Closing Summary
Here are the key points from today’s GCSE results
There has been an overall rise in grades among 16-year-olds taking GCSEs and the gap between boys and girls has narrowed to its smallest level since 2016. (See 9.52)
According to the Joint Council for Qualifications, a whopping 1,302 Y11 students in England got the highest grade 9s in seven or more subjects, up from 1,272 last year.
Results suggest that the government’s policy of forcing struggling students to resit maths and English GCSEs is turning into a crisis with those aged 17 or older in England, the bulk of whom are retaking the subjects having failed to get a grade 4 or better the first time around, just 17% got a grade 4 or above in maths.
There’s been little change in the regional gap this year, with London still on top with 28.4% of pupils achieving a top grade (a 7 or above) and only marginally down on last year (see 12.52)
Statistics the fastest growing GCSE subject in England year-on-year.
While Spanish surpassed French in popularity among students in historic first for language studies.
The Campaign for the Arts’ analysis of 2025’s GCSE results reveals that the share of total entries in arts subjects has shrunk again, reaching a new low of 7.04%
In Northern Ireland, the proportion getting grades A/A*(equivalent to 7 and above) and above rose by a full percentage point to 31.4%, while the percentage getting grades 4 or above went up to 63.8%.
In Wales, 16-year-olds getting the top three grades rose to 20.1%, up from 19.8% in 2024, and those getting a 4 or better edged up by 0.3 percentage points to 63.8% this year.
We’re closing the live blog for the rest of the day.
Thanks for following, and congratulations to everyone who received their results today, and good luck with your next chapter at sixth form or in further education.
You can catch up on Richard Adams and Sally Weale’s reporting here:
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The assessment regime for GCSE is “outdated”, says the head of England’s NEU, the largest teaching union.
Daniel Kebede the general secretary of the union said:
The assessment regime for GCSEs is outdated. Regurgitating information on a single day is becoming less and less relevant.
The measurement of skills or knowledge should be tailored to the needs of a subject, not the one-size-fits-all of exams. A six-week window of stress is unnecessary and fails to prepare students for the world they are about to enter. Broader, mixed methods of assessment would help cultivate skills more effectively and allow all students the chance to show what they can do.
We need to see an end to both EBacc and Progress 8. A major improvement in school funding would ensure young people can access a wider range of subjects.
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