BBC Bitesize

For parents and carers, it can be hard to know what to say to your child on results day.

From worries to not getting the desired results and supporting your child, Bitesize Parenting has spoken to educational psychologist Professor David Putwain for his advice.

Putwain, a professor of education and early childhood studies at Liverpool John Moores University, says: "Let your children know that you’re available to help and plan options for what to do if they didn’t receive the grades they’d hoped for.

"Remember that education, and the pressures on children, are very different to what they were 20 or 30 years ago. It’s best to avoid a ‘what worked for me’ approach. Let your child lead.

"Schedule something nice for after results (before or after they’ve celebrated with friends) to acknowledge their achievement - whatever it was."

• Read more from David Putwain on BBC Bitesize here

We've been reporting from Lees Brook Academy in Derby, where students were surprised by a confetti cannon as they arrived to collect their results.

Year 11 student Olivia tells the BBC: "It’s really exciting. I’m really happy with what I got - nines, eights and sevens."

She's thrilled to be heading off to sixth form. Her mum is chuffed too - she describes today as a "special moment for the whole family".

A fellow student says he's pleased he got the results needed to qualify for an apprenticeship, which he describes as “getting the hands-on work, as well as doing the education you need".

Image source, Reuters

Earlier we heard from Education Secretary Lucy Powell that the government is introducing a new "stepping stone" qualification - between GCSEs and further studies - to break the resit cycle.

She's also been talking about this with BBC Radio 4's Today programme - and says it's not right that students resitting and struggling to pass maths and English are being branded as "failures" and thrown "to the scrap heap".

Powell says introducing a level one qualification for the subjects is not "lowering standards" for academic excellence.

She adds: "I profoundly reject the suggestion that a technical or vocational qualification is somehow for not-so-clever kids, or is a lower standard or expectation."

Patrick McCabe, 16, has cerebral palsy and completed all seven of his GCSEs in the space of five months using eye-gaze technology.

He was inspired to sit the exams after seeing former Leeds Rhinos player Rob Burrow appear on CBeebies' Bedtime Stories in 2022.

Burrow was the first non-verbal person to read the nightly bedtime story, using the same technology Patrick would later use to complete his exams.

Burrow died of motor neurone disease in 2024, aged 41.

Patrick, who describes himself as "hard-working, resilient and a little bit cheeky", says the process was challenging: "I wasn't able to write my workings out, so I had to do them in my head which was very difficult."

Bethan Lewis
BBC Wales family and education correspondent

Image source, Yaroslav

Year 11 pupil Yaroslav, who moved to Wales from Ukraine in 2022 with his mother, is among those getting his results this morning.

He has his sights set on becoming an engineer to "help my own country".

He says the support he received from teachers at Caldicot School in Monmouthshire has been "amazing", adding that he is looking forward to continuing to learn Welsh.

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

Vanessa Clarke
Senior education reporter

We've been following 16-year-old Sophia, from Derby, during the exam period this summer.

She was really nervous about getting her English language grade, but has just found out she's passed and is delighted.

She says she is "very shocked" as she worried she might have had to resit, and says she "can't believe it".

It means she can go on to do an apprenticeship in childcare.

She's hoping to celebrate with a meal out later with her mum Serena and dad Michael, who say they're very proud and "always believed she would pass".

Image source, Reuters

Prime Minister Andy Burnham says students receiving their GCSE results today should be "proud of the work that got you here".

"Whatever your results, remember there isn’t just one route to success," he writes on X.

He says his government is creating "more opportunities" for young people to choose the "path that's right for them, whether that's academic or technical".

"Every young person should have the chance to fulfil their potential," he adds. "I’ll make sure they do."

Zhara Simpson
BBC South West

Image source, Oscar

Aspiring engineer Oscar says he’s feeling excited but "a little nervous" ahead of collecting his GCSE results this morning.

The South Devon University Technical College student, from Ivybridge, says his college offers education in core subjects as well as a specialist technical route in either engineering or health science.

"It's essentially the same as a regular GCSE, but on top of exams you will have practical work teaching you the subject you're trying to learn," says Oscar.

Mum Vicky says Oscar and the college put in so much effort and she's glad results day is finally here after a long wait.

"There's a lot of opportunities in the South West for engineering so it feels like the right place to have started that journey," she adds.

Bethan Lewis
BBC Wales family and education correspondent

Thousands of pupils are receiving their GCSEs 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 for 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.

Emily Doughty
Reporting from Lees Brook Academy in Derby

The confetti cannon went off at this school in Derby at exactly 08:00 as students started to pick up their results.

Instant reactions are ones of cheers and laughter, and there are lots of happy tears too.

