There are always big stories on WalesOnline - don't miss any with our daily email Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign me up now Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Wales’ overall GCSE pass rate has dropped again in 2018. It is the first year that nearly all exams - a total of 15 reformed GCSEs - were examined for the first time. Figures published by the WJEC this morning show 61.6% of students achieved grades A* - C across all subjects, compared to 62.8% in 2017. In contrast, across England, Wales and Northern Ireland the overall pass rate rose by 0.5% to 66.9%. Despite the dip the proportion of students getting top grades A* -A has increased; from 17.9% to 18.5% this year. Overall though Wales has recorded its lowest GCSE pass rate for more than a decade after it remained around 66% for a number of years. (Image: Richard Williams) Education Secretary Kirsty Williams said: "We should not be making simplistic comparisons because of the changes in the cohort with on going early entry and there are 15 new qualifications being examined for the first time. “There are lots of things going on which mean we should avoid simplistic comparisons with different year groups because there is so much reform in the system.” See the full interview with Kirsty Williams here. See our live updates from schools across Wales here. Independent exam regulator Qualifications Wales and the WJEC said changes to GCSEs and in entry patterns mean it is hard to make comparisons year on year or with results across the border. 2018 GCSE Results at a glance 61.6% A* to C across all subjects compared to 62.8% in 2017 41.4% got English language grades A* to C compared to 57.7% in 2017 88.7% got maths A* to G compared to 91.7% in 2017 91.6% got maths numeracy A* to G compared to 91.1% in 2017 46.5% got maths numeracy A*-C compared with 46.2 in 2017 44.2% got maths A* to C compared to 46.1% in 2017 Overall proportion achieving A* to C is down 1.2 percentage points to 61.6% Overal proportion achieving A* to G is down 0.5 percentage points to 96.4% Overall proportion achieving A* to A is up 0.6 percentage points to 18.5% 271,761 GCSEs were sat this summer compared with 298,370 in 2017. How those grades compare to England's number grades Last year’s decline in the overall pass rate was blamed partly on early entries, but those have fallen dramatically this year after the Welsh Government announced that from 2019 only a pupil’s first result would go towards school performance indicators. Wales’ two reformed maths exams saw mixed results. Students in Wales can now to take either GCSE mathematics or GCSE Mathematics numeracy or both. This summer the majority took both with a 0.3 per centage point increase in the proportion of students achieving grade A*-C in GCSE mathematics numeracy, but there has been a slight fall, of two percentage points, in the number of students awarded grades A*-C for GCSE mathematics. The WJEC said looking at pass rates for 16-year-olds only the results for English language and both maths exams are stable. This year is the second year of reform for English language, English literature, mathematics, mathematics numeracy, Welsh first language and Welsh literature. Another 15 reformed subjects (taking total to 21) have their results this year, including a new double award in science. For GCSE biology, chemistry and physics entries rose from 400 to 600 candidates. A* - C outcomes for GCSE biology and physics have fallen slightly this year to 88% and 89.4% while A* - C outcomes for GCSE chemistry have remained relatively stable at 89.5%. (Image: PA) The WJEC said: “This change in outcomes can be attributed to the change in entry patterns. “The proportion of students achieving A* grades for each of the separate science subjects has increased, with GCSE biology increasing 1.6 percentage points to 17.4%, GCSE chemistry increasing 0.9 percentage points to 18.2%, and GCSE physics increasing 1.5 percentage points to 18.4%.” The new GCSE science double award, examined for the first time this summer, saw 50.9% students get grades A*-C. The new double award qualification and the separate science qualifications are of the same academic standard, said the WJEC but, the separate science subjects continue to attract the highest proportion of the most able students. Entry patterns also affected English results, the exam board said. For English Literature results dropped slightly to 77.3% of students achieving grades A*-C – compared to around 80.4% last year. The WJEC said this was explained by the increase in entries by 15 year old students. “As widely expected, school entry patterns, where schools in Wales enter the most able students for GCSE English language examinations early, has had a knock-on effect on overall performance in outcomes this summer, with 40.7% of students achieving grades A*-C. “For GCSE English language, the A*- G outcomes are most appropriately reflected by looking at 16-year-olds across the November and summer series which shows relative stability in both entries and outcomes when considered across the full academic year.” For Welsh Language the examiner said withdrawal of the short course GCSE had impacts on second language results but results for GCSE Welsh first language remain broadly similar to last year, with 71.2% achieving grade A*-C; compared to 72% in 2017. There has also been a rise in students achieving A* - in Welsh first language with 4.1% achieving the top grade, an increase of 0.4 percentage points on last year. This year summer saw a 2,500 increase in entries for GCSE Welsh second language full course, and a decrease for GCSE Welsh second language short course, which the exam board said had affected outcomes. Overall 74.8% of students achieved grades A*-C in 2018, compared to 79.8% in 2017.