The number of students getting all 9s - the top grade - plummeted by nearly half since last year. London and the South East achieve the highest share of top grades. Meanwhile, in England, the proportion of grades 7 and above at independent schools dropped slightly on both 2019 and 2022.
Entries for Spanish jumped this summer - up 11.3% on 2022 - with holiday habits a possible reason why.
"I think also there's more societal things like actually, it's a popular holiday destination for many families so students can relate to it a little bit more. "I think one of the factors behind this year is a reduction in some subjects of early entry," he said. Farjad Khan, a pupil at Kingsley Academy in Hounslow, says his results were"better than I expected" after battling nerves before today.
But Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has played down suggestions the gap is growing in secondary schools - although she admitted it had “taken a step back” in recent years. As we dig into this year's GCSE results - which have mostly returned to pre-pandemic levels but also saw England's highest failure rate since 2007 - data journalistData from the Department for Education shows during the first term of this academic year, over 125,000 children missed more school days than they attended.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
GCSE grade boundaries for AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC and CCEAWhen will GCSE grade boundaries be released for AQA, Edexcel and OCR?
Read more »
What time GCSE grade boundaries are released by AQA, Pearson and OCR on results dayGrade boundaries are set after students have taken their exams and the assessments have been marked by independent examiners using published mark schemes
Read more »
Guide to GCSE results in NI including appeals, grade boundaries and resitsWe've put together a handy guide to help answer any questions you may have
Read more »
GCSE grade equivalents explained - what 4, 5 or 6 grades mean in the letter systemGCSE grades previously ranged from an A* to a G - but a new numerical system of grading was introduced in 2017
Read more »
GCSE results day 2023: Grade boundaries explained and how exams are being markedGCSE students have been warned that results will be lower this year than last year.
Read more »
2023's GCSE grade boundaries as results are publishedTeenagers will be nervously collecting their results on Thursday, with the spotlight on top grades as part of a plan to bring grades down to pre-pandemic levels
Read more »