Thousands of students nervously wait to open GCSE results with 1 in 3 set to FAIL English and maths

They have put in years of hard work and it is time for us to celebrate their amazing success.

I’m so proud of what they have achieved. And I want to thank our wonderful teachers for all they have done.

But our young people have had to fight against the odds every single day to get here.

They faced a pandemic that trapped them at home. They were Zoom guinea pigs, forced to learn alone in their bedrooms from a voice on a screen.

They were then told by Rishi Sunak that his government had “maxed out” on catch-up support.

When schools reopened, they came back to crumbling classrooms, thanks to an RAAC concrete crisis made by the Tories, and got more disruption because of strikes that could have been avoided if Conservative ministers had behaved like grown-ups.

Now I want to make sure every single one of our youngsters has the opportunities they need to succeed.

My message to them is this: If you want to take the academic path and go to university, great, we’ll help you get there, no matter where you come from.

But it is not the only way to get on. There are so many other great routes to success, like apprenticeships and other technical courses. This country has ignored these pathways for far too long.

They have been sneered at as options for other people’s kids, that they aren’t as good as going to university.

I know, and Sun readers know, that’s rubbish. Let’s set the record straight. This country needs graduates.

But to get Britain moving again, we also need skilled technicians — brickies, electricians, IT engineers, plumbers, builders, carpenters, mechanics, welders, roofers.

These are good, well-paid trades that help people get on in life and drive economic growth across the UK.

But too few young people are pursuing these careers and it’s holding Britain back.

I was really pleased to see that the Sun launched its Builder Better Britain campaign last year to put these issues front and centre.

We need skilled construction workers more than ever before and this government is determined to work with the sector to train them up.

It is time we took skills seriously again. That is how we restore hope and opportunity to this country. It is how we rebuild the belief that if you work hard, then you can earn a decent wage, buy a good house and raise a family.

I want to deliver an age of opportunity in this country, and that means securing a new era of vocational training for our young people.

We will do that by reviewing the curriculum and closing any qualification gaps so that kids have a better choice of vocational pipelines.

And we will simplify taxes on employers that fund apprenticeship training to open up routes that get young people into good, skilled jobs.

Alongside the Prime Minister, last month I launched Skills England, a new body that brings together businesses, colleges and mayors to deliver new ways for young people to skill up and get on.

Thanks to the Tories, the foundations of opportunity are rotten to the core.

But I’m going to rebuild them. It is my mission to break down the barriers to opportunity and spread success to all four corners of the country.

Our young people collecting their results tomorrow have fought major disruption to their learning to get here.

And now I’m going to fight for them.

I am going to fight to make sure all our young people, no matter their background, get the opportunities they need to get on and succeed.

How do GCSE grades differ across the UK?

In England, GCSEs are graded using a numerical system from 9 to 1 rather than from A* to G – with 9 being the highest grade.

A grade 7 and above is roughly equivalent to an A and above, while a grade 4 and above – which is considered a “standard pass” – is roughly equivalent to a C and above.

But Government performance data highlights the percentage of pupils in a school who achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths – which is roughly equivalent to a high grade C or low grade B.

The rollout of the numerical grading system began in 2017 in England, and by 2020, all subjects were graded in numbers.

In Northern Ireland, the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment uses a nine-category grade scale A* – G – which includes a C*.

In Wales, the traditional eight-category grade scale A*- G has been retained.

Scotland has a different qualification system and pupils received their results for National 5 exams on August 6.

How do approaches to grading differ?

In England, Ofqual has said it expects this year’s GCSE results to be “broadly similar” to last year, when grades were restored to pre-pandemic levels.

In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators have said they aim to return to pre-pandemic grading levels this summer – a year later than in England.

It comes after Covid-19 led to an increase in top GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.

But last week, the proportion of A-level entries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland awarded top grades surpassed pre-pandemic highs.

Ofqual’s chief regulator Sir Ian Bauckham said standards had been maintained, adding that any change was “largely due to the ability of the cohort”.

Was anything done this summer to support pupils taking GCSE exams?

Most pupils who took their GCSE exams this summer were in Year 7 when schools closed after the national lockdown in 2020.

In England, pupils were given formulae and equation sheets in GCSE mathematics, physics, and combined science exams to recognise the pandemic disruption to their secondary education.

The exam aids were also given to pupils last year, but they are not expected to be in place in 2025.

In Wales, the maths and science GCSE exams sat by pupils included relevant formulae within the papers, but these were already there before the pandemic.

Last summer, many GCSE students in Wales and Northern Ireland were given advance information about topics to expect in their exam papers, but this was not in place this year.

What can students do if they are not happy with their results?

Pupils are advised to speak to their preferred school or college to see if they can be flexible on entry requirements if they have just missed the grades.

In England, if a student is unhappy with their grade they can ask also their school or college to request that the exam board review the marking.

If there are still concerns after the review, the student can ask their school or college to appeal against the result.

Students can also choose to resit any GCSE exam in the summer of the following academic year if they are unhappy with their results.

But students can retake English language and maths GCSEs from this autumn.

In England, it is a requirement for students who do not secure at least a grade 4 in English language and/or maths GCSE to retake the subjects during post-16 education.

Students are funded to retake maths and/or English until they achieve a GCSE grade 9 to 4.

For students with a grade 2 or below, they can either study towards a pass in functional skills level 2 or towards a GCSE grade 9 to 4.

Were pupils in schools affected by crumbling concrete given extra help?

Department for Education (DfE) figures show 234 education settings in England have been identified as having Raac in their buildings. Of these, 94 are listed as secondary or all-through state schools.

The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) said “special consideration” – which is given to a candidate who has temporarily experienced illness, injury or some other event outside their control at the time of their assessment – would not be granted for disruption to teaching and learning over the year due to Raac.

But this year, exam boards have offered extended coursework deadlines to schools and colleges which have struggled to access specialist facilities for non-examination assessments due to Raac.

Schools and colleges are also able to apply under the established “special consideration” process if they feel their results have been affected by Raac disruption during exams.

Marks can be adjusted to take into account unforeseen circumstances such as a “noisy environment” in the exam hall.