To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students in England achieved a GCSE grade (a) C, (b) D and (c) E as their highest grade in each of the last five years.

The number of students achieving a GCSE grade (a) C, (b) D and (c) E as their highest grade in each of the last five years[1] is provided below:

Source Key Stage 4 attainment data.

[1] Figures are based on final data.

[2] From 2010/11, discounting has been applied where pupils have taken the same subject more than once and only one entry is counted in these circumstances. Only the first entry is counted, in all subjects, in line with the early entry guidance.

[3] In 2013/14, two major reforms were implemented which affect the calculation of key stage 4 performance measures data: 1) Professor Alison Wolf’s Review of Vocational Education recommendations which: restrict the qualifications counted; prevent any qualification from counting as larger than one GCSE; and cap the number of non-GCSEs included in performance measures at two per pupil, and 2) an early entry policy to only count a pupil’s first attempt at a qualification, in subjects counted in the English Baccalaureate. Consequently, the numbers supplied prior to 2013/14 are not comparable with those from 2013/14 onwards.

[4] In 2014/15, early entry policy, under which only a pupil’s first attempt at a qualification is counted in performance measures, was extended to all subjects.