Gem O'Reilly
Reporting from Lift Bexleyheath, south London

The atmosphere here is one of excitement and anxiety as the teachers set up for pupils arriving at 08:30 BST to retrieve their results.

Lift Bexleyheath got 62% of grades 4 and above last year for GCSEs but this year they know they’ve surpassed that.

And the teachers have been working hard to prepare the pupils not just for their results, but future-proofing them.

Rubeka Luthfa, the principal here, says it’s important to make sure all the students are supported and their next steps are “secured from the point they leave the gate”.

“They have a range of different options to make that decision about what they’d like to specialise in the future. For example we’ve introduced cyber security as our sixth form offer."

Students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are starting to open the envelopes containing their GCSE, BTec and Cambridge results.

We have reporters at schools and colleges around the country, stay with us and we’ll bring you all that reaction.

We'll also have practical advice for you if your results did - or didn't - go how you wanted them to.

Good luck!

More now from Lucy Powell, who tells BBC Breakfast that the government is looking at changing the current system around resits for English and maths qualifications.

Currently, in England, if a pupil doesn't get a passing grade in GCSE maths and English the first time around, they need to keep studying for them alongside their following courses, such as A-levels or T-levels.

But the education secretary tells the BBC this is "one of the barriers" that is stopping pupils going further, as only one in every five pupils who resits English and maths is passing them.

"It's knocking their confidence, it's not giving them the passport they need," she explains.

As a result, Powell says the government wants to introduce a new "pathway qualification" at level one - below GCSEs which are level two.

"That would be a sufficient gateway to get onto the next path," Powell adds.

The education secretary says she's hoping to bring in this change by 2028, though admits this is ambitious as "qualification reform takes some time" and employers need to recognise this is a "good qualification".

In just 10 minutes, students will begin tearing open envelopes and finding out their GCSE, BTec or Cambridge National results.

Schools and colleges in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will now be filling up as the anxious wait to see how they’ve done comes to an end.

Some will be excited, others will be nervous. A few may feel both these things.

And for the first time, students across England will be able to access their exam results via an app from 11:00 BST.

Stay with us and we'll bring you the latest.

Education secretary Lucy Powell says she's hoping her own daughter receives the GCSE results she's after this morning.

Asked if she will be with her daughter for the big moment, Powell tells BBC Breakfast that she cannot because she's on the show.

"As usual it's a parenting failure on my part," she jokes.

"But it's an exciting day for young people who have worked really hard, and for their teachers and families who have supported them," she adds.

Powell says she feels that the stakes of GCSEs are higher than when she took them, adding that she wants young people to "be able to feel they have a passport, a gateway, a pathway" to that "next stage".

Emily Doughty
Reporting from Lees Brook Academy in Derby

Students are starting to arrive here in Derby, preparing to open their results at 08:00.

Although they say they aren’t nervous, friends James and Noah both claim the other is showing nerves.

“You speak a lot when you're nervous,” James says to Noah. “And you're speaking a lot now.”

James's mum Helen is here for emotional support, but says she is more nervous than both the boys.

She tells me she's the one who's in need of emotional support right now.

Pre-results nerves are very common and can manifest in all sorts of different ways: sleepless nights, short tempers, loss of appetite, nausea, anxiety; the lot.

First of all, it's important to remember that you're not alone. Thousands of students around the country are probably feeling the same way.

While you might not be able to get rid of these feelings entirely, there are ways to manage them. Here are a few tips from the NHS to help you decompress:

• Focus on calming, long, slow and deep breaths. Count to five as you inhale and exhale
• Go outside, breathe in the fresh air, and get a change of environment
• Engage your senses to ground you. What can you see, touch, hear, taste and smell?
• Listen to music
• Talking through your feelings can help you make sense of them in your head and make them clearer

Image source, Getty Images

Last year the GCSE pass rate - results at a grade 4/C or above - was 67.4% across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, very slightly down on the 67.6% seen in 2024.

Here are they key takeaways from 2025:

• The pass rate actually rose in Wales (from 62.2% to 62.5%) and Northern Ireland (from 82.7% to 83.5%), while England saw a drop from 67.4% to 67.1%
• The percentage of all top grades, marked at 7/A or above, rose very slightly from 21.8% to 21.9%
• The gap between boys' and girls' pass rates across all three nations narrowed to its lowest on record, with a difference of 6.1 percentage points in 2025, down from 6.7 the previous year

In Scotland, pupils typically do not sit GCSEs, but take National 5 qualifications - the results of which were released earlier this month.

Our panel of experts will be on hand throughout the day to answer your questions on anything you're unsure of.

You can share your experiences with us in the following ways:

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