A pupil who only came to Huddersfield from France two years ago and could speak little English has done exceptionally well at Rastrick High.

Marguerite Alecaut came here from Le Mans when her mum wanted to give her a better future.

She said: “The only phrases I knew were ‘hello’ and ’how are you’?” said Marguerite. “We moved to the UK as my mum wanted us to have a better future and believed that speaking English would give us that edge. I am so relieved that I have passed all nine subjects with A* - C grades, as I can now go on to do my A levels and work towards a career in journalism.”

GCSEs are also a stressful time for parents.

Rastrick pupil Cairo Buchanan’s mum Venetta said: “I am both pleased and proud of what Cairo has achieved. With 4A*s, 4 As and 1B she has got the results she deserves. She worked really hard, especially in her science subjects and came out with As, so it was all worth it.”

Also at Rastrick Ethan Senior turns 16 today (Friday) so this makes him one of the youngest in his year group yet he achieved 8A*s, 3 As and 1B.

And Louisa Page, who became 16 last week, got 3A*s, 6As and 1B.

Rastrick High pupils (from left) Zak Adams, Fern Johnson, Emma Whitely, Amber Rose Sullivan-Jones, Libby Brearley, George Lam, Harry Lewis, Harry Horsley and Nathan Dawson

She said: “I am so relieved and so pleased! I thought I’d failed maths and I got a B and physics was a really hard paper which made me think I might get a D and I got an A.”

At Holmfirth High School 69% of students achieved 5 A* to C grades including English, maths and science with 29% of all grades awarded at A*/A and 45 pupils achieving 8 or more A*/A grades in all their subjects.

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At Heckmondwike Grammar School every pupil achieved at least five good GCSE grades with more than 70% of our students getting five or more A and A* grades.

More than 60% of achieved an impressive eight or more A and A* grades which is an increase from last year of nearly 10%.

Rastrick High GCSE successes Adam Watson with headteacher Steve Evans

Exceptional individual stories included Basim Khajwal and Laurence Palmer who both have 12 A* grades with Nitish Bala, Lucy Chen, Chloe Feather, Mahdiyya Malek and Francesca Mencattelli all managed 11. Iqra Farooq, Logiga Jegathasan, Alim Kapdi and Katy Peel gained 10 A* grades.

Hipperholme Grammar School saw the number of pupils achieving A* and A grades rise for the third consecutive year to a six-year high.

The percentage of the A* and A grades achieved has doubled over the last three years to 44%.

Overall, 97% of students gained five A* to C passes, the best the school has seen since GCSEs were introduced over 20 years ago.

The highest performing pupil this year was Kate Lee with 8A* and 1A grade, with Joshua Spear, Emily Waring and Lily Ramsey also gaining straight A*and A grades.

Spen Valley headteacher Ian Ellam said: “In times of enormous change to how young people are assessed and school performance is determined, it is essential that we do not lose sight of the most important aspects of examinations.”