A private school head teacher has said the impact of this year's grading issues will "last a generation" and compared it to the post-World War Two education system.

Gavin Horgan, from Millfield School in Somerset, said students "absolutely deserve" the best grades possible under the circumstances and said there had been a "shameful approach" taken earlier by the government and exam boards.

"However, bigger hurdles are ahead," he said. "The results received by students and the hiatus in education for many across the country, means that we will have legacy issues which will, in all likelihood, last a generation."

He said pressure on university places, the financial risk to some universities who will lose students as more achieve their first-choice places, and the knock-on implications of grade inflation on students competing for places next year "cannot simply be written off in the same way that results have been this year".

Schools Minister Nick Gibb offered his congratulations to the 2020 GCSE and BTec students but said he was sorry for “the pain, the anxiety and the uncertainty” caused by “grading issues”.

He said the government is doing “everything we can to put these matters right”.

Image source, PA Media

This time last week, the focus was on A-level results.

Now, the UK government has agreed, external to lift the cap on the number of places to study medicine, dentistry and veterinary science at university.

It comes after warnings from universities that there would not be enough places for all the students who had got the grades to get in. You can read more about the issue and the cap on university places here.

The government has also announced that all students who get the required A-level grades will get a place at their first choice university. If there's no space on their preferred course, they might be offered a place on another course or made to defer.

Some universities had already made that their policy, telling students that everyone with the grades would get in - but they might have to start next year.

"I am delighted that the government and the higher education sector have agreed that all students who achieved the required grades will be offered a place at their first choice university," said universities minister Michelle Donelan.

"I want universities to do all they can to take them on this year or offer alternative courses or deferred places where required."

On lifting the cap, she added: "This pandemic has highlighted more than ever the importance of our fantastic healthcare services and the need to invest in them.

"So I am pleased we are removing the cap on these courses and providing additional funding so more students can take up their places now and become our future doctors and healthcare professionals."

Helen Catt
Political correspondent

The focus for the Department for Education right now is fixing the issue the exam results have thrown up.

Don't expect the wider scrutiny to stop any time soon, though.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is due before the education select committee in mid-September, but efforts are likely to be made as soon as Parliament returns to get some of the major players in front of MPs well before then.

A Welsh pupil says she was worried her future would be in jeopardy after the chaos over this year's A-level and GCSE results.

Caitlyn, from Ysgol y Creuddyn, in Penrhyn Bay, Conwy county, was among those picking up their GCSE results today.

"I've got the necessary results to do A-levels and I'm very pleased," Caitlyn said.

But after seeing the row over downgraded A-levels last week, she had been worried for her future.

"Of course I've been very nervous to get my results already, but hearing what happened to A-level students, it just made me feel worse because I thought 'what if this messes up my future'."

Her classmate Miriam also felt nervous after seeing what happened with A-levels.

"It's been hard- I didn't expect to get good results after everything that happened with A-levels," she explained.

"I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do some courses for A-level but I hoped that i had passed everything - I'm happy now."

Overall GCSE results are significantly higher in Wales now that some grades will not have been lowered.

We've heard a lot about algorithms in the last week - after the government's original plan for exam boards to moderate grades with an algorithm was criticised.

They later made a U-turn, scrapping the algorithm and instead allowing grades to be based on the predicted grades given by teachers.

There are many examples of algorithms making big decisions about our lives, without us necessarily knowing how or when they do it. You can read more about them here, or the video above explains what an algorithm actually is.

Image source, PA Media

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson should "reflect on what happened", the leader of the Scottish Conservatives has said.

Douglas Ross refused to back his party colleague in Westminster.

He suggested the UK government should have acted quicker after seeing similar problems with the moderation technique in Scotland. Students in Scotland received their results earlier than the rest of the UK.

"I think Gavin Williamson and the government and the Department for Education will be reflecting on why did they not see the problem that the SNP had to deal with as a result of their actions in Scotland," Mr Ross told BBC Radio Scotland.

Asked whether Mr Williamson should quit, Mr Ross said: "That is a decision for Gavin Williamson.

"It's a decision for the prime minister, if he continues to have the trust of the prime minister.

"I'm not here to say in your report that I think Gavin Williamson has done a great job and he should continue.

"I think he has to reflect on what happened to so many pupils in England, students who were concerned for four days, because we had the exact same up here in Scotland for a week."

Students at a school in Bexleyheath, London, have been describing how they feel about the changes to how their GCSEs will be graded, and the delay in getting their BTec results.

It was announced last night that all BTec results are going to be regraded. Meanwhile, GCSE results will be based entirely on predicted grades given by teachers.

"I just find it quite unfair that we're not getting the results on the day when we've had a lot of time to get the results and they've had a lot of time to prepare them," says one student, Evie.

"It's a bit late to say 'oh, you're not getting them', because it does make you really nervous and anxious."

Vicki Young
Chief Political Correspondent

Nick Gibb is making a distinction between the overall model designed to avoid grade inflation and its flawed implementation.

“The model was a good model, and we continued to refine it," Mr Gibb said earlier, defending the government's approach to grading.

"It became clear that there were some results that were being published on Thursday and Friday that were just not right and they were not what the model had intended."

This distinction matters because ministers are responsible for the overall model, and Ofqual devised the implementation. But that doesn’t let ministers off the hook.

Plenty of people were flagging up concerns weeks ago and many Tory MPs think Gavin Williamson should have seen the problems coming.

