Many schools and colleges across Bradford appear to have bucked the national trend as they saw increasing numbers of students gaining top A-level grades.

Bradford Council, while saying it was too early to provide a full picture after the results were announced yesterday, acknowledged that many schools had performed “beyond expectations”.

Beckfoot Grammar School in Bingley saw 85 per cent of its A-level pupils gaining a place at their first choice university.

At Bradford Grammar School 41 pupils achieved an A or A*, and at Bradford College there was a 95 per cent pass rate across all subjects.

Tong High School enjoyed a record year with a 99.6 per cent overall pass rate and 100 per cent pass rate in some subjects. Guiseley School also hit a new high, with A* to B grades topping 61 per cent.

Yesterday morning, thousands of students headed back to their schools, many for the last time, to find out what their future held.

Bradford Grammar School held a celebration breakfast for pupils arriving to get their results early.

Ilkley actress Georgie Henley, who played Lucy in the Narnia films, won a place to study English at Cambridge after achieving an A* in history, A in English and A in Latin.

She said: “I just can’t believe I’ve got in, it’s just crazy, you think the day is never going to come.

“It was really hard work – a long hard slog, I can’t wait, it’s just going to be so weird going off to Cambridge. It’s weird to think I’m done at school now.”

Her friend Chloe Ramsden gained an A* and three As, and will study maths at King’s College in London.

Other notable successes at the school were Sam and Will Weatherhead, identical twins who achieved identical GCSE grades two years ago. Although their A level results were not exactly identical this year, they both achieved an identical 1,080 A-level points, Sam gained an A* two As and a B, while Will got four As.

Richard Baugh, of Oxenhope, got an A* and two As and will study biochemistry at Oxford.

He said: “It’s been a very stressful few weeks. I didn’t think I’d done well in my maths exam, it was incredibly hard. It’s been a long wait since the last exam.”

Tong High School’s pupils performed even better than last year’s record-breaking year. Simran Aujla scored 500 UCAS points through his exams, biology, chemistry, physics and critical thinking – the highest number in the school’s history. He has been accepted to Sheffield to study biology, and hopefully go on to the research field.

Olivia Sewell was so surprised with her results she was reconsidering her post school plans. She had planned to take a gap year before thinking about further education, but after getting A*s in dance, music and drama began looking for university places. Delighted at her results, she said: “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, I was going to take a gap year but I’m looking at getting somewhere through clearing now.”

Emily Gillian will fulfill her dream of studying law at Leeds University after getting an A*, A and B. She has wanted to do the degree for over seven years, and said: “This has been planned out for a long time, so it is a massive relief. I couldn’t sleep last night. Getting your results is a life changing moment.”

Belle Vue Girls’ School saw a 50 per cent rise in A* - B grades, with especially strong results in the sciences. And as well as the students picking up their A-level results, 119 AS level pupils got their results too.

Serish Tanya Hussain got straight As in her exams. She now has a year to decide what she wants to do after school, and said: “We’ve had a lot of workshops to help us decide where we want to go for university.”

Wajiha Munir also got straight As, adding: “I’m delighted, I wasn’t expecting to get all As.”

Belle Vue Boys’ School saw similar success, with head Colin Willsher saying: “The results have been the best ever and it looks like all the lads who wanted a uni place have got one.”