GCSE attainment and the proportion of pupils entering the English Baccalaureate both increased in 2018, new national data shows.

This morning the Department for Education published provisional statistics on GCSE results for the 2017-18 academic year.

According to the figures, Attainment 8 - a measure of average achievement of pupils in up to eight qualifications - increased in 2018 by 0.1 points to 44.3 for all schools, and increased for state-funded schools by 0.4 points to 46.4 compared with 2017.

The proportion of pupils entering the EBacc increased by 0.3 percentage points compared with 2017. In 2018, 38.4 per cent of pupils in state-funded schools entered the EBacc.