The UK’s next Prime Minister must combat a huge and widening gap between North East pupils’ GCSE and A-level results and those in London, leaders have warned.
Figures on results day on Thursday showed that our region had the lowest percentage of pupils achieving top GCSE grades. 22.4% of entries from the North East achieved grade seven or above but the rate was 32.6% in top-performing London, a 10.2% disparity that has worsened compared to 2021 and the last pre-pandemic results in 2019.
The North East also had the smallest proportion of students achieving A* and A grades in last week’s A-level results, with 30.8% compared to 39.5% in the South East – a gap of 8.7%, up from 5.3% in 2019. Schools North East director Chris Zarraga, Fiona Spellman of education charity SHINE, and Northern Powerhouse Partnership chief executive Henri Murison have penned a joint letter to Tory leadership rivals Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, pleading with whoever succeeds Boris Johnson in 10 Downing Street to tackle the widening north-south education divide as a priority.
