Wokingham's provisional 2026 GCSE figures put 79% at grade 4 in English and maths, above a rate stuck at 77.3% for two years. We checked the national comparisons.
More than two thousand Wokingham borough students collected GCSE results on Thursday 20 August, and the council’s provisional figures put 79 per cent at grade 4 or above in both English and maths. On the same measure the borough has been stuck at 77.3 per cent for two years, so this is a real move upward rather than the usual results-day flourish.
The council also reported 64 per cent reaching grade 5 or above in both subjects, against 60.8 per cent last year.
Those are the two figures worth holding on to, because they are the only ones in the release that can be checked against a national benchmark on the same basis. Several of the others cannot, and we explain why below.
Wokingham Borough Council’s release, published on results day, gave provisional figures for local schools:
- 73 per cent at grades 9 to 5 in English
- 71 per cent at grades 9 to 5 in maths
- 64 per cent at grades 9 to 5 in English and maths
- 84 per cent at grades 9 to 4 in English
- 84 per cent at grades 9 to 4 in maths
- 79 per cent at grades 9 to 4 in English and maths
Cllr Prue Bray, executive member for children’s services, said the results reflected “the collective efforts of our schools, families, partners and wider community”. She also had a line for students who missed what they wanted: “There are still plenty of opportunities ahead, including sixth form, college, apprenticeships, T-levels and other training pathways.”
The English and maths figure is the one that stands up
The Department for Education publishes exactly the same measure the council is quoting, for every local authority, every region and England, in its key stage 4 performance statistics. That makes the borough’s trend checkable, and it is more interesting than the headline suggests.
| Grade 4+ in English and maths | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wokingham | 77.7% | 77.3% | 77.3% |
| South East | 67.5% | 67.4% | 66.9% |
| England | 65.1% | 65.0% | 64.8% |
Wokingham slipped slightly in 2023/24 and then held flat. The provisional 79 per cent for 2026 would be the first rise in three years, and the borough’s best figure across the period. At grade 5 and above the pattern is the same: 60.4 per cent, then 60.6, then 60.8, and now a provisional 64 per cent.
The other thing that table shows is the size of the gap. In the most recent confirmed year Wokingham sat 10.4 points above the South East and 12.5 above England. Nationally it ranked 8th of 152 local authorities, and it was the highest of the South East’s 19 authorities. Buckinghamshire came second in the region, on 73.8 per cent.
Where the council’s national comparisons do not hold
The release sets the borough’s maths result against “a national average of 54 per cent” at grades 9 to 5, and 72 per cent at 9 to 4. Those comparisons flatter the borough, and it is worth being clear why, because the borough’s real performance is strong enough not to need them.
National subject figures published on results day cover everyone who sat the exam, at any age. GCSE maths is the country’s largest resit subject, and the resit cohort is enormous. Ofqual’s data tables show that 265,825 students, a quarter of all those receiving GCSE results, sat exactly one GCSE this summer. Among 16-year-olds, only 1.4 per cent did. Those single-entry candidates are overwhelmingly in further education, sitting maths and English again.
The effect on the national number is large. Ofqual’s table of results by centre type puts further education establishments at 17.6 per cent of results at grade 4 and above, and sixth form colleges at 32.2 per cent, against 68.2 per cent for academies and 68.6 per cent for council-maintained comprehensives. A borough’s Year 11 cohort contains none of that, so comparing the two is not a like-for-like measure of how local schools did.
There is a second problem: Ofqual’s published data tables carry no subject-level national percentage at all. They report all subjects combined, by region and by centre type. So the 54 and 72 per cent figures cannot be checked against the official statistics, and should be read as the council’s own comparators.
For all subjects combined, the benchmarks that do exist are these. Among 16-year-olds, the South East reached 73.2 per cent at grade 4 and above and England 70.7 per cent. Counting all ages, the same figures fall to 69.9 and 67.0 per cent. That four-point drop is the resit effect, visible in one line.
Two borough schools have published their own figures
Most have not, which is normal this early.
The Holt School in Wokingham published a full table on results day. Of 237 candidates, 91.1 per cent achieved five or more GCSEs at grade 4 or above including English and maths, and 48.7 per cent of all grades were at 7 to 9. The school reported 82.3 per cent of students reaching grade 5 or above in English and maths, a pass rate across grades 1 to 9 of 99.9 per cent, and an Attainment 8 score of 65.27. Progress 8 is listed as still to come.
The Forest School in Winnersh reported 20 per cent of students at grades 7 to 9 in both English and maths, and nearly 30 per cent of all grades at 7 to 9, which it called a record at the top end. Headteacher Shirley Austin said the figures reflected “some of our strongest performance at the top end”, singling out computer science, French, maths, music, business and geography. The school said the borough’s director of education visited on results morning.
Elsewhere: Maiden Erlegh School published a congratulations notice without figures. Waingels College, The Piggott School and Luckley House School all still showed 2025 results on their pages two days after results day. The websites of St Crispin’s School and The Bulmershe School did not load for us, so we cannot say what they have published.
One caution on all of this. These schools are not measuring the same thing. Holt reports the proportion of students clearing a five-GCSE bar; Forest reports the proportion of grades at 7 to 9 alongside a separate student measure. Neither lines up with the council’s borough figures or with Ofqual’s, and none of them is a league table. We have set them out as each school published them rather than ranking them.
What it means for you
If a grade looks wrong, the deadline is 24 September. Both post-results services close that day: a clerical re-check, which verifies that every part of the script was marked and the marks added up correctly, and a review of marking, which is a fresh look at the marking itself. JCQ’s post-results rules give awarding bodies 10 calendar days to complete the first and 20 for the second. Requests after the closing date will not be processed.
Three things families regularly get wrong:
- The request goes through the school, not the student. Centres submit online through the awarding body’s system.
- Written consent is required, given after results are published, because marks and grades can be lowered as well as raised. There is no grade protection.
- The priority service that closed on 20 August did not cover GCSEs. It applies only to A level, T level and level 3 vocational qualifications.
If you are resitting English or maths in November, the Pearson Edexcel November 2026 timetable has all papers in the morning:
- English Language paper 1: Tuesday 3 November
- Maths paper 1 (non-calculator): Wednesday 4 November
- English Language paper 2: Thursday 5 November
- Maths paper 2 (calculator): Friday 6 November
- Maths paper 3 (calculator): Monday 9 November
Entries go through the centre. For the November series, the deadline to query a result is 18 February 2027.
If you are weighing up next steps, the council’s options after Year 11 page covers sixth form, college, apprenticeships and T-levels. Elevate Wokingham is the borough’s information and advice service for 16 to 18-year-olds, and takes self-referrals.
All borough figures quoted from the council are provisional and may change when the Department for Education publishes confirmed key stage 4 data in October.
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