Attainment 8 up: regional gaps persist, Progress 8 missing

The Department for Education has published preliminary GCSE performance data for state-funded secondary schools in England for the 2024-25 academic year, showing modest national improvement on some measures but persistent regional disparities and the continued absence of a key progress indicator. The data, released this week, uses Attainment 8 as the principal comparator after officials said Progress 8 could not be calculated because no Key Stage 2 assessment data is available to set a baseline for this cohort following COVID disruptions.

Nationwide the average Attainment 8 score was 45.9, roughly equivalent to an average GCSE grade of 4. The mean maths score was 9.1 out of 18 and English 9.8 out of 18 under the double-weighting applied to those subjects. Overall, the share of GCSE entries graded 5 or above rose to 55.0 percent, up from 54.6 percent in 2024 and above the pre-pandemic 2019 figure of 53.5 percent. The proportion of top grades, 7 to 9, climbed by nearly two percentage points in 2025.

Despite those gains, regional performance varied markedly. London again recorded the highest average Attainment 8 at 50.4 and the strongest English and maths outcomes, with 70.3...