GCSE results

The proportion of students receiving top grades in their GCSEs has risen by one of the biggest margins on record.

As teenagers opened their results on Thursday, figures showed that nearly one in five - 19.1 per cent - of grades awarded were either A or A*.

This is a rise of 0.7 percentage points on last year, and the second biggest increase since the A* was introduced in 1994.

The proportion of exams awarded at least a grade C also rose sharply - by 1.2 percentage points to 62.4 per cent.

Stakeholder Response: NUT