RHYL students have been celebrating after being presented with their 'passports' to university.

About 40 students and their families attended an awards ceremony at Coleg Llandrillo’s Rhyl campus to mark the completion of their access to higher education programmes there.

Samantha Ellis, Gabrielle Dillon and Neil Hardin were among four shortlisted for the ‘student of the year’ trophy, which was won Imogen Roberts from Denbigh.

Clare Martin, course co-ordinator at Coleg Llandrillo’s Rhyl campus, said: “Doing an access to higher education course is a challenging, yet life-changing experience.

"I am so proud of all our students at Rhyl who have come back into education as adults and are now heading to university to pursue new career paths.”

The 2017-2018 academic year at the college has been a particularly successful one, with the majority of successful students having now received course offers from their first-choice university.

The programme offers a route to university for mature students who are looking for a career change or who might not have the typical entry qualifications to study for a degree.

The ceremony was hosted by Ms Martin with special guest Martin Evans, programme area manager for A-levels at both Rhyl Sixth and the college’s Rhos-on-Sea campus.

After a variety of introductory course awards, ranging from 'best extended essay’ to ‘most improved student’, the four shortlisted students were hailed by Ms Martin and Mr Evans for their academic excellence.