Dramatic rises in GCSE results were revealed today at some Bradford schools.

Pupils - who were flocking back to school today to pick up their results - were the toast of their head teachers as at some low-performing schools results doubled or even, in one case, tripled.

At Bradford Cathedral Community College, where only five per cent of youngsters got the standard benchmark of five GCSEs at grades A to C last year, results had climbed to 17 per cent.

Head teacher David Brett said: "In the past results here have been as low as two per cent in 1996.

"We still won't feature highly in the league tables but if only people knew all the hard work from students and staff that's behind this."

He said revision classes were held on Saturdays, lunchtimes and after school and pupils had responded by taking their exams much more seriously this time.

At Tong School, where 17 per cent of youngsters got five 'good' grades last year, they succeeded in doubling it to 34 per cent this year.

Head teacher David Platt said he was very proud of all the pupils who did so well, and paid tribute to the commitment of all the staff at the school.

And Beckfoot School, Bingley, achieved its best-ever performance.

A total of 41.5 per cent of students achieved five good passes, an increase of 8.5 per cent on last year.

Outstanding individual results included Rachel Rushbrooke and Anjali Mistry who got 11 straight A grades.

Vince McNicholas, head teacher at Yorkshire Martyrs College, was also celebrating as his school also registered a figure of 41 per cent on five A-Cs.

"Two years ago we were on 27 and last year 32 so it has gone up 14 per cent in two years," he said.

"We don't do anything revolutionary.

"It's about tracking each individual student so they know where they are and what they need to do to achieve."

Nationally, the proportion of entries awarded good grades of between A and C rose again, by 0.8 per cent to 57.9 per cent.

The numbers of A grades given out also went up, with girls widening their dominance over boys.

The proportion of students gaining A-G passes stayed the same at 97.9 per cent.

Pictured are Belle Vue pupils Adan Nazar, Mahmoon Hussain and Anthony Bartholomew as they receive their results.

Schools Section with A-Level results in full