good morning from denbigh high school in luton. t how pupils at the school have got on in their gcses. like many others across their gcses. like many others across the country, thousands of people anxiously waiting to find out whether they have got the qualifications they need to take them on to their next step. these are exams that have been set for the first time since 2019 because of the pandemic, of course, which meant everything was done by teacher assessment. pupils in scotland have already got their results so it is those in england, wales and northern ireland who are getting their results today. in a moment, we will teach —— we will talk to the head teacher and chief executive of the trustee to find out what the challenges have been like and how much more like normal it has been year. we are told the grade boundaries will be a bit lower than normal, but not quite as lenient as they have been in the last couple of years. let's look at the background to all of this. the last few years have been tough and they've been rough. we

my colleague martine is in denbigh high school in luton with all the details. hi martine. eten down a bit. what is interesting the pupils don't need to come in to get the results, they can get them online but such is the excitement that i want to be here aamong their friends to find out they have done. the pass rate is lower this year, but it is still lower than the peak thatis but it is still lower than the peak that is the say, but it is still higher than normal, so normal was backin higher than normal, so normal was back in 2019, so ijust tell you what the statistics are in terms of pass rates. overall 73.2% of gcses were marked at grades four or c at above this year, that is down from 77.1% last year, when grades of course were decided by teacher, exams weren't sat. it is still significantly hiring than before the pandemic in 2019, a was the last year exams were set before covid struck and the rate was 67.3%. the results of vocational and technical awards are being released but with are told some btec pupils might face delays. some of the background now from vanessa cla

my colleague martine has been speaking to students and teachers in denbigh high school in luton todayow. how have they been getting on today? they've done extremely well here at this high school. nice to see everybody earlier in the day coming on opening their envelopes and mostly very pleased with the results. this is a school where you leave at the age of 16 after year 11. you need to go on to some other couege 11. you need to go on to some other college or some kind of training elsewhere. 0f college or some kind of training elsewhere. of course, a—levels are a common root, but there are lots of other routes facing pupils these days. there is a slightly bewildering choice for some people when they are trying to choose what to do. one option is t levels. i'm joined by richard brennan, assistant principal of walsall college. tell us what is level for those of us who don't know? et level as the equivalent to doing three a—levels and it's for students who really know what they want to be in the future. they study both at college in facilities like this and in the t level health centre a

i am at denbigh high _ grades that i received today. i am at denbigh high school