Thousands of pupils huddled in school halls around the district yesterday to collect their A-level results and many were all smiles after achieving an array of top grades.

Coveted places at two of the country's most prestigious universities await Beckfoot School's Aron White and David Booth, both 18.

Aron scored A grades in English, economics, French, general studies and Italian to land a place at Cambridge University reading Chinese.

He said: "I'm really pleased. I'm going to do Chinese because I like languages and it's a challenge. I'm interested in China and I want to go into diplomatics."

David is heading to Oxford University to study engineering after gaining As in biology, chemistry, physics, maths and further maths.

The overall performance of the district is not yet clear but nationally the A-levels pass rate rose for the 27th consecutive year with the overall pass rate 97.5 per cent up by 0.3 per cent on 2008.

Titus Salt School, in Shipley, is one school to announce impressive results. Ninety-five per cent of pupils gained A to E grades and 35 per cent obtained all As and Bs.

Andrew Robinson, 18, came away with As in maths, further maths, physics and chemistry to seal a place reading maths and physics at Warwick University.

He said: "I'm really happy, although I was expecting it because I was carrying a lot of marks from earlier modules."

Staff at Bradford Academy, in East Bowling, toasted their first batch of successful A-level candidates since the school was transformed from Bradford Cathedral Community College in 2007.

Head teacher Gareth Dawkins said: "It's a small group that came into sixth form from the last school. Six of them wanted to go into higher education and they have all achieved that."

Aspiring actor David Corbet, 18, was one of the delighted half dozen. Months of pouring over Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre proved worthwhile as he clinched an A in English literature, a B in English language and a distinction and merit in performing arts.

He said: "I'm really happy. I'm taking a gap year now to do some travelling, maybe to Kenya, and then I'm going to theatre school."

At Ilkley Grammar School, pupils set a school record with 61.4 per cent attaining A and B grades while 27 students gained three or more As.

Lesley Hart, Education Bradford's director of school improvement, said: "We're still gathering information from schools and do not yet have a full picture of the A-level results across the district.

"However we are pleased to see indications from some schools of significant improvement on last year's results."

Councillor Michael Kelly, Bradford Council's executive member for services to children and young people, said: "It's a very exciting time and I'm delighted that for many their hard work has paid off."

Pupils who missed out on the grades they needed have turned to clearing to try to obtain a university place.

Record national results are expected to intensify the competition for places and Bradford University reported a huge volume of calls to its clearing helpline yesterday.

Professor Geoff Layer, deputy vice-chancellor (academic), said: "The clearing helpline has been extremely busy this year. By 12pm we had had double the amount of calls we had taken at the end of the day on A-level results day last year.

"We have had students with very strong results calling, including As and A*.

"We believe that the freezing of places at Higher Education institutions and the economic recession is leading to a greater demand for students trying to secure a place at the University."

To call the University's clearing helpline, dial 0800 073 4025.