<doc-sep>Sign up to FREE email alerts from Wales Online - The CardiffOnline Newsletter Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Thousands of pupils across Cardiff have celebrated their GCSE results today. Since last year, results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are not directly comparable - with different exams and different grade structures. Across Wales, the percentage of pupils achieving the key pass benchmark of five A* to Cs has fallen for a second year running to 61.6%. There was also a dip in the percentage of exams that achieved an A* to G grade (the bottom grade) - down to 96.4%. You can read our live blog covering results from across Wales here . These are the headline figures showing the overall pass rate is down - but more are getting As and A*s . Cantonian High School (Image: Cantonian High School) Key highlights were: At Cantonian High School in Cardiff 59% of pupils achieved GCSE maths with A* - C grades. 58% of pupils got GCSE English Language with A* - C grades, a 12% point improvement on last year. The percentage of pupils who achieved five GCSEs A* - C has risen again to 61%, whilst the percentage who achieved five A* - G grades has increased slightly to 97%. 73% of pupils secured A* -C in the Skills Challenge Certificate within the Welsh Baccalaureate, whilst the percentage of pupils who achieved five GCSEs including English and maths has held at 46%. Headteacher Diane Gill said: "I am incredibly proud of the achievements of our pupils today. Not only have they achieved some of the highest results under the new key performance indicators introduced last year, they have achieved their own personal targets. This has been possible through their hard work and commitment to their studies during their time at Cantonian and the support from their parents and carers. "I would like to take the opportunity to thank our staff for their hard work and dedication which has enabled Cantonian High School to secure these excellent results." Whitchurch High School (Image: Western Mail Archive) Key highlights were: Over a third of all students achieved five or more A or A* grades, with 39 students topping 10 A or A* grades. Overall results are sustained or improved on last year with over 70% getting at least 5A*C grades with English and maths and 85% of students attaining five GCSE or equivalent qualifications, the best in the school’s history. Retiring headteacher Huw Jones-Williams said: "Congratulations to all our year 11 students on a wonderful set of GCSE results. They and their dedicated hard-working teachers should be so proud as should everyone who has supported our students throughout their school careers. "These results back up last year’s very successful GCSE results following enormous specification changes. They allow me to retire confident in the school’s continued drive for sustained academic excellence. "Our commitment to developing the whole person is of equal importance. We wish all our students every success in the future and look forward to welcoming back the majority in the sixth form." Bishop of Llandaff (Image: Richard Swingler) Key highlights were: 92% students got five or more GCSEs at A*-C 82% of students achieving five or more A*-C including English language and mathematics 43% of students achieved 5 or more A*-A 33% of the year group achieved 9 or A*-A grades across the board. Headteacher, Marc Belli said: “We are very proud of the achievements of all our students today. "It is very rewarding to see students meet and exceed their personal targets to achieve results which will remain with them forever. The results achieved by students today and the stunning A level results last week finish off a very successful year for the school, following our positive inspection visit in the spring. "As ever, I also wish to reaffirm my sincere gratitude and heartfelt praise to the amazing teaching and support staff at school who have helped our students achieve such wonderful outcomes. "They deserve a great deal of credit for the continued success at the school and have worked tirelessly to support the students to achieve so well”. Cathays High School (Image: Adrian White) Key highlights were: 45% of pupils achieved five A*-C grades including English and maths 100% of students achieved five GCSE's A*-G 45% of students achieved five A*-C grades 18% of pupils achieved five A* or As Every pupil left with five GCSE's Best ever maths result, with 58% A*-C and 23.4% A*-A Best science result A*-C in Science 52% Mrs Stephens, headteacher at Cathays High, said she was immensely proud of the pupils achievements. "It's the best ever results we've had," she said. "It's the highest number of pupils to achieve A and A* grades the school has ever had and two pupils had 11A* grades. "We've had the best ever maths and science results and the big thing is every pupil in the school had got 5 or more GCSE grades. "I'm immensely proud of the hard work that all the pupils have put in. "They've worked really hard in the five years here and I'm proud of them all and the teachers who worked over and above to ensure the pupils have got the best results." Cardiff High School (Image: Western Mail) Key highlights were: 88.5% of year 11 students achieved at least five A*-C grades, including English and Maths The same proportion achieved the National Welsh Baccalareate qualification 46% of pupils achieved at least five A* to A grades including English and maths 23 students - 10% of the cohort - achieved at least nine top A* grades No pupil left without at least five qualifications Head teacher Stephen Jones said: "We are absolutely delighted with the outstanding performance of our pupils again this year. As a large comprehensive school we are committed to consistently meeting the needs of every single one of our students. "I want to thank all members of staff for their tireless efforts.