Nearly 550,000 pupils in England will receive GCSE results awarded entirely by assessment for first time

Disadvantaged pupils will be the biggest winners from Thursday’s GCSEs results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with more likely to gain good passes and see a narrowing in their attainment gap with better-off children.

One prediction forecast a nearly 10 percentage point increase in pupils in England achieving a grade 4 – equivalent to the bottom of an old C grade.