A council education spokesman said “it could be 2023” before exam results can be reported to councillors, due to the effects of the pandemic.

Cllr Huw Hilditch-Roberts, Denbighshire council’s lead member for education, was addressing last week’s performance scrutiny committee over a report into what support schools had received during the pandemic.

Exams have been suspended for a second year because of the face-to-face school time lost during the pandemic.

He said local authorities in North Wales had been sharing best practice and working with GWe, the regional school improvement body.

Yet he painted a picture of a long road to recovery for those who wanted schools to return to normal, saying blended learning (a mixture of in-person and remote teaching) could be with us for a while yet.

He said: “We don’t know what the future holds. It could be 2023 until whoever is post holder of this portfolio can deliver you some exam results.

“That’s just a sign of the changing times so all we can do is suggest support for schools in 2021. Any resources we can identify we will support. ”

He said as far as the council was concerned everyone who needed IT to do distance learning had it, and anyone who needed support would be given IT so they could access lessons from home and they were even able to access lessons through their and X-Boxes or Playstation devices.

Cllr Hilditch-Roberts explained how there had been changes to all aspects of school life, not just teaching remotely and enforcing strict hygiene and social distancing measures.

There were changes to catering, cleaning and transport provision – with many changes thrown at local authorities and education professionals before receiving official guidance.

He said: “Welsh Government make an announcement and then three days later send the guidance, so (schools) are playing catch up.”

One bright spot during the pandemic had been a reduction in the number of referrals for pupils in vulnerable situations because teachers were in direct contact with them.

Cllr Hilditch-Roberts said: “We are closer to our more vulnerable children during this time and we thought it would be the other way around.”

He added “from the bottom of my heart” he felt there were no better headteachers and staff in North Wales at engaging with pupils during the pandemic and said the county was in the top 10 in Wales for “best practice”

On a lighter note Cllr Hilditch-Roberts raised a smile among the committee as praised the ingenuity of the children.

He referred to one pupil who teachers discovered had changed his name on his screen to “reconnecting” so they wouldn’t ask him any questions, thinking his IT wasn’t working properly.