Grade 9 in GCSEs: How common are they?

[ChumpyWumpy]

I have 3 friends whose children have all received what seems like an abundance of them! Friend 1’s child received 9 x Grade 9 and 1 x Grade 8. Friend 2’s child received 8 x Grade 9 and 2 x Grade 8 and friend 3’s child received 7 x Grade 9, 2 x Grade 8 and 1 x Grade 7. Absolutely amazing results and I’m really chuffed for them. My DD (in year 9) is now extremely worried because she thinks this is the norm! (I have, of course, put her straight.)

About 4% of entries received the top grade 9 - and 732 pupils scored a clean sweep of grade 9s in all subjects

Why is your dd 'extremely worried ' that some of your friends' kids did really well in their GCSEs?

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You can look up all the detailed breakdowns on the exam board websites

It varies from subject to subject

For some schools, these grades are the norm, for others they're not. It really depends.

You have to work very hard to get a grade 9. Friend of DD's, lovely bright girl, got 7x9 and 3x8 this summer, best performance in the school (large suburban comp in Nice area).

Last Yr dd was in yr 11 and there were about 7 x 9s in the year (obcv only three subjects), similar in the less nice comp I taught in, so about 1%.

Remember that 700 students got all 9s, out of, what, 500,000?? They are hard to get especially a swathe of them. Schools that set them as targets (DD's mate was targeted 10 x 9s!) are making a mistake imo, 8/9 would be better.

No doubt in a few years time politicians will decide we need a Grade 10 to identify the really bright.

The grade boundaries can move so that shouldn't be necessary

In my class of 25 (top set), only three students achieved grade 9.
V bright and hard working class. 64% of them got grade 7-9.
I teach English.

I too expect a grade 10 to be introduced at some point!

Thanks for the replies and info. Interesting to know the stats relating to the grades.

"received" is an odd word btw op, I would make the point to your dd that these friends' children worked hard and learned a lot and put in a lot of effort to achieve these great grades.

She can work hard and do her best too; we need to remember that a 7, for example, is a good grade, an A in old money.

I agree, clary, reading through my OP again, ‘received’ does sound rather weird! ‘Achieved’ or simply ‘got’ is a much better way to describe it. And yes, a 7 is also a really good result.

732 students nationally got 7 or more grade 9s. We had 2 students get 7 or more 9s at my academically non-selective catholic school. Some schools will have more and some will have fewer but kids with 7 or more 9s won’t be the norm even in super-selective schools. Your friends’ children all fall into that very small group of 732.

Dumbledore is right - I don't think a clean sweep of 9s is all that common even in very selective schools. I had a quick scan round the local selective indies and most of them were quoting percentages of "A* equivalent which would include Grade 8.

Oxford High School mentions one girl who had a clean sweep of 9s but said "it is invidious to pick out individuals" - roughly translated as "there was only one" perhaps?

oxfordhigh.gdst.net/senior-school/ss-exam-results-2018/

I was also amused to see then referring to the achievements of our "HSBC scholar" at A-Level who had come to them from a state school - Cherwell - which is one of the most socially selective and oversubscribed schools in the country!

Thanks for taking my point so nicely op, my post wasn't supposed to be snidely 😃

Dumbledore, the 7 or more 9s means all 9s (but at least 7) - so DD's pal with 9999999888 wouldn't be in that list. A just to clarify as I think press coverage was misleading

Wish I could edit posts! OP's friends DC epwould also not be counted in that 732

Yep, the 732 are those DC who got all 9's, but at least 7. At my DC's school they had 3 who got the clean sweep of all 9's, another 7 who got at least 9 x 9, and 25% of the year group got at least 1x9. State comp.

So to answer your question OP, 9's are really hard to get, but they are absolutely not the norm.

Our state comprehensive had 6 with at least 7x9’s but 30% of all results were 9-8 so the 9’s are pretty rare but the 8’s aren’t.

Also with regard to that all 9's, many indies are still doing iGCSEs, which are a year behind converting to the 9-1 grading. So my DS only did 2x English and Maths at 9-1, the other subjects were all A*-E grading. Next year will see the final swathe of subjects change (I think).

There were far more 9's than I expected at dd's school who have a non selective intake and a cohort of just 30 but unusually this year's Year 11 contained some highly academic children some of whom had turned down places in independent and super selective grammars.

Dd got 2 9's in subjects where the teacher had told us since Year 9/10 that she was exceptional. One girl who got 6 9's had transferred from a selective private school in Year 9 and one boy got 5 9's who is very, very clever.

I think if your child goes to school in an area where most children come from highly educated families and can afford to pay for tutorsif needed the percentages will be higher than those with schools full of children from families where education is not valued or they are fighting against other difficult circumstances.

Ah, thanks for that. The reports on results day that I read very much made it sound like it was kids with 7 or more 9s. That actually makes more sense now.

There’ll be as many grade 9 as the government decides with the grade boundaries. Which seems to increase slightly every year.

It is a small percentage, but it varies a lot by school. Where I work (largeish selective) in some subjects with between 70 and 90 sitting these subjects, over 40% for L9.

About 25 in the year received all L9/8/A - so equivalent to all A in old money. Most of those will have had some 8s in the mix though.

It won't be the norm for large numbers to have 9s fully across the board, but lots of selective schools will have lots of students with a good handful of 9s, mixed with perhaps 8s and the odd 7. Most good Comps will have a handful with all 9s/8s. It just depends if you know families or children with that profile really.

That's right. At our level cal selective schools, the proportion of 8s and 9s are very high. In fact over 50% of entries were a 9! Other schools will have a lower proportion, so it really depends on where your friends go to school. Well done to them!

Sorry it should have said 'At our local selective schools'

Further to seeline comment, I believe IGCSE's at Indie's aren't included in the stats at all, regardless of whether they were numbers or letters. Also some Indie's, ours included, don't release their results.