Ripon Grammar’s Lottie Whyte to study at university in Paris

Lottie Whyte, 17, from Wensleydale, has earned a place on a French studies degree at a UK university in Paris after achieving A-level results of A, A, and B in French, Politics, and English literature.

A former boarder at Ripon Grammar School, she faced severe anxiety throughout her studies and said she never thought she would make it this far.

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Lottie said: “I am so shocked as I had never fully sat an English exam before. I couldn’t make it through the mocks and struggled when I tried to retake the mock paper on my own, just scraping an E.”

Her anxiety once made it difficult to attend lessons, with panic attacks leaving her unable to enter exam rooms.

She said: “Some days I couldn’t get to lessons at all. I barely made it into my English mock exam because I was standing outside the room shaking so much, I didn’t think I’d be able to go in.

“Eventually, I went on medication because the panic attacks were affecting every part of my life.”

With the help of the school’s sixth form team, wellbeing staff, and teachers, she learned to manage her anxiety and build confidence, however a key turning point came when staff suggested she might have ADHD.

Lottie said: “They helped remove the shame I’d attached to it and taught me strategies I still use every day.

“Understanding my ADHD changed everything because I finally understood the root cause of so much of my anxiety. I realised I wasn’t ‘too sensitive’ or simply overthinking things.”

ADHD treatment proved more effective than her anxiety medication, and as her symptoms eased, her confidence grew;  she took part in a Modern Foreign Languages debate in York and applied to study abroad, something she never thought possible.

She added: “If you’d told me in Year 12 that I’d be planning to study in Paris, I would never have believed you. The people at RGS believed in me long before I believed in myself.

“The biggest change hasn’t just been academically. It’s been my confidence, how I understand myself and how I approach life. I genuinely don’t recognise the person who first arrived at RGS.”

Lottie said how she used to be constantly tired because she couldn’t sleep properly and sometimes even became too overwhelmed to eat, but in addition to medication, has found strategies to help alongside words of advice from teachers.

She said: “Mrs Lyons told me: ‘This difficulty will soon be proof of capability’. That’s the thing that’s stuck with me most, a reminder that hard moments pass and mean you’re growing, which has meant a lot. I say it all the time now.”

Her parents, Ryan and Natalie, praised the support she received, adding: “Lottie just seems so much surer of herself and who she is now.”

“We always knew RGS couldn’t be faulted for academics, but it’s the pastoral support that’s made the real difference to Lottie’s journey – especially with the whole ADHD process.”