GIGGLESWICK School has achieved its best ever GCSE results.

As well as increasing its GCSE pass rate to more 95 per cent, nearly half of its entries achieved A*/A grades and more than 78 per cent secured A*to B grades.

Among the many top performers was Alison Wong, who opened up her results in Hong Kong to find that she had achieved 11 straight A*s.

Headmaster Mark Turnbull said: "The achievements of our students are all the more impressive considering the continued talk in government and media about 'toughening up' on GCSE results. We’re delighted to be bucking national trends and that includes our boys who have successfully outperformed the girls at the higher grades this year with 50 per cent of them achieving A*/A grades.

"We are also nurturing some impressive female scientists, with 83 per cent of them achieving A*/As in Physics and 73 per cent in chemistry. They could soon be following in the footsteps of our year 13 leavers, Catherine Mills from Giggleswick, and Miriam Lord from Settle, who are both off to study science at Oxford next month.

"Sharing in the success of our students today are the parents, teachers and staff who have worked tirelessly to support them all. These results are testimony to our incredibly supportive and positive community that nurtures the ambitions and skills of all these talented individuals.”