Less than half of teenagers taking GCSEs this summer met the Government’s benchmark of five good grades including in English and mathematics.

Although it was another year of record attainment at GCSE in schools across England, just 47.2 per cent of pupils attained the benchmark, up by less than 1 percentage point on last year. More than a third of teenagers sitting GCSEs failed to gain five good grades in any subject.

The data, published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, show the achievement gap between the best and worst local authorities to have widened slightly. Less than a third of pupils in poorer areas hit the benchmark, compared with nearly two thirds of children in the most affluent rural counties.

David Laws, the Liberal Democrat, said it was of deep concern that such a gulf remained between rich and poor areas. Michael Gove, for the Conservatives, said: “The gap between the fortunate and the forgotten remains stubbornly wide as the lucky ones pull away from the rest as they progress through school.”

Girls continue to outperform boys at GCSE, and state schools in London again outperformed the national average for students obtaining five good passes including in English and maths. Much of the credit for the improvements recorded in most of the capital’s boroughs lies with London Challenge, a scheme aimed at increasing parental involvement and providing support for head teachers. The programme now operates across England.

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