The gap between rich and poor pupils at GCSE has widened this year along with an increase in the number of “ghost” children missing at least half of school, government figures show.
GCSE results in England fell from last year and are lower than in 2019, the final year of exams before the pandemic.
Only 45 per cent of pupils achieved five good GCSEs this summer, graded at least a 5, down from 49.8 per cent last year when mitigation was still in place because of the impact of Covid. It was slightly higher than the 43.2 per cent in 2019.
