GCSE results day – live: Record number of straight 9s as Labour says poorer children ‘abandoned’ by government

Brianna Prince, a pupil at Birmingham’s City Academy said that she was “really happy” with her GCSE results.

Receiving three grade 9s and four grade 8s among her nine results, she said that she had done “better than expected” after the uncertainty caused by the pandemic.

“I think leading up to it, because of how stressful it was and because this is a new situation that no one has been through, we didn’t know what it was going to be like, so I kind of expected the worst,” she said.

She added that her mother would be thrilled with her results, “probably screaming and jumping everywhere”.

The 16-year-old hopes to eventually study medicine and become a surgeon.

Across the UK 77.1 per cent of GCSE entries received a passing grade of 4 or higher. Northern Ireland saw the highest proportion of passing grades, with 89.6 per cent of entries receiving grades of 4 or above, followed by London, where 79.7 per cent of entries received grades 4 or higher.

Below is a list of GCSE entries receiving grades of 4 or above by nation and region.

Northern Ireland – 89.6 per cent

London – 79.7 per cent

South-east England – 79.3 per cent

South-west England – 78.6 per cent

Eastern England – 77.1 per cent

England – 76.9 per cent

North-east England – 75.5 per cent

East Midlands – 75.4 per cent

North-west England – 75.0 per cent

West Midlands – 74.3 per cent

Wales – 73.6 per cent

Yorkshire & the Humber – 73.5 per cent

PA

Prime minister Boris Johnson tweeted a video congratulating everyone who was receiving their GCSE results today.

In the video, he said: “Just saying a massive congratulations to everybody who has been doing their GCSEs and I know that it’s been a particularly tough year for everybody in school, and I just want to thank you for persevering and getting on with it and for all your hard work”.

“Whatever the results you’ve got, many congratulations on your efforts.

“And whatever you’re doing now … I hope you will have every possible success. Well done everybody on your GCSEs.”

Poorer pupils in England who are eligible for free school meals dropped farther behind their more privileged peers in their GCSEs according to analysis of this year’s results.

Ofqual said that there has been a slight widening of the “long-standing results gap” between students receiving free school meals and those who do not, by around a tenth of a grade compared with 2019.

The exams regulator said that the widening gap could be a reflection of the “uneven impact” of Covid-19.

While the regulator found there were no notable changes in the gap received by white pupils and those received by most ethnic groups, the analysis found that Gypsy and Roma students witnessed a decrease in outcomes compared with 2019, the last time that exams went ahead.

The analysis on equalities found that the gap between white and Gypsy and Roma pupils had widened by nearly one fifth of a grade.

The Ofqual analysis said: “It seems likely that many of these changes reflect the uneven impact of the pandemic and that the changes to the assessment arrangements may have lessened the unevenness in outcomes we may otherwise have seen”.

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer has said that the prime minister “should get rid” of education secretary Gavin Williamson.

Speaking on BBC News, Sir Keir said: “Inequality in education is unforgivable. We should all be aiming to close the gap in terms of attainment.

“We had huge inequality before we went into this pandemic ­– ­ it’s just got worse. And a lot of that is just down to the way that the education secretary and the government handled this with a chaotic system.

“They should have had a plan B from the start. It was obvious that we might have had to cancel exams, they didn’t put a plan in place, and the chaotic system made it very difficult for teachers.

“But the net result is that the gap between private schools and state schools has got bigger. When inequality goes up in education then it’s pretty astonishing that the education secretary is still in post.

“If he won’t resign, the prime minister should get rid of him.

“When you have a chaotic approach to education that ends up with more inequality rather than less inequality something is going very wrong.

“For the government to say ‘well, there may be more inequality but nobody could have done better’ is simply not good enough.”

In response to the widening attainment gap between students who receive free school meals and their more privileged peers, Shadow education secretary Kate Green has said that children on free school meals have been “abandoned” by the government.

Ms Green said: “Children on free school meals have been abandoned by this government and students in state schools are again being outstripped by their more advantaged private school peers”.

She added: “These widening attainment gaps are testament to the Conservatives’ failed approach to education”.

Students at Ark Burlington Danes Academy, a west London school, have said that their grades are more valid due to the learning disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Noah Jama received one Grade 9, two Grade 8s, four Grade 7s and two Grade 6s, said: “I think we’ve worked really hard considering that we had to work through several lockdowns and especially during Year 10 when we had the big lockdown from March until September”.

“I think we had a big disadvantage compared to usual. I think (our grades) are potentially more valid because we worked so hard and we sat these exams through thick and thin.”

The 16-year-old hopes to one day study medicine, a dream boosted seeing NHS workers on the frontline battling Covid-19.

The school’s principal, Paul Bhatia, said: “They’ve worked incredibly hard in tough circumstances and they’ve got the results they deserve.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer continued his critique of the government on Twitter, saying that the widening attainment gap between students on free school meals and their more privileged peers is a “testament to the Conservatives’ failed approach to education”.

He tweeted: “Today’s GCSE results show pupils on free school meals are half as likely to get top grades.

“The widening attainment gap is a testament to the Conservatives’ failed approach to education.

“And 18 months of chaos and incompetent decision-making.”

Nearly 40 per cent of GCSE entries in Northern Ireland received top marks of A or A* grades, up 3.6 percentage points from last year, to 39.9 per cent.

GCSE entries receiving passing marks of C or higher were also high, at 89.6 per cent, although not quite as high as last year’s 89.8 per cent.

Earlier this week, more than half of A-level results awarded in Northern Ireland were either A*s or As.

Northern Ireland education minister Michelle McIlveen congratulated GCSE students on a visit to Nendrum College in Comber, Co Down.

She said: “They have worked incredibly hard to achieve success in their studies and this has been reflected in the grades they have received today”.

“No other cohort of students have experienced a situation where they have been out of the classroom for a sustained period of time, not just once, but twice. Despite two years of disrupted learning, our young people have shown immense determination, resilience and tenacity in their studies.”

Sixteen-year-old Emily Petty, who survived the Manchester Arena attack, has thanked her school after achieving the GCSE grades she needs to continue her dream of becoming a dancer.

Emily, who suffered PTSD after the 2017 attack at the Ariana Grande concert, received counselling support from staff at Carmel College, Darlington. The teenager passed her GCSEs which will allow her to study dance at The Worx dance school in Sunderland.

While Emily’s mother said that she lost her confidence after the traumatic attack, Emily said: “The dance really helps me as it makes me feel like I am in another world and I can forget about it”.

She added: “Carmel has been brilliant, too, and so supportive throughout”.