Surrey success as 18.5% get 8 or above in GCSEs

Pupils at the Magna Carta School in Staines are among those collecting results on Thursday

Pupils across Surrey have been opening their GCSE results, with 18.5% celebrating a grade 8 or above, according to exam watchdog Ofqual.

This figure is a slight dip on the 8 and above score rate of 18.6% in 2024.

The GCSE pass rate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has fallen by 0.2% with 67.4% of grades at a 4, or C, and above.

However in Surrey, pupils exceeded this, with 76.9% achieving a pass marked at this level or above.

Pupils at Magna Carta School, Staines, were among those tentatively opening those results envelopes earlier.

Josh, 16, achieved mostly 8s and 9s.

He told BBC Surrey: "It was a lot of hours at the local university library but the work was put in and I think it paid off."

His advice to those sitting exams in future was: "It's a long marathon so don't burn out too quickly, take it slow and put the work in throughout the year."

GCSE grades in England have been graded with numbers since 2018.

You can find out what the numerical scores are equivalent to in the old grading system here.

(L-R) Isabella, Max and Josh are all celebrating positive results with freebies from a local restaurant

Meanwhile, fellow pupil Isabella, 16, said studying was "a lot of hard work".

"I'm now going to go to college and go and do Maths, Politics, Economics, Biology, Portugese and EPQ."

Isabella's mother, Hannah, said it been "stressful" but Isabella had worked "really, really hard".

She said she had tried to help by "dragging that GCSE knowledge" out of her brain.

"The internet has been my friend," she added.

Charlie, 16, said a good night's sleep and a decent breakfast helped him achieve GCSE success

It's not all about intense revision schedules though.

Charlie, 16, said general wellbeing was also key to his success.

"Revision every night before the GCSEs, make sure you sleep well and a good breakfast in the morning helped me too.

"I got everything I wanted. In History I got a 9, which is good because I'm trying to take it at A-level."

'Resilient and inspirational'

Elsewhere, in Reigate, students at Reigate Grammar School were reportedly celebrating their "most successful results day ever".

The school announced 90% of all grades were awarded a 7 or above, with nearly 75% at the very top grades of 8 or 9.

Headteacher Shaun Fenton OBE described the results as "astonishing" and described pupils as "a community of young people who are kind, creative, resilient and inspirational".

Surrey students achieved the highest pass rate (scores of 4 or above- equivalent to the old C grade) across the South East (76.9%), when compared with Kent (68%), East Sussex (67.8%), and West Sussex (68.1%).