AS teenagers across Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire prepare themselves for GCSE results day, they will also have to face a new grading system.

Students from Rednock, Katharine Lady Berkeley's, Marlwood, Alveston, Yate and Winterbourne International Academies, Brimsham Green and Chipping Sodbury will be waiting in anticipation on Thursday to collect the results of their summer examinations and determine the next steps in their education.

They will also encounter a new GCSE grading scale and qualifications, introduced by the government to ensure that young people are better equipped with the knowledge and skills required for further study and work, are a more challenging and vigorous form of assessment.

The reforms began in 2011 with the National Curriculum Review in England, culminating in a transformation from the recognised A*-G grades to a numbered system.

This year pupils will receive the results of only their English Literature, English Language and Maths examinations with the new 9-1 grades, and by 2020 all results will be received in the new form.

“This summer, pupils have taken exams in the new and reformed GCSEs in English and Maths,” said school standards minister Nick Gibb.

“This is the culmination of a six year process of curriculum and qualifications reform, which has involved wide consultation with teachers, schools and universities.

“The new GCSEs are more rigorous so that young people can gain the knowledge and understanding they need to succeed in the future and compete in an increasingly global workplace.‎

"A new grading system was needed to distinguish between the old and the new reformed GCSEs.

"The new grading system also provides stretch for the highest performers by showing greater distinction between the top marks.”

The Department for Education recognises grade 4 as a ‘standard pass’; this is the minimum level that pupils need to reach in English and Maths otherwise they will need to continue to study these subjects as part of their post-16 education.

However, the old and new GCSE systems don’t directly align.

A grade 7 is considered equivalent to what was previously an A grade, grade 4 is the same as C and the bottom of grade 1 is also the same as a G grade.