GCSE results 2026: London records 30.2% top grades as England's regional gap reaches 11 points

National results barely moved, but the detail is less even: London is 11.2 percentage points ahead of the North East at grade 7+, girls lead overall while boys still lead in maths and physics, and UK computing entries have fallen 7.1%

GCSE results for 2026 reveal substantial differences by region, gender and subject beneath broadly stable national outcomes

GCSE results across England, Wales and Northern Ireland look remarkably stable at headline level in 2026. 

Across the Joint Council for Qualifications' UK dataset, 22.0% of GCSE results were awarded grade 7/A or above, compared with 21.9% last year. At grade 4/C and above, the proportion slipped from 67.4% to 67.3%, while 97.9% were awarded grade 1/G or above, unchanged from 2025.

That means the annual movement most commonly used to characterize GCSE results day is one tenth of a percentage point in either direction.

In England, Ofqual's figures for 16-year-olds show 30.2% of GCSE results in London were awarded grade 7 or above. In the North East, the figure was 19.0%.

That 11.2 percentage-point gap is one of the clearest dividing lines in the 2026 results, and it sits alongside substantial differences in the subjects students take, the performance of female and male students, and the types of schools at which exams are sat.

JCQ's headline figures cover its GCSE qualifications across the UK, predominantly England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while Ofqual's detailed regional analysis covers England. The qualifications and grading arrangements also differ between the three nations, so the country-level percentages are not interchangeable.

There is some longer-term context behind the apparent national stability. JCQ's dashboard shows 20.8% of GCSE results at grade 7/A or above in 2019, compared with 22.0% this year. At grade 4/C and above, however, 2026's 67.3% is exactly the same percentage recorded in 2019.

London is 11.2 points ahead of the North East at top grades

The England-wide average for 16-year-olds was 23.1% of GCSE results at grade 7 or above and 70.7% at grade 4 or above. London sits well above both. Its 30.2% grade 7+ rate compares with 25.8% in the South East, 23.1% in the East of England and 22.2% in the South West.

Below the England average were Yorkshire and The Humber at 20.6%, the North West at 20.1%, the West Midlands at 19.7%, the East Midlands at 19.4% and the North East at 19.0%.

The pattern changes slightly at grade 4 and above, but the gap remains. London recorded 75.5%, compared with 73.2% in the South East and 71.5% in the South West. The lowest figure was 66.6% in the West Midlands, followed by 67.9% in the North West.

The regional split runs further down the grade distribution. It can also be seen in the curriculum students are taking.

Ofqual's subject uptake data for students of all ages shows separate sciences are considerably more common in parts of southern England. In the South East, 19.1% of students took Biology, compared with 12.3% in the North East and 12.3% in Yorkshire and The Humber.

Chemistry uptake was 18.4% in the South East against 11.4% in both the North East and Yorkshire and The Humber. Physics shows a similar pattern, at 18.5% in the South East compared with 11.5% in the North East.

Combined Science moves in the opposite direction. It was taken by 49.4% of students in the North East, compared with 41.7% in the South East and 41.0% in London.

Computing has its own regional divide. Uptake reached 9.5% in the South East and 9.3% in London, but 5.0% in the North East and 5.1% in Yorkshire and The Humber.

School type produces an even more dramatic spread.  Ofqual reports 63.2% of GCSE results at grammar schools at grade 7 or above, compared with 47.1% at independent or private schools, 21.7% at free schools, 20.1% at local authority maintained secondary comprehensive schools and 19.7% at academies. Across all state-funded centers, the figure was 20.6%.

Girls lead overall, but maths and physics tell a different story

Female students continue to outperform male students overall. Across JCQ's all-UK, all-ages results, 24.4% of female GCSE entries were awarded grade 7/A or above, compared with 19.6% for male entries. At grade 4/C and above, the split was 70.2% against 64.4%.

In England, Ofqual records a similar pattern: 24.1% of female results were grade 7 or above, compared with 19.5% for male results.

Among 16-year-olds taking seven or more GCSEs, the difference becomes particularly clear. Some 51.1% of female students achieved grade 4 or above in every GCSE they took, compared with 41.9% of male students.

At grade 7 or above across every subject, the figures were 6.7% for female students and 4.4% for male students.

