Girls are continuing to leave boys behind at GCSE, yesterday’s national results reveal, with more pupils sitting exams early.

Results for England, Wales and Northern Ireland show that it has been another record-breaking year.

Nearly seven in 10 entries were awarded at least a C grade, and almost one in four achieved an A or A*.

In total, the A*-C pass rate has risen every year since GCSEs began in 1988.

The results, published by the Joint Council for Qualifications shows that overall, girls are still outperforming boys.

The gender gap has widened slightly at grade A-A*. This year, 25.5 per cent of girls’ entries were awarded at least an A grade compared with 19.5 per cent of boys’ entries.

This has been widening since 2007, when the gap was 5.2%. And in 1989, the gap was just 1.5%. Boys did outperform girls in maths for the second year running, with 58.6 per cent of boys’ entries scoring at least a C, compared with 58.3 per cent of girls’.

The national results also reveal a huge rise in the numbers of pupils sitting their English and maths GCSEs at least a year early.

Some 83,000 pupils – more than one in 10 – sat maths GCSE at 15 or younger, a 37 per cent increase on 2009.

And 66,900 pupils, just under one in 10, sat their English GCSE at the same age – 50 per cent up on last year.

The figures are likely to reignite the debate whether GCSEs are getting easier.

It has been suggested the trend is due to Sats tests being scrapped for 14-year-olds, meaning some schools start GCSEs a year earlier.