A-level results - drop in top grades

Around 335,000 students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their results today - and the figures reveal the proportion of A-levels awarded an A or A* grade has fallen slightly for the first time in over two decades.  

There has been a decrease to 26.6%, from 27% last year gaining these top grades, although the overall pass rate has risen again, for the 30th successive year.

Other notable points:

*  Although girls have again outperformed boys for getting A grades, this year saw the boys edge ahead of girls for the highest A* grades - 8% compared with 7.9%.

 *  The fall in the numbers of pupils taking modern languages is still ongoing, with French, Spanish and German in decline by 5.2%, 3.4% and 7.6% respectively, prompting Andrew Hall chief of the exam board AQA to describe it as a 'crisis'.

*  On the plus side, maths is 3% up and physics 5% up. 

For the full story see the BBC website