Five years ago, dyslexic Ellie Thomas was told that she would be lucky to pass a single GCSE.

But yesterday she proved her doubters wrong when she notched up 11 passes.

Ellie said she was delighted with her grades - one A, nine Bs and a C.

The former pupil of Shawhouse School in Wilmer Road will start Bradford Grammar School and study A-levels in politics, economics and history, plus a A/S level in Japanese.

The Wilsden teenager thought she had failed all her exams.

"The night before my results I dreamed that I did not pass any. When I saw what I achieved, I thought I had opened the wrong envelope," she said.

Her parents Simon and Marion said they were delighted with their daughter.

Mrs Thomas said Ellie was assessed at the Dyslexia Institute in Halifax.

"We were told that she would be lucky to get one GCSE and we all felt very sad about it.

"What she has achieved is tremendous as so many people who are dyslexic do give up and this just shows what they can do," she said.

Across the city there were tears of joy and relief as teachers patted the backs of their hard working students.

Celebrations were the order of the day for six children aged 12 to 13 at Frizinghall Middle School.

The group took just three months to pass their GCSE in Urdu, and one pupil gained a grade A.

Headteacher Ebad Mirza said the results reflected the hard work of the students and they could gain an Urdu A-level by the time they are 16.

Mr Mirza said the group were part of a pilot scheme to give pupils the chance to complete the scheme and allow them to concentrate on more academic subjects including English and Maths.

"The children worked very hard for this and the results reflect this. This is just one of many areas in which British Asian children can succeed," he said.

Headteacher Lynda Warrington of Bradford Girls Grammar in Squire Lane, said she was delighted with the school's success.

Out of the 97 pupils who took the summer exams, 27 achieved A or A* grades in all their subjects.

Top of the class were 16-year-olds Mary Fricker and Anne Wontner-Smith who now have nine A* GCSEs each.

Students attending Bradford & Ilkley College achieved an 84 per cent A-C pass rate for English Language. And there was a 100 per cent success for those taking GCSE in music.

Head of General Education Maura Wilson said: "The results for English were particularly good. I'm pleased that so many people did so well."

Guisley School in Fieldhead Road revealed that, out of 181 students who took the exams, 97 per cent left with one qualification, and two-thirds of pupils attained five or more qualifications.

Stuart Puddy of Bingley Grammar School, in Keighley Road, scored ten A grades and one B.

He is undecided whether to become a bookie or a stock broker.

More than half the pupils left with five GCSEs.

Horsforth School in Lee Lane equalled last year's success with more than half of students achieving five GCSEs.

Top student Natalie Wood walked away with 12 grade A GCSEs.

Headteacher Ian Philp said: "This has been a real team effort - it is a pleasure to see so many happy faces."

On a national level, entries were up, despite a slight drop in the number of 16-year-olds. There were 5,353,095 full GCSE entries compared with 5,415,176 last year.

There was another increase in the pass rate at A*-to-C grade - the 10th in a row since the exams were introduced in 1988.

But this year's increase, up by just 0.3 per cent points to 54.7 per cent was the second smallest ever - mirroring last week's A-level pass rate, where the smallest increase in more than a decade tempered claims that the exams are getting easier.

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