GCSE results 2023 live: Results, reaction and grade boundaries from across Wales as pupils collect their grades

Top grades expected to fall in England

Similar to the pattern with A-level results last week, it is expected that top GCSE grades will drop on last year as part of a plan to bring grades down to pre-pandemic levels in England this year. It comes after Covid-19 led to an increase in top grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.

Some sixth forms and colleges could decide to admit pupils with lower GCSE grades on to A-level courses this summer compared with recent years. Greater attention may be given to the induction process for this cohort of students starting sixth form next month to ensure “they cope as best they can”, the leader of a headteachers’ union has suggested.

Last year, more than a quarter (26.3%) of UK GCSE entries were awarded top grades, compared with 28.9% in 2021 and 26.2% in 2020. In 2019 – the year before the pandemic – around one in five (20.8%) entries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were awarded a 7/A or above. In England, exams regulator Ofqual has said this year’s GCSE results will be lower than last year and they would be similar to those in 2019.

Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said: “The fear for thousands of pupils is they will miss out on the basic grades they need to get into sixth form – which has the potential to damage their future life prospects.”

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said it was “likely” that sixth forms and colleges could lower their entry requirements for this year’s cohort of students.

He told the PA news agency: “You’re not going to expect the same standard of youngsters coming in when you know that nationally the bar has been moved back to where it was in 2019. It’s not a straightforward thing because what you don’t want is a youngster who’s got a grade 6 going on to a physics course and not coping with it because they’ll drop out.”

When asked whether there could be more drop-outs from A-level courses, Mr Barton said: “I think what it will mean is that the way in which teaching starts in September will be the main focus. There will be more emphasis on induction skills to make sure those youngsters very quickly feel confident. My guess is that what we will see is a generosity of spirit not just in who is brought into a sixth form, but also the individual attention they get from their teachers to make sure they cope as best they can.”