Jump to contentAllNewsSportCultureLifestyleFarzana Fatimah (R) reacts as she reads her GCSE results with her mother at Plashet City of London Academy. (Getty)Top GCSE grades across the UK saw a slight increase this year with 22 per cent of entries achieving at least a grade 7 or A, while standard pass rates settled back to pre-pandemic levels at 67.3 per cent. The attainment gap between boys and girls narrowed to its smallest margin since at least 2000, though girls continue to outperform boys across both top marks and standard pass grades. Education Secretary Lucy Powell announced plans for a new Level 1 stepping stone qualification in English and maths to help post-16 students, following a fall in pass rates despite increased resit entry numbers. Regional disparities widened to a record high, as the gap in top grades awarded between London, the highest-performing region, and the North East, the lowest-performing, expanded to 10.9 percentage points. Following a 2025 pilot scheme, all Year 11 candidates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were able to access their GCSE and technical results digitally through a mobile app for the first time. In fullGCSE results day: More pupils get top grades as gap between boys and girls shrinksMore bulletinsThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
GCSE results reveal record regional divide as top grades increase slightly
Jump to contentAllNewsSportCultureLifestyleFarzana Fatimah (R) reacts as she reads her GCSE results with her mother at Plashet City of London Academy. (Getty)Top GCSE grades across the UK saw a slight increase this year with 22 per cent of entries achieving at least a grade 7 or A, while standard pass rates settled back to pre-pandemic levels at 67.3 per cent. The attainment gap between boys and girls narrowed to its smallest margin since at least 2000, though girls continue to outperform boys across both top marks and standard pass grades. Education Secretary Lucy Powell announced plans for a new Level 1 stepping stone qualification in English and maths to help post-16 students, following a fall in pass rates despite increased resit entry numbers. Regional disparities widened to a record high, as the gap in top grades awarded between London, the highest-performing region, and the North East, the lowest-performing, expanded to 10.9 percentage points. Following a 2025 pilot scheme, all Year 11 candidates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were able to access their GCSE and technical results digitally through a mobile app for the first time. In fullGCSE results day: More pupils get top grades as gap between boys and girls shrinksMore bulletinsThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
