GCSE results day

25 Aug 2016 11:21 AM

Statement from Minister of State for School Standards Nick Gibb.

School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said:

The hard work and determination of hundreds of thousands of 16-year-olds will be rewarded today as they collect their GCSE results; qualifications that are the gateway to the next stage of their education.

We want to make our country a place where there is no limit on anyone’s ambition or what they can achieve - that’s why we are working to ensure there are even more high-quality schools in every part of the country.

And I am pleased to see that there are more GCSEs being taken in thecore academic subjects, those that give students a wider range of opportunities.

And for those 17-year-olds who have struggled to achieve good grades in maths, we are seeing 4,000 more successful retakes of those exams, delivering better prospects for every one of those young people.‎

Today’s (25 August 2016) GCSE results show:

• entries to science and maths subjects by students aged 16 have increased by 6.3% compared to 2015. The government is committed to making Britain the best place in the world to study STEM subjects - helping to boost the UK economy in the long term
• there has been a significant increase in the number of entries by students studying GCSE computer science, from 35,414 in 2015 to 62,454 in 2016. The number of girls studying computer science has more than doubled since last year
• there has been a 3.4% increase in the overall entries to EBacc subjectsfor students aged 16, including rises in biology, chemistry, physics, core science, additional science, geography, history and computing
• the number of entries to the religious studies GCSE is the highest since 2002. This shows that schools and students value the contribution thatRS can bring to a broad and rounded education
• as a result of the government’s early entry rule, where only the first exam entry counts towards performance tables, the number of under 16s being entered for GCSEs continues to drop. Entries are down by 28% year on year, so more students are being entered when they have been fully prepared for their examinations
• this summer thousands more 17-year-olds successfully resat their maths and English GCSEs thanks to colleges and schools across England. 51,200 maths exams sat by students aged 17 and over were graded A* to C - up from 30,000 in 2012. For English, the equivalent figures were 34,500 in 2016, up from 21,100 in 2012
• the government’s new GCSEs will build on these successes by requiring pupils to study more rigorous curricula, in line with the best in the world, to ensure more young people acquire the skills and knowledge to succeed in modern Britain
• there are more than 1.4 million more children in ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ schools than in 2010