"I couldn't be more pleased": Over a third of London students achieve top grades in GCSEs
Students are opening their results today
Over a third (34.5%) of London students have achieved top marks in their GCSEs.
It's after exams were cancelled for the second year in a row due to Covid-19.
This year results have been determined by teachers and pupils have only been tested on what they have been taught during the pandemic.
On Tuesday there was a record high for A-level grades as those students faced teacher assessment instead of exams.
'Today should be about the students'
Executive Principal of Lambeth Academy, Leon Wilson, said: "Today should be about the students. This idea about grade inflation, we should all take a step back and just celebrate the hard work of all students and teachers right across the country, and let today be about them".
When asked what the future is for the exam system, he said:
"We need to just pause for a bit and really reflect on the last 18 months but I think, come next year, yes the conversation needs to be had. But I think there should be elements of exams that all students sit right across the country".
Principal of Lambeth Academy, Amy Welch added:
"I really want to commend teachers across the country who have really taken on and shouldered that responsibility which has been very different to delivering the syllabus and sending the students off into an exam. To kind of determine their final outcomes, it has been a huge burden for teachers".
More top grade GCSEs than ever before
Overall, 28.9% of UK GCSE entries were awarded one of the three top grades this year, compared to 26.2% last years, figures for England, Wales and Northern Ireland show.
In 2019, when exams were last held, only a fifth (20.8%) of entries achieved at least a 7 – the equivalent of an A grade.
Our Westminster Correspondent Georgie Prodromou spoke to Labour's Shadow Minister for Further Education, who says the assessments should be more uniform: