We're wrapping up our live coverage of results day for GCSE and other Level 2 students.

Well done to all of you who got your results today. You can read the round-up of today's news here, and if you're after more content from us, we've got plenty:

• Here's the heart-warming moment a nine-year-old boy in Sheffield finds out his GCSE maths result
• If you didn't quite get the grades you wanted, read this inspirational tale from a shark scientist who left school with three GCSEs
• Not into sharks? Here are more success stories from young people who didn't get the grades they wanted
• And for information on appeals, resits, grade boundaries and more, here's our full guide to results day

Today's live coverage was produced by Alice Evans, Sam Hancock, Adam Durbin, Nathan Standley, Rahib Khan, Hazel Shearing, Liv McMahon and Jamie Moreland.

From all of us here, congratulations, and good luck with your next steps.

Image source, PA Media

We'll be finishing up our live page soon, so here are some key headlines from the day as hundreds of thousands of students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their GCSE and other Level 2 results:

• The proportion of GCSEs marked at grade 4/C or above is 68.2% - down for a second consecutive year and much closer to the 67.3% seen in 2019, the year before the pandemic
• The drop in grades was less severe in Wales and Northern Ireland than in England, due to different approaches to post-Covid exams and grading
• Overall, 26.5% of this year's GCSE grades in England were marked at 7/A or above, but the regional divide is growing - in London, it was 28.4%, while in the North East, it was 17.6%
• And Education Secretary Gillian Keegan defended the government's record on narrowing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and others, but said things had "taken a step back" since Covid

And, in case you were wondering, we've not forgotten Scotland - Scottish students do not take GCSEs and received their SQA results earlier this month.

Image source, Reuters

There has been an 11% rise in pupils studying GCSE Spanish compared to last year, continuing an upward trend putting it on track to overtake French as the most commonly studied foreign language.

Why such an increase?

“It's a popular holiday destination”, says Claire Thomson from the AQA exam board.

She says trips to Spain might mean students relate to the language more and that Spanish is “perceived to be pretty important around the world”.

It may also be seen as easier for some students to pick up than other European languages - as well as being prominent in popular music, films and TV shows.

That being said, students studying French entries have also risen slightly, as have entries for other modern foreign languages.

Andrew Rogers
BBC Newsbeat

Mike, from Peterborough, is one of thousands to be leaving school to start an apprenticeship next year, after landing the results needed to get him on to a business administration apprenticeship.

He says the idea of sixth form was "too stressful" and he's excited at the prospect of getting work experience too.

“I needed five GCSEs, I got more than that. I am over the moon,” he tells me.

And Mike credits his parents with his success - saying they "made sure I was doing that work in lockdown".

Christina McSorley
Education producer

Image source, Gemma Laister

Jawid, an Afghan refugee student, has just passed all of his seven exams - taking him one step closer to pursuing his dream of becoming a lawyer.

After fleeing Afghanistan for the UK when the Taliban took control in 2021, he began his GCSEs at John Smeaton Academy in Leeds.

Jawid says his time studying has been "quite difficult", as he’s been living in a temporary hotel accommodation provided by the government for around two years.

But despite the challenges, Jawid says he has loved his time at the school - praising his "great" teachers and other students who "accepted me as one of their own".

After working hard to improve his English so that he could sit nine GCSEs, he now plans to move to London to study A-levels in law, psychology and business at college.

Like all results days, this one has been emotional for pupils across the UK getting their GCSE grades.

Despite upset for some, in the face of overarching concerns about growing attainment gaps and regional divides, many smiles broke out at schools around England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Rebekah Wilson / BBC

Image source, PA Media

Image source, BBC/Larissa Tairo

Larissa Tairo
Reporting from Hethersett Academy, Norfolk

Like thousands of teenagers, Kieran was anxiously waiting to open up his GCSE grades earlier today.

But he's had a tougher journey than most to get to this point, missing a year of school after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma - a type of cancer - in Year 8.

So he was absolutely delighted to find out he'd got 9s in each subject he wants to study at college - geography, maths and physics - plus an 8 in English.

