Top GCSE grades fall while north-south divide widens

The proportion of GCSE entries awarded top grades has fallen from last year, amid a growing north-south divide in England.

- JOE MIDDLETON

Hundreds of thousands of teenagers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland picked up their results yesterday morning in a year when grades were due to be restored to 2019 levels in all three nations.

Many of the pupils who are receiving their grades were in Year 7 when schools closed due to the pandemic and schooling became disrupted.

More than a fifth (21.8 per cent) of UK GCSE entries were awarded the top grades (at least a 7 or an A grade) this year, down 0.2 percentage points on last year when 22 per cent of entries achieved the top grades. This is higher than the equivalent figure for 2019 (before the pandemic caused the closure of schools) of 20.8 per cent.

The proportion of entries getting at least a 4 or a C grade (considered a “standard pass”) has fallen from 68.2 per cent in 2023 to 67.6 per cent this year – a drop of 0.6 percentage points, but higher than the 67.3 per cent in 2019.

The overall rate for grades 1/G or above is 97.9 per cent, down from 98.0 per cent in 2023 and 98.3 per cent in 2019. This is the lowest 1/G figure for nearly two decades, since 97.8 per cent in 2005.

Concerned education leaders said yesterday’s results showed that some English regions, such as the North East, were still being disproportionately affected by the cost of living crisis and the pandemic.

The latest figures show London and North East England continue to have the highest and lowest proportion of GCSE entries awarded grade 7/A or above in England. But the gap between the regions has narrowed for the first time in nearly a decade.

In London, 28.5 per cent of entries were awarded 7/A or higher this year, up slightly from 28.4 per cent in 2023, while for North East England the figure was 17.8 per cent, up from 17.6 per cent.