the parents and local schools for sowing the seeds of high aspirations and hope from a very early age.”