Students across Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire are collecting their GCSE results this morning, with grades in Wales holding almost exactly where they were last year.
62.3% of GCSE grades were A* to C, exam board WJEC said, down from 62.5% in 2025. 19.6% of grades were A* or A, up from 19.5%, and 96.8% of entries achieved A* to G, down from 96.9%.
That is a steadier picture than last Thursday’s A level results, when the Wales pass rate, the A* rate and the share of A* and A grades all rose, and Wales finished ahead of England on top grades.
Today also brings Level 1 and 2 vocational results and the last awards of the Welsh Baccalaureate at this level, with 93.0% of candidates passing the National or Foundation Welsh Baccalaureate and 98.2% achieving the Skills Challenge Certificate, according to WJEC.
“Your results do not define your future”
Anna Brychan, Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, spent the morning with students at Llanishen High School in Cardiff.
“I want to congratulate everyone getting their results today,” she said. “This marks an important point in a young person’s life, but your results do not define your future. Whatever your results there are many opportunities available for you, whether you are heading into further education, apprenticeships or employment.”
She thanked teachers and education staff for their “dedication and support”, and told students: “I wish you pob lwc in what you choose to do next.”
Ian Morgan, chief executive of WJEC, said the results reflected “the hard work, determination, and resilience” students had shown, and thanked teachers, exams officers, support staff and parents.
The first grades from the new GCSEs
Behind the Year 11 figures sits a second set of results being watched closely in schools. Year 10 pupils are today getting their first grades from the reformed GCSEs introduced in September 2025 under the new Curriculum for Wales, including maths and numeracy, English and Cymraeg language and literature.
Many of the new courses shift weight from final exams to classroom assessment, and the pace of the change has been criticised by school leaders. Dr Llinos Jones, head teacher at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin in Carmarthen, said this week there had been “a substantial amount of change in a relatively short period of time”, and that schools did not have “the same level of experience or certainty about what the outcomes will look like” for this first cohort.
WJEC has already agreed changes to the English, Cymraeg, core Cymraeg and religious studies GCSEs to ease workload for pupils starting in September, though they will not apply to the current Year 10s, who are halfway through.
Mr Morgan said earlier this week that “no learner” would be “at a detriment” from being in the first year group to sit the new qualifications. More change follows in September, with the delayed history GCSE and a new double science course, while separate physics, chemistry and biology GCSEs stay until at least 2031.
What to do if the grades are not what you hoped
Support is available through schools, Working Wales and Careers Wales for anyone rethinking their next step, whether that is sixth form, college, an apprenticeship or work.
WJEC has published grade boundaries, a guide to appeals and advice contacts on its results day webpage. And in Swansea, students collecting results today can still claim a free meal on Wind Street, whatever their grades.
Local school and college results will be added through the day as they come in.
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