GCSE results released on Thursday show that 17.7% of North East entries achieved a grade 7 or above this year, the lowest rate in England and down slightly by 0.1% from 2025. This figure remains above the pre-pandemic 2019 rate of 16.4%.
In London, 28.6% of entries received the highest grades this year, meaning the gap between the two regions now stands at 10.9 percentage points – the largest since comparable data began in 2010.
Improvement at grade 4 level
There was a narrowing of the divide to London in terms of GCSE entries awarded grade 4 or above. That figure rose from 64.9% to 65.2% for the North East, reducing the gap to London to 6.5 percentage points.
The North East also outperformed the West Midlands, the North West, Yorkshire & the Humber, the East Midlands, and Wales for entries achieving a grade 4 or above.
Charity and expert reactions
Education charity Schools North East said the improvement at grade 4 level should be recognised, alongside the significant work by schools to help rebuild learning after Covid-19 disruption, but that the growing gap to London in top grades remains concerning.
Schools North East director Chris Zarraga said: “The movement each year might look relatively small, but the important point is its persistence. Year after year, this divide remains; and is then reflected in student destinations, employment rates, and HE progression rates. We have to understand what these figures are telling us.
“There is not a North-South divide in the quality of schools, nor in the talent, potential or aspirations of young people. There is a structural divide in the circumstances and opportunities surrounding them. The regional results table is a map of that divide, not a map of school quality.
“Schools in the North East are working incredibly hard to overcome those circumstances. But schools cannot independently fix poverty, stretched public services, shortages in SEND support, transport barriers, unequal access to enrichment or very different local economic opportunities.
“These inequalities are neither inevitable nor acceptable. The government needs to treat them as a system challenge and address the conditions around schools as well as what happens inside them. Results day should reflect young people’s potential and hard work, not the structural advantages or disadvantages of their postcode.”
Regional and government initiatives
Further analysis of Thursday’s results shows that Gateshead achieved the tenth highest increase in pupils getting grade 4 and above, up 5.3 percentage points from 2019 to 2026. Sunderland, Newcastle and North Tyneside also rank in the top 30 in the country on that metric.
Earlier this year, the government announced the launch of a new Mission North East education programme, promising a targeted effort to improve school performance in the region, hoping to repeat the success of the London Challenge introduced in 2003.
Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “Behind these regional figures sits an even more serious problem. Children experiencing persistent long-term disadvantage have fallen further behind their peers since the pandemic, and many of those children are concentrated in communities across the North. Unless that is addressed directly, these regional gaps will keep reproducing themselves year after year.
“The new Education Secretary has made clear that young people who have not reached Grade 4 in English and Maths should have a better route to making progress, rather than being trapped on a treadmill of failure. However, we need to reduce the over-representation of the most disadvantaged among those missing this achievement at age 16.
“The Budget later this year now needs to turn that commitment into urgent action, including reform of the Pupil Premium so it better reflects persistent long-term disadvantage and directs more support towards children who have experienced it for the longest. We cannot afford to see another cohort of young people held back by inequalities we already know how to address.”