In Mathematics in England, 18.5% of male results were at grade 7 or above, compared with 15.2% of female results. Physics shows a larger male advantage, at 49.0% versus 42.6%.

Statistics followed the same direction, with 24.9% of male results at grade 7 or above against 20.1% of female results.

Female students accounted for only around 23% of UK Computing entries, with males making up 77%. Yet in England, 36.1% of female Computing results were at grade 7 or above, compared with 28.1% for male students.

In English Language, 19.0% of female results in England reached grade 7 or above, compared with 11.7% of male results. In English Literature it was 24.4% against 15.2%.

Art and Design shows one of the widest differences among larger subjects, with 28.9% of female results at grade 7 or above compared with 12.7% for males.

Food Preparation and Nutrition was 29.1% versus 11.5%, Design and Technology 33.3% versus 18.9%, and Sociology 22.8% versus 12.7%.

Subject choice is at least as divided as subject performance. JCQ's UK figures show Computing was 77.2% male and 22.8% female. Design and Technology was 71.3% male, Physical Education 66.1% male and Business Studies 61.2% male.

At the other end, Performing and Expressive Arts was 96.2% female and Health & Social Care 94.8% female. Sociology and Psychology were both around 74% female, Art and Design was 66.5% female and Food Preparation and Nutrition 58.2%.

Yet some of the biggest GCSE subjects are close to evenly divided. Mathematics was effectively 50:50. Biology was 49.2% female and 50.8% male, Chemistry 48.7% female and 51.3% male, and Physics 48.1% female and 51.9% male.

Computing entries fall as Statistics and Business Studies grow

What students are choosing to study is shifting too, even though JCQ says the 10 largest GCSE subjects remain unchanged.

Statistics recorded the largest percentage increase among the larger subjects outside the top 10, rising 11.2% year on year to 38,770 entries.

Health & Social Care increased 9.0% to 7,184 entries, while Business Studies rose 7.8% to 148,747. Film Studies was up 6.1%, Sociology 4.8% and Media Studies 3.9%.

Computing moved sharply in the other direction. UK entries fell from 91,619 in 2025 to 85,096 this year, a decline of 7.1%.

French entries fell 5.4%, from 132,808 to 125,678, while Design and Technology declined 2.3%.

Entries in the three separate sciences also eased, with Biology down around 1.5%, Physics 1.5% and Chemistry 1.8%. Double Award Science, meanwhile, increased 1.9%.

The outcomes within those subjects did not necessarily follow their entry trends. In England, 30.0% of Computing results were at grade 7 or above, up from 29.6% in 2025, while the grade 4+ rate increased from 69.2% to 70.7%.

Spanish produced one of the more noticeable positive grade movements among major subjects, with grade 7+ increasing from 27.1% to 28.9% and grade 4+ from 70.6% to 71.9%.

Chemistry reached 47.0% at grade 7 or above, Physics 45.9% and Biology 43.5%.

In Mathematics in England, grade 7+ rose from 16.5% to 16.8%, but grade 4+ fell from 58.2% to 57.2%.

English Language was down slightly at both thresholds, with 15.2% at grade 7+ and 59.5% at grade 4+, while English Literature recorded 19.7% at grade 7+ and 73.4% at grade 4+.

In Wales some 19.6% of GCSE results were awarded the top grades A*/9 to A/7, up 0.1 percentage points from 2025, while 62.3% reached C/4 or above, down 0.2 points.

Northern Ireland's provisional outcomes were also broadly stable. Grade A/7 and above accounted for 31.7% of results, compared with 31.6% in 2025, while 83.6% were at C/4 and above, up from 83.5%.

36.2% of female results were A/7 or above compared with 26.8% of male results. STEM accounted for 41.0% of all Northern Ireland GCSE entries, up from 40.8% last year.

GCSEs are also no longer the only substantial dataset being published on this results day.

JCQ has issued 445,349 results across 308 Level 1 and Level 2 vocational and technical qualifications, including 338,923 Tech Awards and 10,893 Technical Certificates. Leisure, travel and tourism was the largest VTQ sector subject area.

Margaret Farragher, Chief Executive of JCQ, says: “We have continued to make Vocational and Technical Qualifications (VTQs) an integral part of our data and today we have published 445,349 VTQ results alongside results for GCSEs and other Level 1_2 qualifications.”