GCSE students thrilled with 63% pass rate in West Midlands
Students across the West Midlands have told us they're thrilled with their GCSE results.
Thousands of teenagers across the West Midlands have been receiving their GCSE results today, which will help determine their next chapter. A-Levels, T-Levels, apprenticeships, and college are all options for 16-year-olds.
There's been a 63% pass rate in the West Midlands, with 18.5% being awarded the top grades (7/A or above). That's up from 18.4% in 2023 and 18.1% in 2019.
Oliver picked his grades up from Bristnall Hall Academy in Oldbury this morning. He told us he was happy with his results: "I'm feeling a lot of relief, I guess, because you do all the work but you don't see much result until after you get the results.
"I was pretty strategic about it. A lot of people, they study for way too and they don't get much sic results out of it, but I tried to make it as effective as possible and use as much sic practise papers as I can and that's all you can really do."
Grading has reverted back to pre-pandemic levels but marks are still up from last year.
This group of GCSE students were in year 7 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, causing major disruption to their education.
Sir Keir Starmer has congratulated students in the UK and said they did "an incredible job."