STUDENTS will know later today whether their achievements in this year's GCSE exams are better than national figures, which reveal the overall pass rate has fallen.

The proportion of entries awarded grades A* to G went down from 97.9 per cent to 97.6 per cent while there was a fall in the number for maths GCSE scoring C or better. The A* to C grade pass rate for all subjects rose from 57.9 per cent to 58.1 per cent.

Figures for Swindon are not yet available.

Garry Perkins (Con, Shaw and Nine Elms) and the council's lead member for education, said he hoped Swindon's students could do what they have been unable to do for the past few years and beat the national average.

He said: "I hope Swindon bucks the national trend. The early indications are that it will but we will have to wait until later today to find out exactly how well students in the borough have done."

Nationally, maths, German and French grades appear to be the subjects to have seen the worst slip in percentage pass rates. Last year some 30,000 people left schools across the country with no qualifications.

But Peter Wells, headteacher at St Joseph's RC Comprehensive School said: " I can only speak for my own school, as at the moment this is all the heads can do, but if my results reflect those for the rest of the town there should have been an overall improvement.

"As a school I am happy with our results and if we are a reflection of what Swindon has done, it's good news."