GCSE results 2018: Only 700 teenagers in England get clean sweep of grade 9s after major reforms - as it happened
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Your support makes all the difference.The number of students receiving the top GCSE grades rose for first time in seven years despite major reforms
The proportion of entries scoring a C or above – or a 4 under the new grading system – increased by 0.5 percentage points from 66.4 per cent last year to 66.9 per cent.
Tens of thousands of teenagers received their GCSE results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland amid major exam reforms.
Last year, the GCSE pass rates fell and the number of pupils attaining the top grades dropped to the lowest point in a decade.
Grades were awarded in the new tougher GCSE subjects – maths and English – last summer. Students in England received the new numerical grades in a further 20 subjects this year.
Headteachers have raised concerns that the new GCSE grading system sends a "demoralising message" to students who are likely to score lower results in their exams.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said it had concerns about pupils performing at the lower end of the grading scale.
"Our concern, however, is over those pupils at the other end of the scale who are taking exams which are harder than their predecessors and who have been told by the Government that a grade 4 is a 'standard pass' and a grade 5 is a 'strong pass'," Malcolm Trobe, ASCL deputy general secretary said.
"That is a very demoralising message to those who achieve grades 1, 2 and 3, and the new system does not work very well for them at all."
See below how we covered GCSE results day
Those in Wales and Northern Ireland will continue to receive their grades in the traditional A* to G format.
The new linear GCSEs – which have harder content, less coursework, and more exams at the end of two years – are now being graded using 9 to 1, rather than A* to G.
Only 732 16-year-olds in England, who took at least seven new GCSEs, scored a clean sweep of 9s in all subjects.
Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, has predicted that a higher percentage of students will gain the two new top grades - 8s and 9s - than the proportion of A*s awarded under the old system ahead of GCSE results day.
Professor Smithers has also predicted that boys will close the gap with girls at the top grades – as less coursework and more exams is supposed to favour boys.
Exams regulator Ofqual announced earlier this week that it had taken extraordinary action to stop pupils from ending up with U grades in a higher tier GCSE science paper tomorrow.
The regulator took the highly unusual step of intervening over the fail grades for the tougher GCSE science paper after it found that more students than expected were getting an unclassified result for combined science.
When judging results against expectations, exam boards believed that in some cases students should have been entered for the easier foundation tier paper.
GCSE results day can be a daunting day for many teenagers - but there are some perks:
As students wait to receive their GCSE results, an analysis of Ofsted data conducted by the Labour Party found that students from the poorest families in England are nine times more likely to attend secondary schools which are rated inadequate compared to their peers.
Education Correspondent Eleanor Busby will have the national statistics and trends for GCSE results day from Westminster at 9.30am - as tens of thousands of students collect their grades across England, Wales and Northern Ireland early in the morning.
As many students get ready to open their envelopes to reveal what GCSE grades they got this morning, here is our guide to what you need to know about the day:
Adopted children are likely to receive significantly lower GCSE grades than their classmates, a national charity has warned as thousands of pupils receive their results today.
Just a third of adopted children achieved a pass in English and Maths in 2017, compared to 59 per cent of their peers, official figures show.
More than two-thirds of teenagers are concerned about the new GCSE grading system, according to a poll.
The survey also suggests nearly two-thirds do not feel the new system - which sees exams given a grade from 9-1 - will represent their grades as well as it should.
The findings of the poll, commissioned by the National Citizen Service, come on the day teenagers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland receive their GCSE results.
In total, 69 per cent of the 1,000 14 to 17-year-olds questioned, who are currently waiting for their GCSE results, said they are generally concerned about the new grading system.
And 65 per cent of those questioned feel the new system will not represent their grades fully.
The survey also found just 7 per cent expect to get a grade 4 - broadly equivalent to a C under the old system - in most of their subjects.
(PA)
Small business owners are encouraging students getting their GCSE results to take up an apprenticeship as a viable route into sustainable employment.
The call comes after last week’s apprenticeship start figures showed that since May 2015, there have only been 1.4m cumulative apprenticeship starts.
To hit the target set out in the Conservative manifesto, 71,000 apprenticeship starts a month are required. Currently, the government is only seeing between 20,000 and 30,000 a month.
Mike Cherry, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) National Chairman, said: “Students getting their GCSE results today, will be thinking about their next move and may be considering an apprenticeship as a crucial stepping stone into sustainable employment – particularly for younger workers looking to ‘earn and learn’."
He added: "Fewer and fewer young people will get to realise these benefits unless Government takes steps now to make it easier and more cost-effective for small firms to invest in apprentices.”
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