<doc-sep>GCSEs: Students react to their exam results top stories direct to your inbox SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up to receive our rundown of the day'sdirect to your inbox When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. GCSE results are being released today, after years of study, exams and coursework students will be able to see if their hard work has paid off. Students up and down the country will be awakening with nervous excitement as they prepare to progress to the next stage in their learning. GCSEs pave the way for students to access the next level of education, through attending college to gain A-Levels. This year grading systems have been given an overhaul, as students are the first to be graded by a numerical system rather than by the traditional A*-G grades. The numerical format is as follows: 9, 8 or 7 is equivalent to an A* or A grade 6, 5 or 4 is equivalent to a B or C grade 3, 2 or 1 is equivalent to a D, E or F grade Students across the country are receiving their GCSE results today GCSE results day: Students find out their grades Fewer top grades will be given this year than previous years. Students gaining a 9 (equivalent to an A*) will be few and far between compared to past students. Can you find out your GCSE results online? The traditional way for students to receive their results is to go to their school and be handed the envelope which reveals how they have done. However, should you be unable to attend you can nominate someone (provided this has been authorised in writing) to pick up your results for you. Students can also have the results posted to their address. However, depending on your school some may be able to access their results via an online portal. This isn’t true of all schools - but some students will have been provided with log in details to see their results. GCSEs have changed this year - with grades 1-9 rather than D-A* The results determine which college courses students move on to<doc-sep>There are always big stories on WalesOnline - don't miss any with our daily email Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign me up now Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Student nurse Joanne Morris has been dreading GCSE results day. Her 16-year-old son Joshua has finished school this year but he won't get any slip of paper with his results, any congratulations or smiling photographs with his friends. Joshua, of Torfaen, has learning disabilities. He has been to five different schools during his education, most recently a specialist school near his home. Although he has studied English, science and independent learning, there were no exams and just coursework. He won't get any indication on whether they have passed or failed. He will go on to Coleg Gwent and hopes to pursue a career in car mechanics and maintenance. But the fact he won't get a GCSE results day sense of satisfaction fills his mum with sadness. See all our stories on GCSEs 2018: These are the headline figures showing the overall pass rate is down - but more are getting As and A*s. These are the Here is Private school headteachers This is Joanne Morris' blog post: (Image: WOL) Thursday is results day for GCSEs and my social media and local newspapers will be flooded with congratulation messages to young people on partaking and achieving their GCSE grades. Local councils will parade pictures of high attaining individuals results and celebrate local schools achievements in children meeting or exceeding their expected academic goals. However this is not the case for every young person, like my son, who is visually not too dissimilar to any other 16 year old. He just happens to have a learning disability. The difference is that unlike his peers he doesn’t have GCSE results to collect tomorrow or anything else for that matter and I think that’s a massive shame. His journey through education has not been atypical or easy as he attended five different schools over his time, each one building on his resilience and skills along the way for which he is deserving of reward and recognition from each and every one. It just isn’t a GCSE certificate! His educational pathway for the past two years has been delivered at an academic level most suitable for him and he, like all other teenagers would have worked very hard during this time. Yet, there is no recognition for him tomorrow and he will not attend school to collect a ‘reward’. The saddest thing, I suppose, is that there is no end game for him unlike his peers and that fills me with feelings of such loss! I knew that this time of his life may be difficult for me as his mum, as feelings of loss remain close by however much I advocate for him that it’s okay to be neuro developmentally different. I hope to empower him to believe that anything is possible in life, not matter how big or small. Despite this, he just wants to be like the others that he was educated alongside in an ‘inclusive’ educational environment, but