Top-notch GCSE results are being celebrated by Keighley schools.

At South Craven School in Cross Hills, the overall A* to G pass rate was a record 99 per cent.

Passes at A* to C rose to over 50 per cent, with 134 students obtaining five or more at those grades.

Ten pupils achieved at least seven A*/A grades. Outstanding individuals included Katie Smith, who gained eight at A* and two at A, and Anneka Sadler with six at A*, three at A and one grade B.

Another student celebrating is Leonie Stretch, who has been awarded one of the top five marks in the country in agriculture and horticulture by the AQA Examination Board.

Deputy head David Birks said: "We congratulate students and staff on this year's GCSE performance, which has resulted from all their hard work and commitment.

"We look forward to welcoming a large number of students into the sixth form, encouraged by the record A-level results, on registration day on Tuesday September 3 at 8.30am."

In Year 12, GNVQ intermediate courses in IT, art and design and business produced a 94 per cent pass rate, with four merits.

At Keighley College, exceptional results were achieved in French - with a 100 per cent pass rate at grades A-C - and in Spanish, physics, human physiology and health.

And in three-quarters of the 12 GCSE subjects offered at the college, there was a 100 per cent pass rate at A-G grades.

Principal David Gates said: "We are delighted with the results, and once again we congratulate students and staff for their hard work.

"Students needing advice on their next step should call in at the college Guidance Centre, accessible via the North Street entrance."

Oakbank School matched its record performance of last year, and will exceed it when GNVQ results are added.

And students bucked the national trend, with boys performing equally as well as the girls.

Only five out of 344 pupils failed to record a pass.

The pass rate at grade A* was up by 43 per cent, and 45 per cent of students achieved five passes at A*-C.

Best performing core departments were design technology, English and humanities. And in option subjects, outstanding results were achieved in drama, IT, art, PE and music.

Top individuals included Mark Hawker (six A* and three A), Patrick Holden (four A* and six A), Rebecca Forster (four A* and five A), and Emma Hollindrake (three A*, five A and two B).

Of the 14 Year 10 students who passed history at A-C, three pupils gained an A grade despite the fact they sat the exam after just a year - instead of two - and having had only one hour of tuition a week rather than the usual three.

Head teacher John Roberts said he was delighted with the GCSE results.

"This has been an altogether excellent performance by students and staff, especially in a year when the new building was opened and we welcomed 900 students and 30 teachers new to the Oakbank site."

Greenhead High School is celebrating another improved set of GCSE and vocational results.

Deputy head Gareth Chapman said: "Yet again students and staff alike have made a major effort over two years to produce these gratifying results. There are many very satisfying and well-deserved successes by individual students.

"There has been much dogged hard work and determination to produce these results and my congratulations go to all those who hit, and in many cases surpassed, their targets.

"The initial headline indicators give us encouragement - we are pleased to see a slight improvement in the percentage of students gaining the top grades and are proud of the continued significant gains indicated by the A*-G measures. Departments have already begun the process of reviewing their performances.

"We believe that we are in an increasingly strong position to offer a sound education to students across the full ability range."

Outstanding individual performances included those of Sahdia Hussain and Rasheda Khatun, from Keighley.

Their A* expressive arts results put them in the top five for that subject from 3,577 candidates around the country, and they received a special letter of congratulations from the exam board for their efforts.

Greenhead is expecting many of its Year 11 students to enrol in the Associated Sixth Form, run jointly by Greenhead and Holy Family School.

Holy Family head Conor Davis said results continued to improve.

He added: "Because we also had outstanding A and AS level results, it has been an excellent year all round.

"This is now the fourth consecutive year that the standards have improved.

"Forty-nine per cent of students got five or more good grades, and 50 per cent of passes were greater than grade C.

"We are consolidating on our success, each year we have set a new record. The target approved by the Government and the LEA was 44 per cent A to C grades.

"We got 49 per cent, an increase which is significantly higher than the national average."