Getting better all the time!

Schools across the district have celebrated improved results and early indications showed there was a rise in the number of students gaining A* to C grades.

And Bradford Cathedral Community College (BCCC), in Lister Avenue, East Bowling, which is in special measures, has received its best results with 26 per cent of students achieving five A* to C grades, four per cent higher than last year.

The figure builds on improvements in the last two years from an extremely low point of only five per cent of students getting the benchmark grades in 2001.

At this time the school was ranked among the fifth worst schools in the country.

Overjoyed head teacher David Brett applauded pupils and teachers for their dedication.

He said they went through some difficult times after the schools' reorganisation programme.

"Staff and students deserve a great deal of credit for their hard work in achieving these very positive results," he said.

"We are not being complacent and we will get even better results next year."

Ninety-two per cent of students passed with at least one A* to G, up nine per cent on last year.

At Bingley Grammar School in Keighley Road, Katie Hanlon scooped four A*s and five As.

She was one of nine pupils who gained four or more A* grades at GCSE.

Sixty-five per cent of students achieved five or more GCSEs at A* to C.

Five years ago Bradford Grammar School, in Keighley Road, Frizinghall, went fully co-educational and this year saw the publication of their first GCSE results where both the boys and the girls had been at the school from the age of 11.

And 70 per cent of all results achieved either grade A* or A.

Forty pupils, a third of the year, achieved all their results at grades A* or A, with Carly Simon from Sutton-in-Craven gaining 12 GCSEs all at A*.

Karina Kilner and Yasmin Hashimi, pupils a The Girls' Grammar School, Bradford, both received letters from examining board AQA placing them among the top five candidates nationally.

Of the 83 students more than half were awarded As or A*s in maths.

Judith Robertson also scored top marks in French and is among the top five pupils in the country.

Of the 400 pupils at Whitcliffe Mount School, in Turnsteads Avenue, Cleckheaton, 40 per cent achieved A* to C grades.

Although information about the results is still being collected and analysed, the initial indications are many schools have seen an increase in the number of pupils gaining 5 A* to C grades.

At Challenge College, North Avenue, Frizinghall, 39.4 per cent of pupils got the benchmark grades, and a group of 37 youngsters gained ten GCSEs grades A* to C.

Results at Grange Technology College, in Haycliffe Lane, Little Horton, show 44 per cent of students gained five A* to C grades compared with 29 per cent in 2003.

At Dixons Technology College, in Ripley Street, West Bowling, 94 per cent of students achieved five A* to Cs, of which 31 per cent were A*s and As.

At Ilkley Grammar School, in Cowpasture Road, in Ilkley, the number rose from 72 per cent last year to 78.5 this year this year - with every pupil taking the exam gaining a GCSE.

Feversham College, in Radcliffe Avenue, in Swain House, has seen a nine per cent increase in this measure from 61 per cent last year to 70 per cent this year.

Hanson School, in Sutton Avenue, Swain House, achieved a record figure of 46.5 per cent this year compared with 43 per cent in 2003. Another large leap in the number of pupils attaining five A* to C grades is St Bede's Catholic Grammar School, in Highgate, Heaton, which saw last year's figure of 28 per cent rise to 45 per cent this year.

This puts the school back on track with performance over the last few years.

And Nab Wood School, Cottingley New Road, Cottingley which recently came out of 'serious weaknesses', saw a two per cent increase of benchmark grades at 30 per cent.

The large increase at Salt Grammar School, in Higher Coach Road, Baildon, last year to 54 per cent was sustained this year.

Yorkshire Martyrs Catholic College, in Tong Street, saw a third of 16-year-olds gaining five A* to Cs, the best ever results.

Beckfoot School, in Wagon Lane, Bingley saw 40 per cent of year-11 students gaining five A* to C grades.

Mark Pattison, Education Bradford's managing director, said: "It is too early to provide a detailed overall picture, but the results in so far suggest that things are continuing to improve," he said. "I would like to congratulate pupils, staff and parents for all their hard work to achieve these successes. Education Bradford is pleased to have played a part in supporting schools over the past year."

Last year 39.6 per cent of students gained the five A* to C grades and Mr Pattison said he expected this to rise again."It's too early to say yet as there will be some remarks which could affect the figure,"

He said schools working together and support from an expert team of consultants who specialise in different subject areas helped achieve good results, along with more vocational GCSEs and good quality teaching.

Councillor Dale Smith, Bradford Council's executive member for education, said: "On the back of the other promising results over the past week this is another indication that education in the Bradford district is continuing to move forward.

"These GCSE successes are a great credit to pupils, teachers, staff and parents and I would also like to thank governors and the staff at Education Bradford and the Council for their hard work and support.