he’s not going to get that chance and I’m the one who has to explain to him why. It doesn’t sound ‘inclusive’ to me. I believe our one size fits all education system could essentially devalue our young people with learning differences, when the feeling of the “world is your oyster” should be the outcome for every 16 year old. We need to spend more time working on and celebrating individuals ‘capabilities’ and strengths. I feel privileged as a learning disability nursing student to have worked alongside passionate, devoted and empowering professionals on my placement within the child and adolescent learning disability team that have demonstrated strengths based practice that seeks to understand the crucial variables contributing to individual resilience with individual goals that are client driven and relationship focussed. A strengths based approach as a practice draws one away from an emphasis on procedures, techniques and knowledge as the keys to change. My key message to you is that, every person holds the key to their own transformation and meaningful change process. If we are willing to fully embrace this way of working with individuals with learning differences, then the change must start with us, not those we serve. Joanne Morris is a learning disability nursing student<doc-sep>
Students across Rhondda Cynon Taf received their GCSE results on Thursday. Since last year, results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are not directly comparable - with different exams and different grade structures. The percentage of pupils achieving the key pass benchmark of five A* to Cs has fallen for a second year running to 61.6%. There was also a dip in the percentage of exams that achieved an A* to G grade (the bottom grade) - down to 96.4%. You can read our live blog covering results from across Wales here . These are the headline figures showing the overall pass rate is down - but more are getting As and A*s . Results for all the schools in the area have been broken down individually. Aberdare Community School At the school, 97% of pupils achieved five or more GCSEs and nobody left Aberdare Community School without gaining a qualification. There was an improvement in GCSE English and the number of pupils achieving five GCSEs. All BTEC pupils achieved a C grade or above which meant a large number of pupils achieved the grades they needed to progress sixth form and other colleges. Head Teacher Mark Powell said: “I would like to congratulate everyone associated with these results. "Pupils and their teachers have worked assiduously to attain these outcomes and they deserve to be proud. "Well done to all!" Bryn Celynnog Comprehensive School Bryn Celynnog Tweeted saying the school saw a 'fantastic' set of GCSE results. According to the school website, 74.9% achieved five GCSEs at A* to C in all subjects and 67.3% achieved the five GCSEs at A* to C including English and Maths - a new record for the school. Impressively, 23% of students also achieved five A*-A grades. Cardinal Newman RC Comprehensive School According to the school website, 100% of pupils achieved at least five GCSEs with 70% achieving at least five GCSEs including Maths, English and the Welsh Baccalaureate. Among those, 27% of pupils achieved at least five GCSEs at A*/A grade and 16% achieved at least ten at A*/As. Ferndale Community School (Image: Google) Ferndale Community School saw an increase of 10% in the number of pupils achieving five A*-C grades including English and Maths at GSCE. On the schools Facebook page staff paid particular congratulations to a set of pupils who achieved five or more A*/A grades. These students included Luci Draper, Bailey James, Rebecca Jenkins, Harry Kenealy, Kyle McKendley, Lauren Oliver, Ellie Rossiter and Tom Stinton. Head Teacher Emma Clarke said: "We are thrilled with the improvements in our results and would like to thank all pupils, staff, parents and governors for their continued support." Hawthorn High School (Image: Hawthorn High School) No pupil left the school without a qualification and 93% of pupils achieved at least 5A*-G grades. Some 61% achieved at least five GCSE grades A*- C. The percentage of pupils achieving a C grade, or above, increased by 7% in both English and Mathematics. Head Teacher Mr Jason Hicks said: “This is the second best set of results the school has ever achieved and we are immensely proud of the young people who have achieved them. "To see our pupils achieve in this fashion under such intense pressure is delightful and their parents should be very proud of them. "This has been a real team effort between staff, parents, pupils and governors and I would like to thank them all for their hard work and support. "The school continues to move from strength to strength in its efforts to provide health, happiness and success for all the young people in its care. "We look forward to welcoming the majority of Year 11 back to our new Sixth Form partnership where facilities will be the best they have ever been in September.” Ysgol Llanhari (Image: Ysgol Llanhari) At Ysgol Llanhari, 88% of pupils achieved A*-C grades in either Welsh or English or in both languages. There was also an improvement in the number of pupils achieving A*-C in five or more subjects, including Mathematics and a language. In addition to this 100% of pupils succeeded in obtaining a GCSE grade in nine or more subjects. A statement from the school read: "Elan Booth, Joseff Kirkman and Jac Welsh were the highest performers, attaining an array of A* and A grades between them.