Thousands of Bradford pupils were today being told their long-awaited A-level results, with national figures indicating a record-breaking year.

Across the country the overall pass rate jumped to 94 per cent while more A grades were given out than ever before.

The improvement was welcomed by teachers and ministers who believe it shows the success of the new 'modular' A-level system where pupils sit some of their exams after one year.

In Bradford anxious students were thronging to their schools where staff had interrupted their summer breaks yesterday to collate results from the exam boards.

At Queensbury School, the new head of sixth form Dave Gray said the pass rate was likely to be even higher than the national figure of 94 per cent.

"Hardly any of our students have failed," he said. "This year group have been absolutely brilliant although they are always saying that they have been guinea pigs all through their school careers with SATs and the AS-levels."

Students gathering at the school included Pravina Patel who said: "It's a bit sad to be leaving school. We will have to grow up now."

National statistics showed the pass rate rose from 89.8 per cent last year to 94.3 per cent while the proportion awarded the top grade rose to more than one in five.

The Institute of Directors, an employers' organisation, claimed today the further increase showed A-levels had been 'dumbed down', a claim rejected by ministers and teachers. The most popular subjects were English, general studies, maths, biology and history although entries in maths fell sharply.

The improved pass rate came despite a drop in entries from 748,866 to 701,380, suggesting sixth formers were taking advantage of the flexibility of the new 'two-tier' A-level system.

Students can now drop subjects with which they struggled after completing AS-level exams after the first year of sixth form.

Girls continue to outperform boys in most subjects at both A and AS-level. The proportion of female entries awarded A grades went up from 19 per cent to 21.9 per cent, while males managed a 1.1 per cent rise to 19.3 per cent.

There was a huge drop in maths entries, from 66,247 to 53,940, which was expected as many sixth formers found last year's AS-level paper too difficult and subsequently dropped the subject. Media studies entries rose by 4,376.