A SIXTH form offering 300 places is to be built at a new Catholic school.

Pupils at Trinity Catholic College, in Middlesbrough, will be able to continue their education post-16 by studying A-levels at the new facility.

Students at neighbouring St Mary's College, which is to close, will transfer to Trinity College which will also admit teenagers into the sixth form from other schools.

Falling numbers have led to the closure of St Mary's College, which has been approved in principle by the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove.

It is has been judged as no longer viable as a stand-alone sixth form centre.

The college will open on August 1, in preparation for the start of the academic year in September.

The change coincides with the opening of Trinity Catholic College's building, which was made possible thanks to major investment as part of the town's £100m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. The entire Trinity Catholic College is being rebuilt in amultimillion pound development in Saltersgill Avenue, which is due for completion in September.

St David's RC and The Newlands FCJ, the town's two faith schools, will be amalgamated into Trinity College to create one Catholic school serving the whole of Middlesbrough.

Under the plans, the land and buildings at St Mary's College will continue to be used by Trinity Catholic College as the sixth form arm of the school.

Peter Coady, headteacher of Trinity Catholic College, said: "St Mary's College has been an integral feature of Catholic education in Middlesbrough for more than 100 years and we are very excited to be able to be part of that.

"Parents will be aware that there have been discussions to create an offer of Catholic 11 to 19 education since the start of the BSF programme and we are happy that this finally looks like becoming a reality.

"We are confident that we can offer something that builds on the best of both institutions and which will benefit pupils and the wider community for many generations to come."