Thousands to get GCSE results amid major changes in schools

Thousands of pupils will receive their GCSEs results on Thursday amid major changes to qualifications in Wales.

Year 10 pupils get marks for revamped GCSEs for the first time - a year into courses which have been criticised for placing "extreme pressure" on staff and pupils.

Wales' main exam board, the WJEC, said it had already made changes and was doing "everything that we can" to ensure results were "fair and balanced for all learners".

Pupils will also get results of vocational qualifications and the Welsh Baccalaureate will be awarded for the last time at this level before being replaced with new skills courses.

In 2025 62.5% of pupils achieved A* to C, 0.3 percentage points up on 2024.

Year 11 pupil Yaroslav, who moved to Wales from Ukraine in 2022 with his mother, will be getting his results with his sights set on being an engineer.

"I need to connect my life with engineering and after maybe help my own country," he said.

Yaroslav said support from teachers at Caldicot School in Monmouthshire had been "amazing" as he adjusted and is looking forward to sharing classes with students who are as interested as him in the subjects, as well as continuing to learn Welsh.

"I am a guest and I want to respect the language."

Year 10s are studying new-look qualifications after GCSEs.

Subjects, including maths and numeracy, English language and literature and Cymraeg [Welsh] language and literature, were introduced in September 2025 as part of the reformed Curriculum for Wales.

Many subjects have seen a shift from final exams to class-based assessment and the first pupils to take the courses get Year 10 results on Thursday.

In July, the WJEC said there would be changes to English language and literature, Cymraeg language and literature, core Cymraeg and religious studies GCSEs to address concerns about workload.

Changes will come in for students starting in September but will not affect current Year 10s, who are already halfway through the course.

Miriam, 15, is one of the first to sit the new curriculum, which came in for Year 10s in September and noticed there had been "a big step from Year 9".

She added: "It's been really good, it's been filled with coursework and straight to exams but doing a new course is really exciting.

"At the start of the year we didn't have enough time so we had to start [coursework] straight away. So every lesson we have had has been on coursework or for exams.

"It's definitely been a lot."

With the additional assessments, Miriam said she was already ahead on her Year 11 work.

"In some subjects I have done 50% of the coursework so I'm not too worried because I don't think the work will get any bigger."

Ian Morgan, chief executive of the WJEC, said he had "listened intently to comments from schools and college leaders and put some solutions in place".

He acknowledged challenges around change, but said he felt the new qualifications helped learners "properly demonstrate what they know, what they understand and what they can do".

Morgan added: "I need to be clear that there'll be no learner that would be at a detriment as a result of this being the first iteration of those qualifications."

Overall, he said this summer's results were likely to show "stability in terms of GCSE outcomes for this academic year".

Will, 15, balances his creative and academic interests and wants to study art, geography, biology and religious studies at A-level.

"I'm so happy about GCSEs being over, I didn't enjoy forcing myself to revise for subjects I wasn't interested in."

Will said he spent free time on writing and art, and praised his family for their support.

"I have a loose plan for my career but who knows what will happen," he said.

Not all students want to go on to do A-levels, with some looking for more practical, vocational options.

Lola, 16, wants to do a Level 2 childcare and development course to work in a nursery or become a primary school teacher.

She studied media, textiles and health and social care, and said there had been "lots of stress and meltdowns over exam period", but a "supportive community" at school and home made it easier.

She's excited about the next step: "I think it is going to be really fun. I am really looking forward to it."

All GCSEs offered to 14 to 16-year-olds in Wales have been reviewed and updated, with some new subjects introduced.

Change will continue from September with the introduction of the delayed history and new double science GCSEs.

The original plan was to scrap physics, chemistry and biology as separate courses, but that is on hold until at least 2031.

Brand new courses include dance and digital media and film.

The Vocational Certificate of Secondary Education (VCSE) - aimed at offering more options for students - will be introduced from September 2027 for 14 to 16-year-olds.

Qualifications Wales said it hoped VCSEs would become as recognised as GCSEs and "valued in the same way".

Dr Llinos Jones, head teacher at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin in Carmarthen, said there had been "a substantial amount of change in a relatively short period of time".

"There is particular concern about this year's Year 10 results, as this is the first cohort to sit the new qualifications and we do not have the same level of experience or certainty about what the outcomes will look like."