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Aggregated JCQ figures show London recorded 32.1% A*\u2013A entries in 2025 while the North East fell to 22.9%, widening the regional gap to 9.2 percentage points amid calls for targeted funding, teacher recruitment and outreach to prevent the divide entrenching social mobility barriers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
London emerged again as the strongest-performing English region in this year\u2019s A\u2011level tables, with 32.1% of entries awarded A\u2013A, while the North East recorded the lowest share at 22.9%. According to aggregated awarding\u2011body figures compiled by the Joint Council for Qualifications, the difference between the highest\u2011 and lowest\u2011performing regions widened to 9.2 percentage points in 2025 \u2014 up from 8.8 points the previous year \u2014 even as the overall national proportion of A<\/em>\u2013A grades rose to around 28.3%. <\/p>\n Myles McGinley, head of exam board OCR, put the change bluntly to the Evening Standard: \u201cIf you look at the gap between the highest performing region this year, which is London, and the lowest performing region, which is the North East, we have seen an increase in the gap. Last year that gap was 8.8 percentage points, and this year, that gap is 9.2 percentage points.\u201d His remarks reflect concern among awarding\u2011body leaders that headline gains mask growing geographic divergence. JCQ\u2019s published tables were the basis for much of this reporting.<\/p>\n Independent analysis of the 2025 figures points to a record proportion of top grades outside the Covid years, but commentators have emphasised that the headline improvement sits alongside entrenched regional divides. Ofqual\u2019s analytics portal \u2014 which allows county\u2011level inspection of A\u2011level outcomes \u2014 shows persistent county\u2011by\u2011county variation and helps explain why national averages can obscure sharp local differences in attainment. Journalists and policymakers have used those visualisations to map where top\u2011grade shares have risen and where they have fallen.<\/p>\n More detailed sector reporting identifies a number of sub\u2011trends behind the regional picture. Schools Week\u2019s round\u2011up of eight key trends in the data highlights subject\u2011level shifts, gender differences and substantial county\u2011level variation, while national coverage also flagged falls in particular areas such as the West Midlands and the North East. Exam board and school leaders quoted across the coverage warned that socioeconomic factors remain a powerful driver of the uneven geography of results.<\/p>\n The unequal distribution of high grades has immediate consequences for progression to higher education. Education leaders and ministers responding to the results have pointed to the risk that pupils from lower\u2011scoring regions will face reduced access to top universities and the long\u2011term labour\u2011market opportunities that follow. Commentators have called for targeted policy responses to prevent the current pattern from reinforcing existing social mobility gaps.<\/p>\n Analysts and campaigners suggest several plausible explanations for the divergence. Coverage has explored how longstanding socioeconomic disparities, differences in school resources and disruption during the pandemic combined to tilt recovery in attainment towards more advantaged areas. Schools Week and Guardian analysis both emphasised that these are structural issues: short\u2011term fluctuations in grading cannot be disentangled from broader inequalities in funding, recruitment and local opportunity.<\/p>\n The official datasets that underpin this debate are publicly available: JCQ\u2019s examination\u2011results hub provides the aggregated awarding\u2011body statistics used in media reporting, while Ofqual\u2019s county\u2011level tools supply downloadable charts and interactive maps that allow closer scrutiny. Together, those resources give ministers, local authorities and school leaders the means to pinpoint where interventions are most needed.<\/p>\n Calls for action from across the sector have been consistent: allocate more targeted funding, address teacher recruitment and retention in harder\u2011hit counties, and design outreach to ensure disadvantaged pupils in lower\u2011scoring regions can access competitive university courses. Exam board executives and school leaders quoted in the aftermath urged both immediate and long\u2011term measures to narrow the gap rather than letting the current pattern become the new normal.<\/p>\n The paradox of 2025 is clear: while the national share of top grades has risen, the benefits of that improvement have not been evenly shared. As the JCQ and Ofqual datasets make plain, the growing gulf between London and the North East crystallises a broader policy challenge \u2014 how to translate overall grade inflation into genuine, geographically balanced opportunities for pupils across England.<\/p>\n\ud83d\udccc Reference Map:<\/h3>\n
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