Devorah Marks

Dead on 1pm every day this week, Vanessa Marks has taken an anxious phone call from her daughter - away on holiday - reminding her to pick up her exam results.

On cue, Mrs Marks joined the hubbub at King David's high school in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, yesterday to find that Devorah - with a clean sweep of 11 A*s - is part of a breathtaking comprehensive school success.

Galloping up the statistics, the former sink school in Manchester scored 89.2% with five A*-C grades this year, compared with 32% in 1993 when the city came within a whisker of shutting it down. Its staff has no doubt that their "expectations revolution" is mirrored in the national rise of exam successes, rather than any softening of exam demands.