Pupils in Northern Ireland start receiving GCSE results

GCSE pupils in Northern Ireland started receiving their results yesterday but will not know their complete set of grades until Thursday. Two thirds of NI GCSEs are set and marked by the local CCEA board, and those results are already making their way into students' hands. Pupils will have to wait until tomorrow, however, to receive the results of the remaining one third of exam papers that are set and marked by English and Welsh exam boards.

Schools in NI have successfully lobbied exam boards to bring forward next year's GCSE results by two days so that students will receive all of their results on 24th August 2010. Teachers say the late arrival of GCSE results is an administrative nightmare, especially as some NI schools are re-opening this week and will have to decide very quickly whether to accept or reject pupils who want to study A-levels.

School uniform suppliers in Northern Ireland say that some parents have ordered new blazers, skirts and trousers prior to the full publication of GCSE results, hopeful that their children will receive good enough GCSE results tomorrow to progress to A-level study.