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GCSE students across Wales are receiving their results today after an academic year plagued by the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, pupils didn’t sit formal exams and were instead graded using predictions made by their teachers.

The same grading was used for AS-level and A-level results, which were announced on Tuesday.

Overall, 28.7% of GCSE results were graded between A* and A – an increase on last year – while 73.6% of results graded between A* and C, roughly similar to last year’s grades.

In total, 98% of entries were graded between A* and G.

Wales’ Education Minister, Jeremy Miles, said: “Our priority this year has been to put a system in place so that learners receive grades based on evidence of their work and enables them to progress to the next stage of their education, training or work with confidence.”

Mr Miles praised the “tremendous resilience” of both GCSE students and those studying vocational qualifications.

He added: “It’s also been a remarkable achievement by all the school and college staff who’ve worked so hard to enable qualifications this year. It’s been an almighty task to put measures in place so that learners could get their results, like any other year.

“You should be very proud of the work you have done to help our learners progress.”

South Wales East Senedd Member Laura Anne Jones, who is the Conservative Shadow Education Minister, congratulated pupils on their results and said: “Students should be very proud of their successes this year. Their dedication and determination, despite the challenges and pressures that schools have been under, has paid off. I wish each and every one of you success for the next chapter of your lives.”

Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, Cllr Ross Whiting, said: “The past year of school has been challenging unlike any other in recent memory.

“Learners have had to adapt to changes in the way they have been taught, from face-to-face to online distanced and blended learning. These changes would have been nearly unthinkable just a year and a half ago.”

Lee Jarvis, headteacher at St Martin’s School in Caerphilly, said: “I congratulate all of our learners for their exceptional results today and would like to say how extremely proud I am of each and every one of you for working so hard to achieve your very best in such challenging a time.”