GCSE results in Wales are up significantly on last year after a decision to base them on teachers' assessments.

Qualifications Wales estimated almost three-quarters of grades awarded were A* to C, with over a quarter A* and A grades - up from 18.4% last year.

The proportion of pupils receiving A*-A and A*-C grades is higher in 2020 than it has been in any previous year.

Wales' Education Minister Kirsty Williams has apologised to young people for the turmoil of this year's results process.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has congratulated all the students receiving their GCSE results today, saying they helped save peoples' lives.

"I know the last few months have been tough and this isn't how you imagined you would be finishing Year 11, but you can be proud of how you helped to keep the virus under control," he said in a tweet.

"You have literally saved lives through staying at home and keeping distance from others.

"Thank you for protecting yourselves, your families and your communities this year. And once again – congratulations and well done!"

Image source, Reuters

The attainment gap between pupils who are and are not eligible for free school meals in Wales is narrower this year, compared to previous years.

Of those eligible, 54.9% received grades A-C, an attainment gap of 24.1% - compared to 27% in 2019.

But at the top marks, the attainment gap widened - 11% of pupils on free school meals received an A grade, a gap of 17.7% compared to 14.5% in 2019.

Geoff Barton, head of the ASCL head teachers' union, congratulated students for their results under "extraordinarily difficult circumstances".

"This generation of young people has suffered a degree of uncertainty and disruption that is without precedent," he said.

"They lost out on the normal rites of passage of leaving school, and on the chance to show what they could do in a set of exams."

He said they also faced a week of anxiety after the row over A-level results, waiting "to see if they were going to lose out again because a computer algorithm might downgrade them" before the government's U-turn.

"It definitely did scare me," said Nicole, from Carrickfergus Academy in County Antrim, of the chaos surrounding exam results this year.

But she says she's "very happy" with her results - which includes lots of As and Bs and an A*.

"It was definitely a relief to get them today compared to the build-up with the tension surrounding them," she says.

Fellow pupil Enya, who hopes to pursue a career in law, says she is "absolutely pleased with my results that I've achieved today", after what she said was a "stressful" week.

"It was absolutely amazing getting them today and that's it over and done with.

"I received As and Bs this year so I'm very very pleased with myself.

"I'm just excited that I can get back into school."

The school's principal, Dr Paula Downing, added; "Compared to last Thursday we're much happier to where we are this week."

Since about a third of her students awaiting results today also take BTecs, so there was "a little bit of frustration" at the decision to pull those results last night.

Image source, Getty Images

Last night, the exam board Pearson announced that it would regrade BTecs in line with the changes to GCSE and A-levels.

It came just hours before 200,000 students were due to receive their BTec results this morning. A further quarter of million students had already received BTec grades last week.

One BTec student, Daniel from Woking, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he was confused why the exam board "would even think to intervene in the first place and not leave it to the teachers".

Asked about the BTec chaos, schools minister Nick Gibb said he understood the reason that the exam board Pearson decided to pull the grades last night.

"These BTecs are not affected by the same standardisation process as GCSEs and A-levels," he said.

"They are based on marks by coursework of the teachers. That's why we didn't feel you needed to make an adjustments initially to the BTecs because they weren’t based on teacher assessment

"But the feedback that Pearson had been receiving since Monday, was that given that there was gong to be an uplift in the grades at GCSE and A-level, it was only fair that there was some form of uplift on the BTec qualifications and that's why the exam boards wants to look again at the grading of the BTec exam and that has led to the delay."

Earlier, Mr Gibb told BBC Breakfast he was hopeful that students will get their BTec results next week.

Students at Mary Immaculate High School in Cardiff have been telling BBC Breakfast how they feel about the results - and the unusual process that led to them this year.

"It’s been very stressful, with the ever-changing algorithms that we’ve had to suffer this week," said James, who has achieved the grades to pursue his goal of studying to be a doctor.

Liam, who wants to follow a career in drama said: "I’m happy the U-turn took place and we’ve got what our teachers believed we deserve and what I believe we deserve."

Beatrice, who said she'd been awarded an A*, five As and five Bs under the letter grades still used in Wales, said: "I’m very proud of myself, I feel like the grades I got I did deserve because I did work hard."

Head teacher Huw James Powell said the message to government after this year's results was "trust our teachers".

"They know exactly how good our youngsters are and the results they give are accurate and fair," he said.

Read more from Wales here.

The key subjects of English and maths saw steep grade rises in GCSE results in England this year, under the centre-assessed grades used in the absence of exams.

In English more than four in five candidates (80.2%) got a grade 4 - or pass grade - compared with 70.5% last year.

And almost a quarter (23.5%) got a top grade 7 or higher compared with 17.4% last year.

In maths almost four in five passed (77.2%) and 24.3% got grade 7 or higher, compared with 71.5% and 20.4% respectively last year.

Read our full story here.

Official results show that 78.8% of GCSEs in England were graded 4 or better – the pass rate under the grading system introduced in 2017.

It's an increase of nine percentage points on last year, when 69.9% of pupils achieved the passing grade.

At the top grades, there was also an increase, with 27.6% of entries being awarded a 7 or above – equivalent to an A or A* under the old grading system.

In 2019, only 21.9% of entries achieved these grades, resulting in an increase of 5.7 percentage points.

Ofqual are clear that the two years are not comparable, however.