GCSE results 2018: Only 700 teenagers in England get clean sweep of grade 9s after major reforms - as it happened
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
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.
And the results are in...
-
Number of students securing "good" pass rates at GCSE - C or above or 4 and above - has risen by 0.5 percentage points to 66.9 per cent
-
Number of students achieving at least an A grade or above – or a 7 and above – has risen by 0.5 percentage points to 20.5 per cent
-
This is the first time since 2011 that the percentage of students securing top grades has increased
-
It comes as boys are closing the gap on girls at the top grades
Grade 9
Experts had predicted that only 200 students would get the new top grade - a grade nine - under the new numerical GCSE grading system in England.
The top grade - introduced by the government - is meant to be harder to get than an A*.
But new figures out today reveal that a total of 732 teenagers taking at least seven reformed GCSEs scored a clean sweep of 9s in all subjects this summer.
Gender gap
Boys have narrowed the gap with girls at the top grades and "good" passes at GCSE.
This year, across the UK, 17.2 per cent of GCSE entries by male pupils were awarded an A/7 grade or above – up 0.8 percentage points on last year’s figure of 16.4 per cent.
The proportion of female entries achieving an A/7 or above did not change on last year - at 23.7 per cent.
Meanwhile, at C/4 and above, 62.3 per cent of male entries achieved the "standard" pass - compared with 61.6 per cent last year.
The performance of girls improved for these grades but only by 0.3 percentage points.
It comes after experts predicted that the new GCSEs - which have less coursework and more of a focus on end of year exams - would favour boys.
Girls are still much more likely than boys to secure the top grades at GCSE despite an overall narrowing of the gap.
For example, more than three in five (62 per cent) of the students who secured straight nines - the new top grades - in seven or more new GCSEs were females.
Out of the 732 students who achieved straight nines, only 278 were males (38 per cent).
Modern Foreign Languages
Entries for modern foreign languages (MFL) at GCSE have bucked the trend and increased.
Figures out today show that total MFL entries across the UK rose by 0.4 per cent.
GCSE entries for Spanish increased by 4.4 per cent and German by 2 per cent.
The figures come after warnings that German risked "extinction" at A-level. See below:
On the reforms to GCSEs in England, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: "All the time and effort that has gone into reforming GCSEs, why have we done that?
"Because GCSEs were designed for an age when children were then maybe going into employment or going into the sixth form, so they were a gateway to other things.
"Now everyone has to stay in education to 18, so why have we got children doing at least 30 hours of exams, all the stress and all the time and all the money that is, when actually for employers, it's what they get at the age of 18 that's going to be important.
"That's where the real reform should be happening. And this is looking to me like a qualification that time forgot."
He added that there should be more focus on the youngsters who score at the lower end of the grade scale.
"Under the old GCSE, if you got an F or a G, whilst you may not have felt particularly pleased with it, there wasn't a national narrative saying 'you have failed to get the standard pass, you have failed to get a strong pass', yet that is now built in," he said.
Rising popularity of sciences
The most popular GCSE this year was science double award, making up 14.6 per cent of entries, which overtook maths, English and English literature.
Biology has seen the biggest increase in candidates, with entry numbers up 23 per cent. This was followed by the other two sciences, with chemistry entries up 18.6 per cent and physics up 17.2 per cent.
And computing - which is considered a science under a key government league table measure - has seen entries increase by 11.8 per cent.
School standards minister Nick Gibb said: "Congratulations to all the pupils getting their results today.
"All of their hard work, and that of their teachers, has paid off and I hope that this is the first step to a bright and successful future.
"Whatever they choose to do next, whether it is staying at school, going to college, or starting an apprenticeship, these qualifications will give them a solid base of knowledge and skills that they can build on.
"Thanks to our reforms and the hard work of teachers, education standards are rising in our schools and pupils have shown their abilities by achieving excellent results today, with so many pupils meeting and exceeding the standards we expect."
The overall pass rate - the proportion of entries getting G/1 or above - was 98.3 per cent.
This is down slightly on 2017, when the figure was 98.4 per cent.
It is also the lowest overall pass rate since 2007.
A profoundly deaf student who got a clean sweep of top grades in her GCSEs said her impairment pushed her to work harder and she refused to let it define her.
Lily Olliver sees herself as just an "ordinary girl who happens to be deaf".
The 16-year-old, of Hove, achieved 10 9s and the top mark of an A hat - the equivalent of an A** - in further maths.
Lily, who sits on the youth advisory board for the National Deaf Children's Society, said: "I'm in shock, I'm really pleased. It's a relief.
"I don't think being deaf should stop you in anything you feel you want to do. I don't want it to define me.
"If anything it caused me to work a bit harder and fight a bit more."
She plans to return to Brighton College for A-levels and is hoping to study a combination of chemistry, biology, maths, further maths and philosophy but is still deciding exactly which subjects to pick.
Out of the 732 students across the country who received seven grade 9s or above, 34 studied at Brighton College, the private school said.
There were 10 students who achieved at least nine 9s at the school with one getting the highest he possibly could in all exams - eight nines, an A hat and two A*s.
(PA)
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments