Teachers and pupils across Wharfedale and Aireborough are toasting exam success today as they celebrate one of the best years ever.

Guiseley School students set a record with the highest number of top grade results in its history. Over 43 per cent of pupils were awarded grade A or B and the overall pass rate was up to 93 per cent.

Headteacher Tony Thornley said: "I am very pleased for the vast majority of students who achieved the grades they need. Their commitment has been rewarded and the results speak volumes for the staff and the supportive atmosphere which the school sets out to create."

Top-scoring students included Moksudul Ali, who will study medicine at Leicester University after getting two As and a B, Seema Salchi, who picked up four As and a B to do medicine and Alice Williams who got five As in maths, physics, chemistry, biology and general studies.

Alice, who lives at Tranmere Park, is now preparing to read chemistry at Oxford University, one of four pupils from the school to win places at Oxford or Cambridge.

She also plays French horn with the City of Leeds Youth Orchestra and is a former county badminton player. She said: "I'm absolutely thrilled. I'd hoped to get the two As and a B I needed to get into university but never dreamt I'd do this well. A lot of effort was put into the courses and preparation for the exams but I couldn't have done it without my teachers."

Students at St Mary's Comprehensive in Menston have a bright future ahead of them as results showed a significant improvement and an overall pass rate of 90 per cent, with 44 per cent getting the top two grades.

After getting 11 GCSEs grade A, Richard Harrison has gained five grade As and a B at AS level to take up a place at Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. Helen Roxborough will be moving on to a Natural Sciences degree at Cambridge after garnering five grade As.

And Ilkley Grammar School headteacher Peter Wood said he was very pleased with the results, which were in line with previous years.

Meanwhile, staff at Rawdon's Benton Park School were celebrating "the best results we've ever had". Assistant exams officer Chris Dewhirst said: "Ten of our pupils got four grade As out of a total number of 107 who took the exams. All of our five Oxbridge candidates also made their grades."

In Keighley and Craven, more students than ever before learned they had made the grade.

At South Craven School, the overall pass rate increased by three per cent and the proportion of top grades also rose. There was a 100 per cent pass rate in five subjects.

Deputy head David Birks said: "We are delighted with the achievement of our students in the A-level and GNVQ examinations. At GNVQ, 11 students achieved distinctions."

Twins Sonia and Sarah Littlewood, who were students at South Craven, are still determined to study medicine at Manchester University despite not quite achieving the required grades.

Sonia gained an A, two Bs and a C and Sarah notched up three Bs and a C. But they both needed an A in chemistry and two Bs, including biology. They said: "We are trying to ring the university to see if we can still go. Somehow and in some way, we will be medics!"

Meanwhile Holy Family is celebrating a 100 per cent pass rate in nine subjects - chemistry, maths, further maths, French, German, Italian, religious studies, art and psychology. In maths, 80 per cent earned the top grade. One pupil - Rory Connolly - gained A grades in maths, further maths, physics and chemistry, plus top marks in a special paper in physics and chemistry.

At Greenhead, headteacher Miles Mizon said: "Overall our results are very positive. On average, our students have done better than last year and the overall pass rate of 84 per cent is pretty much the same."

Mr Mizon also had words of praise for three Year 11 pupils - Yasim Ayub, Khalid Mahmood and Awais Yousaf - who all took A-level Urdu two years early and passed with flying colours.

At Keighley College, many of those who have gained A-levels never believed they could pass such an exam, said Andrew Brown, manager of the faculty of business and general education. He said there was an 80 per cent pass rate out of 107 entries and the majority passed at grades A to C.

At Skipton Girls High, the number of A and B grades exceeded last year's total. Headteacher Diana Chambers said: "Once again the school is very pleased with the success of its students.''

And Ermysted's Grammar School reported a good set of results although slightly down on previous years.

A bad dose of mumps failed to scupper James Dawson's second chance at getting into his dream university.

The 19-year-old was making his second bid to get high enough grades to win a place on Northumbria university's prestigious Sports Studies course when illness struck.

"It was about two weeks before the exams and he came down with a really bad case of mumps," said mum, Pam. "He couldn't go to his first two papers in geography and politics because he was highly contagious and would have infected everyone.

"Really he was too ill to go in for his other papers, but he was so determined."

The Bradford Grammar School pupil, who hails from Lucy Hall Drive in Baildon, came up trumps and it was good news come yesterday.

He was awarded two Bs and a D, more than enough to secure his place at Northumbria.

"James is so happy after coming through all of that and we are absolutely thrilled for him."

Around 100 A-level students at Dixons CTC were celebrating getting the results which would send them to university.

The overall pass rate of students was close to 90 per cent, with half of them getting top grades A-C.

It was a 100 per cent pass rate for students taking German, Spanish, Media Studies and Performing Arts at Bradford and Ilkley Community College.

More than 500 students took exams, but few got a rockier start to their vital papers than English student Rowena Thorne.

She forgot to take an important text into the exam and missed the first half hour burrowing through the library trying to find a copy.

But it all ended well when she was awarded a grade A and is now set to go on to Liverpool University to study maths.

Shipley College students were celebrating as the overall pass rate 'significantly' improved, according to Assistant Principal Colin Coleman.

Chris Robinson, headteacher at Hipperholme Grammar School, is particularly pleased because his son Hugh, 18, who is a pupil there passed his A Levels with flying colours gaining 3 As, a B and an AS grade A.

Bingley Grammar School achieved another excellent set of A level results with 87 per cent pass rate and 30 per cent obtaining A and B grades.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.