PUPILS celebrated at the double as they picked up their GCSE results yesterday.

Not only did the numbers of pupils gaining higher grades under the new tougher exams increase in Bolton while they fell nationally, the overall result was also above the national average.

This year’s GCSE pupils were the first to have their exams marked under the grading system of nine-to-one in English, English literature and maths, with nine being the highest mark attainable and a four being roughly equivalent to a C-grade under the old system.

The new grading system is designed to differentiate between the brightest students. Those scoring a nine are said to be among the top three per cent of students nationally.

The changes mean that the results are not directly comparable to last year’s results – although Bolton’s maths and English results improved from 59 per cent to 61.1 per cent and a number of schools also saw an increase in their good pass rate under the new system.

In Bolton 66.7 per cent achieved four and above in maths, compared to 59.4 per cent nationally, and 71.2 per cent of pupils achieved the grade in English compared with 72.6 per cent for English literature and 62.1 percent English language nationally.