GCSE results day 2019: Only 800 students in England get clean sweep of highest grades under reforms

The overall pass rate - the proportion of entries getting G/1 or above - is unchanged from last year at 98.3 per cent.

This remains the lowest overall pass rate since 2007.

There were 5,547,447 entries for the exams, up 77,371 on last year - a rise of 1.4 per cent.

As hundreds of thousands of youngsters open their exam results, Boris Johnson, the prime minister, said: "Huge congratulations to everyone receiving their GCSE results today.

"I'm delighted to see an increase in those studying EBacc subjects - including science, computing and foreign languages - as well as creative studies, meaning pupils are getting the rigorous yet well-rounded education they need.

"As I said last week, my government will do all we can to increase funding for education and to give schools the powers they need to deal with bad behaviour and bullying so pupils continue to learn effectively."

Nansi Ellis, assistant general secretary of the National Education Union, congratulated students, but raised concerns about the reformed GCSEs being "significantly worse for the mental health of students".

She said: "Removing coursework and having most subjects assessed entirely by exams taken at the end of Year 11 makes GCSEs an all-or-nothing, high-stakes experience for students, completely unnecessarily, and focuses study on what will be best for passing the exam, rather than on developing a wider skill set.

"To add to this, both the difficulty and size of GCSE content has increased with the reforms.

"The result is that the majority of schools are feeling forced to start GCSE courses in Year 9, or even earlier, with a view to getting through everything."

She added: "The current system has so many negative side effects that a re-think is sorely needed.

"As a start, schools should be freed from the straitjackets of Progress 8 and EBacc and empowered to act upon their professional expertise in helping students decide which courses to take."

Grade 9s

In England, only 837 16-year-olds, who took at least seven new GCSEs, scored a clean sweep of grade 9s - the top grade - in all their subjects.

Last year, 732 teenagers in England achieved a clean sweep of the new top grades.

Under the old grading system, thousands of students used to get straight A*s.

Grade 9s are harder to achieve than the old A*. 

To find out more about the new 9 to 1 grading system - check out our guide:

Girls are much more likely to achieve a “clean sweep” of the new grade 9s than boys - and the proportion of female students gaining these top grades has increased this year.

This summer, more than two in three (66.4 per cent) of the straight grade 9s were scored by girls, compared with 33.6 per cent of boys, the figures from exams regulator Ofqual show.

Last year, 62 per cent of girls achieved this compared to 38 per cent of boys.

This year, 4.5 per cent of all entries for 9-1 qualifications achieved a grade 9.

The figures show that 5.2 per cent of female entries achieved the top grade and 3.7 per cent of male entries.

The proportion of grade 9s handed out across different subjects varies greatly. This year, in classical subjects – which include Latin and Classical Greek – 27.7 per cent of all exams were graded 9. Meanwhile, just 2.2 per cent of students taking English achieved a 9.

Computing at GCSE is becoming more popular among girls and boys, figures show. 

Overall, entries have increased by 7.2 per cent in the year - and the number of girls taking the subject at GCSE has risen significantly with female entries up 14 per cent.

However, female entries in computing are still only 21.4 per cent of the student numbers.

Jill Duffy, chief executive of exam board OCR, said the sector had done a lot to encourage female pupils to study computing - including highlighting the importance of AI in the future.

She said: "It has been about some of the activities we have done to get girls to look at computer science and to get them to see the relevance to real life and their future careers."

Derek Richardson, vice president and responsible officer at the Pearson examinations body, said it was "encouraging" to see a rise in female entries to computing.

He said: "Increases in computing entries and outcomes - for both females and males - show that young people recognise the changing nature of the world and are preparing themselves for needing an increasingly digital toolkit for their future studies or careers.

The Labour leader is the latest politician to comment on today's GCSE results day

The number of students taking languages at GCSE has jumped by almost 10,000, figures show. 

French has seen a three per cent increase in uptake this year - which is only the second time that French entries have risen year-on-year since 2001.

Meanwhile, Spanish entries have topped 100,000 for the first time, rising by 7.5 per cent.

It comes amid concerns that languages have become less popular at school.

However, the number of German entries fell by almost 4 per cent to 42,791 this year.

Geoff Barton, secretary general of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the positive figures should be treated with caution 

He told The Independent: “At the current rate, German will become the preserve of private schools only.”

Vicky Gough, the schools adviser at the British Council, said: "It's encouraging that GCSE numbers are picking up, but this has to be seen as a slight recovery from a huge drop over more than a decade.

"Languages underpin our relationships with other countries. They are vital to the UK's future prosperity, security, and global influence and they are important to pupils because they open doors to new people, places, and cultures."

Girls have narrowed the gap in top grades in maths and physics this year, the figures show.

Boys continue to do better than girls in these subjects - but girls are catching up. 

The number of females who achieved top grades in maths rose by 0.6 percentage points to 15.5 per cent this year, while the number of boys with top grades fell by 0.1 percentage points to 16.7 per cent. 

In physics, female outcomes were up by 2.1 percentage points on last year - from 39.9 per cent to 42 per cent, while males outcomes rose by 0.4 percentage points to 45.9 per cent.

Geoff Barton, general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders, believes a change in attitude towards girls in Stem is evident at GCSE and A-level.

He said: “The encouraging part of that is that females are thinking 'this is as much a part of my world as it is my brother's', so I think that's a really good thing."

Here is our story from last week on how more girls took sciences at A-level than boys:

Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, said: "Congratulations to all of those who are picking up their GCSE results today - I remember the nerves and excitement that came with waiting for mine like it was yesterday.

"Today's results show pupils are going on to further study and the world of work with the best possible foundations, focusing on the academic cornerstones of education while also stretching themselves creatively.

"The opportunities that await them are the best they've ever been, so whether they go on to do A-levels, an apprenticeship, technical or vocational qualification, they will do so with the skills they need to thrive in 21st century Britain, and support this country as we build for the future."