GCSE & Year 11 Results 2026: What next?

Schools across the UK have now received their Year 11 GCSE and Level 1/Level 2 BTEC results.

So, as I do each year, I thought it would be helpful to bring together some useful links and resources for teachers, subject leaders, data leads and senior leaders analysing their Year 11 results.

The important bit is not just knowing what students achieved.

It is understanding why, for whom, where the gaps are and, most importantly, what we do next.

Start with your exam boards

• JCQ National Results and Subject Data
  https://www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/
• AQA – Data Insights
  https://www.aqa.org.uk/data-insights
  AQA’s old Enhanced Results Analysis (ERA) has been replaced by Data Insights, allowing schools to explore performance by subject, class, student, question, topic and assessment objective.
• Pearson Edexcel – ResultsPlus
  https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/support/Services/ResultsPlus.html
  Particularly useful if you also have Year 11 BTEC results, alongside GCSEs.
• OCR – Active Results
  https://www.ocr.org.uk/administration/support-and-tools/active-results/
• WJEC – Results and Grade Boundaries
  https://www.wjec.co.uk/home/administration/results-grade-boundaries-and-prs/

National GCSE data and analysis

Now that the 2026 results are out, there is already plenty of national data available to help put your own Year 11 GCSE results into context.

• Ofqual – Qualification Results in England, Summer 2026
  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/qualification-results-in-england-summer-2026/qualification-results-in-england-summer-2026
• Schools Week – GCSE Results Day 2026: 6 key trends from this year’s data
  https://schoolsweek.co.uk/gcse-results-day-2026-6-key-trends-from-this-years-data/
• Ofqual Analytics
  https://analytics.ofqual.gov.uk/
• JCQ Examination Results
  https://www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/
• National GCSE performance figures, including previous years and gender analysis
  http://www.bstubbs.co.uk/a-lev.htm
• FFT Education Datalab
  https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/
• TES GCSE Results Analysis
  https://www.tes.com/magazine/
• DfE Education Hub
  https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/

GCSE Grade Boundaries & Exam Board Details – Summer 2026

A special shout out to the late Dawn Cox, who used to spend hours of her own time every year creating and updating an incredibly useful document bringing together GCSE grade boundaries and exam board information.

Dawn sadly passed away, but I have continued updating this resource for you all.

GCSE Grade Boundaries and Exam Board Details – Summer 2026
Updated as information is released.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ijhu8Gt0N44iGRkIQGkbjI4-ug_hAWXa5P1hNKBTbxk/edit?tab=t.0

It brings together useful links for the main exam boards, including:

• GCSE grade boundaries
• Raw mark boundaries
• Component/notional boundaries
• Results statistics
• Access to scripts
• Post-results information
• Previous results and archives

Thank you once again, Dawn, for the time, generosity and selflessness you gave to others. I hope continuing to update and share this resource keeps a small part of that contribution going.

But what do you actually DO with the data?

Different schools use different templates and systems to analyse their Year 11 results.

The danger is producing lots of spreadsheets, percentages and RAG-rated tables without actually changing anything.

I wrote about using exam wrappers to move the conversation from:

What were the results?

to:

What can we learn from them?

You can read that here:

When analysing Year 11 results, I would be looking at things such as:

• Overall attainment and progress
• Grade distributions
• Performance against national figures
• Subject and qualification trends
• Question and topic-level performance
• Differences between classes
• SEND
• Disadvantage
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Prior attainment
• Attendance
• Students close to key grade boundaries
• Unexpected overperformance and underperformance
• Curriculum areas that appear particularly strong or weak
• Whether students achieved the grades or qualifications needed for their next steps

And then the most important question:

What are we going to do differently because of what we have learned?

Something to consider…

National averages are useful.

But they are only a starting point.

If our analysis stops at “we were above national” or “we were below national”, we risk missing the students hidden underneath the headline figure.

Who did well?

Who didn’t?

Which groups improved?

Which didn’t?

Who exceeded what we expected?

Who didn’t get the outcomes they needed for their next step?

Are there patterns around SEND, disadvantage, ethnicity, gender, attendance or prior attainment that the overall figure hides?

And are we prepared to ask why?

Equity-driven analysis means being willing to surface the uncomfortable truths about who is, and who isn’t, sharing in our success.

The purpose of analysing Year 11 results isn’t to produce a better spreadsheet.

It is to produce a better response for the students who come next.