Three out of five kids in Walsall fall short of GCSE benchmark, figures show
Less than two out of five children in Walsall achieved a Grade 5 or above at GCSE level in 2025.
Just 38 per cent of students achieved what was, in the previous system, a Grade C or above.
The most recent figures for the KS4 children follow a pattern of decline since 2022, where 44 per cent achieved the Grade 5 standard or higher.
Walsall’s figures mirror those nationally and in the wider West Midlands which also show a downward trend.
The data will be presented to Walsall Council’s children’s, families and education scrutiny committee on Tuesday January 27.
Also presented will be the percentage of kids with persistent and severe absence.
While it remains a challenge in the borough, especially for older pupils, the data shows there have been some improvements.
In 2025, 10 per cent of children were persistently or severely absent, compared to 14 per cent in 2024 and 16 per cent in 2023.
Nationally, around one in five kids have been persistently or severely absent over the last four years.
Committee members will also be briefed on a new digital curriculum to be implemented across schools by the Department for Education in September 2028.
The new system will see the scrapping of the English Baccalaureate – a performance measure representing a strong set of GCSEs, Grade 5 and above, in English, maths, science, a language and history or geography.
It will also introduce a Year 8 diagnostic test to identify any gaps in development ahead of GCSEs.
The review hopes to transform the existing curriculum into one that is ‘knowledge-rich and responsive to the needs of a rapidly changing world’.
