Yorkshire’s GCSE results improve but Hunt warns pupils in North are being left behind.

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Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt warned that yesterday’s results showed the Government was failing to deal with a continuing regional divide which meant pupils in the North and Midlands were being left behind.

Figures show that Yorkshire has had the lowest level of A* to C grades at GCSE for at least the last five years.

However, a Department for Education (DfE) spokeswoman pointed out that Yorkshire’s performance was the second most improved in the country this year both in terms of the number of A* to C grades and the number of A* and A grades being awarded.

At schools across the county there were the usual scenes of celebration as the long wait for GCSE results came to an end for tens of thousands of 16-year-olds.

However, there was also a different kind of drama on the morning at one Yorkshire school where 50 firefighters were called to tackle a blaze.

The large fire in a building at The Freeston Academy, in Normanton, Wakefield, did not prevent students going to collect their results from outside the school’s sports hall.

The school said it had acted on the advice of West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service. Nobody was hurt in the incident.

Official figures showed that 65.3 per cent of the GCSEs sat by pupils in Yorkshire were graded at A* to C, meaning just over a third of entries were marked at D or lower. This meant Yorkshire once again had the lowest proportion of good grades in the country.

However the figure was up 0.4 per cent on last year, meaning it was also the second most improved set of results.

The proportion of A* and A grades in Yorkshire also lags behind the rest of the country. Nationally it was 21 per cent while in Yorkshire it was 17.6 per cent.

However the number of top grades in the region improved slightly while nationally it fell.

Nationally the results showed a North-South divide, with 72 per cent of GCSEs in London being graded C or better and pupils in the South East and South West faring better than anywhere in the North or Midlands.

Mr Hunt said: “I want to extend my very best wishes to all of those young people who have received their GCSE results. Today marks the culmination of years of perseverance, enquiry, joy and – at times – very real pressures and stress. Also, to extend my congratulations to all of the school and college staff across the country and to recognise their hard work.

“However, the continued differences in outcomes between regions in England is a worrying trend. The Tories are not challenging the regional divide in school standards, so children in the North and Midlands are again being left behind.”

A DfE spokeswoman said: “This Government is determined that every young person, regardless of birth or background, receives an education that allows them to realise every ounce of their potential.

“Pupils in the North should be extremely proud of their achievements. Yorkshire and the Humber has this year seen the second largest increases in both the A*-C and A*-A pass rates.”

Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland the proportion of GCSEs awarded at least a C grade has risen again this year, but top grades fell for the fourth year in a row.

In total, almost seven in 10 (69 per cent) entries were awarded A*-C, up 0.2 percentage points on 2014.

But there was a 0.1 percentage point drop in A* grades - the fourth year running that there has been a fall - with 6.6 per cent of entries given the highest mark this year.

Tens of thousands of teenagers across Yorkshire are today receiving their long-awaited GCSE results.

The national figures, published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) also show that the gender gap has narrowed slightly this summer, with 73.1 per cent of girls’ entries awarded at least a C grade, compared to 64.7 per cent of boys’.

This is a gap of 8.4 percentage points, compared to 8.8 percentage points last summer.

The statistics also show that the numbers of students taking languages at GCSE has plummeted again, with even Spanish, which has bucked the trend in recent years, seeing a fall in numbers.

Overall, entries for French were down 6.2 per cent, German entries were down 9.2 per cent and Spanish down 2.4 per cent.

Grades for languages have improved though, the JCQ said, suggesting that this could be down to brighter candidates continuing to study the subject.

JCQ director general Michael Turner said: “At a national level there is very little change in this year’s results but we do see educational policies continuing to have an effect on entry patterns and results at a subject level. This is particularly the case in English, mathematics and the sciences.”

A total of 5,429,478 GCSE results have been issued on results day .

GCSE RESULTS DAY: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Maths was the most popular subject again this year, with 761,230 entries. up 3.4 per cent on last year. Almost two thirds of entries (63.3 per cent) were handed at least a C grade, up from 62.4 per cent last year.

There was also a 1.3 percentage point hike in the proportion of entries gaining an A* or A, with 16.5% awarded a top mark.

English also saw an improvement in results, with 65.4 per cent of entries gaining at least a C grade, following a drop last summer when 61.7 per cent achieved this standard or higher.

Girls continued to outperform boys in English with 72.8% achieving at least a C grade, compared to 57.7 of their male counterparts.

But the 15.1 per cent difference is down 0.8 percentage points on last year, showing that boys are narrowing the gap.

A breakdown published by JCQ shows major changes in entry patterns for core subjects such as English and maths.

There has been a rise in the number of 17-year-olds taking these two GCSEs, a change which comes after a government decision to require teenagers who do not gain at least a C grade at age 16 to continue studying these subjects.

At the same time, there has been a fall in the numbers of students sitting these subjects early, at age 15 or younger.

This is likely to be down to exam reforms which mean that that only a candidate’s first attempt at a qualification will count in school league tables, it was suggested.