This trio of budding Bradford boffins have their sights set on taking the world of science by storm.

Leading the pack of future scientists is Alison Richardson, pictured.

The 16-year-old Bradford Girls' Grammar School student was among the top five GCSE students in the country for physics, chemistry, biology and geography.

"I was shocked when I got my results, but in a good way!" Alison said. "I thought I would do well, but not that well."

Alison's success is all the more impressive for the fact that she was suffering glandular fever when sitting her exams.

"The illness started when I sat my Russian exam, and it was really bad over half term holiday," she said.

"I was still feeling ill when I took the other exams, and I missed a lot of revision, but I tried not to worry too much."

Her plan paid off, and Alison is set to celebrate her success by spending the weekend at the Leeds Festival.

Dan Cooper already had two GCSEs under his belt when he sat down for his exams this summer.

And he built on his A* in maths and B in German with an impressive seven A*s this year.

Dan, 16, is now planning to take A-levels in chemistry, maths, physics and one other subject, which he is still to decide on.

The Thornton Grammar student reckons that science students are a certain type of people.

"Science people can be quite nerdy at times, but it can be quite enjoyable as well," he said. "You can have a fun as well as being quite serious."

And Dan said he was pretty sure why science was such a popular subject.

"Maybe people have realised that's where the money is," he said.

"You can get an arts degree and end up unemployed but there are more job opportunities in science."

Completing the trio of top science students is Siyan Cheung, 16, of Tong School. Head teacher Lyn O'Reilly paid tribute to Siyan's hard work after she gained the fifth highest score in the country for double science.

"She has an outstanding ability and we expect her to go on to Oxbridge and will fully support her in doing so," Mrs O'Reilly said.

The improving results in the GCSEs, A-levels and SATS tests prove Bradford is "moving forward", education bosses said today.

They welcomed the results but have vowed to continue to keep up the improvements.

In some schools yesterday the number of pupils gaining five A*-C grades at GCSE rose by five per cent. These include: Salt Grammar, Nab Wood, Holy Family, Feversham College, Thornton Grammar and Laisterdyke High.

Mark Pattison, managing director of Education Bradford, said: "These early indications show another positive move forward for our schools. "I would like to congratulate pupils, staff and parents for all their hard work."

Bradford Council's director of education Phil Green warned: "We need to make sure that we build on these successes as we strive to give children the best possible education we can."