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SUCCESS: Student collects her GCSE results at Ark Globe Academy in south London

TODAY (AUG 23), hundreds of thousands of GCSE pupils up and down the country are celebrating as they receive their results.

Figures show there were more than five million entries in GCSEs in England this year, up 0.9% on last year, despite a decrease in the number of 16 year olds in the population, with around 90% of entries being in our new, gold standard reformed qualifications.

Today’s results show that among 16-year-olds in England:

- Entries into the core academic subjects that best keep pupils’ options open – the English Baccalaureate – have gone up by 1.2% with attainment improving in these subjects;

- Entries into modern foreign languages have increased, driven by rises in Spanish (up 5.3%) and German (up 2.5%) while entries in French have remained broadly stable in line with population change;

- Entries into individual sciences have increased – 22.8% in biology, 19.2% in chemistry, 17.6% in physics and 10.8% in computer science;

- Entries into geography and history have increased by 4.7% and 2.2% respectively;

- Entries and attainment in maths are broadly stable, with 71% of entries getting a grade 4 or above (up from 70.7% last year);

- Entries in English subjects are broadly stable and attainment has increased, with 71.8% of entries getting a grade 4 or above (up from 71.2% last year)

There is a narrowing of the gap in attainment between girls and boys at grades 4/C and above (down 0.5 percentage points on last year), with 73.8% of girls getting these grades compared to 64.6% of boys. This pattern is repeated among the top grades (grade 7/A and above), where the gap is down 1.1 percentage points on last year – 24.6% of entries by girls compared to 18.1% for boys.

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."

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