“I came back to school and then Covid hit for the next year and a half, so it’s been very, very hard - but we've done it,” he says.

Kieran adds that his mum, dad and brother are his biggest supporters and "the strength that pushes me along”.

BBC Bitesize Study Support has published loads of useful guides to help you through today - and your next steps.

Here are just a few:

• Looking after your wellbeing - tips from Dr Radha
• What happens if I'm on holiday on results day?

• What can I do after getting my results?

Rahib Khan
Education reporter

Image source, Dan Nelson

We've just caught up with Euan - who told us this morning about how his school put on a computer science GCSE course, just for him.

He is very proud of himself and says he is shocked after doing "much better than I expected" in passing all his exams - including a 5 in English and a 7 in computer science.

"I am so grateful for all the help and support my school have given me. They have helped me get to where I wanted to," Euan says.

He now plans to do a T-level at college in digital support networking, with the hope of persusing a career in networking and cyber-security.

Drop in passes is steeper in state schools than privatepublished at 15:12 British Summer Time 24 August 2023

15:12 BST 24 August 2023

Hazel Shearing
Education correspondent

Let's have a look at some more data now - and how the performance of students in academies (by far the most common type of state school) compares with those in fee-paying schools.

Overall, 90.1% of GCSEs were graded at 4 and above in independent (that is, fee-paying) schools in England this year, down from 92.6% in 2022. It was 69.4% in academies, down from 74.6%.

That's a 20.7 percentage point gap in the proportion of passes in the two different types of school this year.

That gap narrowed in 2020 and 2021, when exams were cancelled and grades were based on teachers' predictions. Now it's more or less back where it was in 2019.

(Bear in mind that we're talking about pass grades here. The gap in the proportion of top grades grew in 2020 and 2021, but is now slightly smaller than it was before the pandemic.)

Jonelle Awomoyi
Reporting from The Heath School, Runcorn

The nervousness of waiting for his GCSE results had one aspiring engineering student "contemplating life" earlier today.

Nathan says he had been hoping for 6s - but ended up with "nine 8s, some 7s and a six", plus two distinctions and a merit.

The success left him "extremely pleased, shocked and speechless" - on top of being just what he needs to go on to do a T-level in civil engineering at college.

His celebration plans?

"I think I have a cake waiting at home for me."

Completing your GCSEs is worth celebrating no matter what your grades or circumstances - but what about if mainstream education doesn't work for you any more?

For the pupils at one school in Cardiff, getting to the exams marks an even bigger achievement.

Half the students at Bryn y Deryn go there after being excluded, or being at risk of it, while the other half are young people who have stopped going to school because of anxiety or other emotional and mental health reasons.

BBC News was given exclusive access to exam season at the school which is giving these students a second chance.

Liv McMahon
Live reporter

As students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland arrange their next steps after receiving GCSE results today, some have had difficulty accessing the sixth form admissions site, Applicaa.

Hannah Harniess, in London, said she and her daughter have been encountering issues with Applicaa since 9am, when pupils began uploading results to the service.

She said the site would repeatedly crash after placing visitors into queues lasting several minutes, and that her daughter is now queuing at a school to try and secure her place.

“It is a disaster for young people who have already gone through so much,” Hannah said.

Bishop Wordsworth’s school in Wiltshire apologised to pupils trying to confirm places for Applicaa’s “unacceptable performance” on its website , externaland said it has extended its deadline for students until 4pm.

The Blue Coat Sixth Form in Oldham also wrote on X, external, formerly known as Twitter, that it was aware of Applicaa’s “connectivity issues” and told applicants to visit the college in person with their results.

Applicaa said in a post, external this afternoon: "We're incredibly sorry for the system running slowly on the most important day of the year for sixth forms across the country. Our team are working super hard to increase the power."

Image source, Keith Dibble

Keith Dibble was one of many to receive a GCSE result today - but at 68 he was one of the older people to find out how he'd done.

He achieved a Level 7 (about an A) in English language.

The Labour councillor from Aldershot originally left school with one O-level and “a bunch of CSEs”, he told the PA news agency.

"Even though I've been used to attending board meetings and such things, to suddenly go back into the classroom after 50 odd years was quite frightening - but [I was] made to feel at ease," Dibble said.

He enjoyed the class so much that he's signed up to take GCSE maths from September.

Bethan Lewis
Family and education correspondent, BBC Wales

In Wales it’s the same story as last week’s A-level results - grades down on last year, but still higher than in 2019.

GCSE pupils here, like A-level students, had been given some advance information before exams and lower grade boundaries as a buffer to avoid a nasty bump down to pre-pandemic grading.

I asked Education Minister Jeremy Miles, who was here at Welsh-speaking school Ysgol Morgan Llwydin in Wrexham, whether that extra support would be dropped next year.

He told me that is the expectation, but also acknowledged the effects of Covid won’t have disappeared by then.

A more gradual approach to getting back to normal, compared to England, does mean that a significant drop in grades in Wales is likely next year too.

How your region didpublished at 14:01 British Summer Time 24 August 2023

14:01 BST 24 August 2023

We've been doing some number-crunching to figure out how the different areas of England fared in this year's GCSE exams.

Here's the rate of grades awarded at 4/C or above this year, showing that London and southern English regions outperformed those in the east, north and Midlands.

• London: 72.6%
• South-east: 70.7%
• South-west: 69.2%
• East: 68.6%
• East Midlands: 65.8%
• North-east: 65.3%
• North-west: 64.8%
• Yorkshire and the Humber: 64.4%
• West Midlands: 63.9%

Broken down by the three UK nations that use GCSEs, the average pass rate across England is 67.8%, in Wales it's 64.9% and 86.8% in Northern Ireland.

We're continuing to hear expert commentary about the regional divide shown by today's GCSE results.

The Sutton Trust, for instance, has been comparing pupils' performance in northern England to London.

"Despite a noticeable improvement in the North East compared to 2019, it is still the region with the lowest proportion of top grades," Peter Lampl, the educational charity's founder says.

Meanwhile, he adds, "London continues to outperform the rest of the country".

• Our education correspondent Hazel Shearing looked at the divide a little earlier, which you can catch up on here

Christina McSorley
Education producer

Amy, from Norwich, completed only half of the GCSE exams she’d planned to this year, due to having long Covid.

She was given special support so that she could do some exams at home, including having an invigilator come to her home to help her to get through the papers.

“I did my maths GCSE in my pyjamas because it obviously takes energy getting dressed,” Amy tells me.

Doing the exams at home allowed her to take breaks - and sometimes naps - if she needed to.

Image source, Dan Nelson

Since developing long Covid last year, everyday activities have become difficult for Amy - she used to love reading but hasn’t been able to properly since she got ill. In her English language exam, the fatigue was too much to overcome.

"You have good and bad days when you’ve got chronic fatigue and long Covid, and I just couldn’t do it," she says.

Unfortunately Amy didn't pass her maths GCSE, so she'll be among the students due to sit a compulsory resit.

Disadvantaged children more likely to miss schoolpublished at 13:14 British Summer Time 24 August 2023

13:14 BST 24 August 2023

Hazel Shearing
Education correspondent

In an interview with the BBC earlier - some of which you can see in our last post - Education Secretary Gillian Keegan defended the government’s record in offering help for students who missed learning due to the pandemic.

One of the lasting impacts of Covid, though, is that the number of pupils regularly missing school in England is still higher than it was before - and they are more likely to be from lower income backgrounds., external

It's estimated that 28.3% of pupils were persistently absent this year - meaning they missed 10% or more of school.

The Education Select Committee has launched an inquiry, external into links between absence and things like economic disadvantage and special educational needs and disabilities.

We spoke to the education secretary earlier, who joined students at Paddington Academy in London as they opened their results.

Gillian Keegan initially played down suggestions that the attainment gap - that is, the gap in grades - was growing between disadvantaged students and others.

But she later admitted any progress made to bringing down that gap had "taken a step back" in recent years.

In a message to any of you who might be disappointed with your grades today, Keegan said this is just "one moment".

"There's many different destinations, there's many different options for you," she adds.

Watch more of what she had to say in the clip below.