DfE and JCQ 2024/25-2026 data for Leeds, school by school, plus GCSE Chemistry tuition from Leading Tuition.
Book a Free ConsultationAt Roundhay School in Leeds, 62 pupils sat GCSE Biology in the 2024/25 results, but only 60 sat GCSE Chemistry — the qualification that, together with Combined Science, actually caps how many pupils complete full triple science there. Nationally in 2026, 92.1% of separate Chemistry entries reached grade 4 or above, against 58.1% of Combined Science entries at the equivalent 4-4 threshold. Leading Tuition tutors students on both routes across Leeds.
Our expert GCSE Chemistry tutors help students across Leeds with both separate Chemistry and Combined Science, across AQA, Edexcel and OCR. Whichever qualification your child's school has entered them for, we build lessons around the specification and tier they are actually sitting.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppThat distinction, not a single Leeds-wide average, is what a family searching for GCSE Chemistry tutoring in Leeds actually needs first. Attainment 8, the headline score used across most GCSE subjects, has no science element of its own — science sits inside the EBacc bucket alongside languages, history and geography, so it never appears on a school's results page as a standalone 'Chemistry score'. The genuinely subject-specific evidence sits one level down, in the Department for Education's own subject-entry data and the exam boards' published grade tables, both used throughout this page.
Leeds City Council recorded 9,709 Key Stage 4 pupils in the 2024/25 results, against 625,647 across England's state-funded schools as a whole. Within that cohort, this page compares four named Leeds secondary schools — Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School, Roundhay School, Allerton High School and Leeds East Academy — on the figure DfE actually publishes at subject level: how many pupils each school entered for separate GCSE Chemistry, against how many it entered for Combined Science instead, and, at one of the four, against how many it entered for Biology too. Families comparing the same schools' GCSE maths results can see our GCSE maths tutors in Leeds page, our GCSE Biology tutors in Leeds page covers the sister science that shares the same Combined Science qualification, and our GCSE English tutors in Leeds page covers their English results.
Every GCSE science pupil in England sits one of two different routes, and the two are not interchangeable on results day. Separate GCSE Chemistry is one of three single-award sciences — Biology, Chemistry and Physics — each examined on its own specification and awarded its own grade from 9 to 1; taking all three is usually called triple science. GCSE Combined Science, which exam boards also list as Science: Double Award, is a single qualification covering biology, chemistry and physics content, awarded as a pair of grades on a 17-point scale running from 9-9 down to 1-1. A pupil who sits Combined Science does not receive a GCSE Chemistry grade; the two qualifications sit in different rows of DfE's own performance tables.
Nationally, Combined Science is by far the more common route. In the 2026 GCSE results, England's exam boards issued 159,731 separate GCSE Chemistry entries, against 942,776 Combined Science entries — a total the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) counts twice per pupil, since the qualification is worth two GCSEs, equivalent to 471,388 pupils. Grade outcomes differ sharply between the two routes, as the table below shows.
| Qualification (England, 2026) | Entries | Grade 9 | Grade 7+ | Grade 5+ | Grade 4+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chemistry (separate GCSE) | 159,731 | 14.7% | 47.0% | 82.4% | 92.1% |
| Combined Science (grade-pair, entries counted twice) | 942,776 | 1.1% (9-9) | 9.2% (7-7) | 37.7% (5-5) | 58.1% (4-4) |
Source: Joint Council for Qualifications, GCSE results by main grades, subjects, age and sex, England, 2026 (Table 2), published 20 August 2026. Combined Science entries are counted twice by JCQ because the qualification is worth two GCSEs.
The gap is largest at the top: 14.7% of separate Chemistry entries were awarded a grade 9 in 2026, against 1.1% of Combined Science entries reaching the equivalent 9-9 — roughly a thirteen-fold difference. At the pass/fail boundary, 92.1% of Chemistry entries reached grade 4 or above, against 58.1% of Combined Science entries at the 4-4 threshold, a 34.0 percentage point gap. That gap says more about which pupils sit which qualification than about either subject's difficulty: schools generally enter their higher-attaining pupils for triple science, so the comparison is between two different populations, not the same pupils doing better on one paper than the other.
Whichever qualification your child's Leeds school has entered them for, our GCSE Chemistry tutors build lessons around it. A diagnostic session tells you exactly which specification and tier your child is sitting, before results day.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppWhether a Leeds pupil gets the chance to sit separate GCSE Chemistry at all depends heavily on which school they attend. The four Leeds secondary schools compared on this page show a wide spread, from under one pupil in twenty to one pupil in three — and one of them shows that the Chemistry figure is not simply a smaller copy of the Biology figure.
| School | Chemistry entries | Combined Science entries | % entering biology, chemistry & physics (DfE) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School (Meanwood) | 58 | 114 | 33.1% |
| Roundhay School (Roundhay) | 60 | 241 | 19.7% |
| Allerton High School (north Leeds) | 46 | 178 | 20.3% |
| Leeds East Academy (Seacroft) | 7 | 206 | 3.2% |
Source: Department for Education, Compare School and College Performance, "Subjects entered at key stage 4" and "Additional entry and achievement measures" for each named school, 2024/25 academic year. % entering biology, chemistry & physics is DfE's own published measure, not a locally calculated share.
Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School in Meanwood entered 58 pupils for separate Chemistry in the 2024/25 results, and its Biology and Physics entries were also 58, so all three separate sciences moved together at this school; DfE's own published measure records 33.1% of its pupils entering for biology, chemistry and physics. Allerton High School shows the same pattern at a lower rate: 46 pupils for Chemistry, Biology and Physics alike, with DfE recording 20.3% entering for all three. Leeds East Academy in Seacroft entered just 7 pupils for each of the three separate sciences, with DfE recording 3.2% — meaning a pupil at Cardinal Heenan is more than ten times as likely to be entered for separate Chemistry as a pupil at Leeds East Academy, and a pupil at Allerton more than six times as likely.
Roundhay School breaks that pattern. It entered 62 pupils for separate GCSE Biology in 2024/25, but only 60 for GCSE Chemistry and only 60 for GCSE Physics — two pupils fewer on each of the other two sciences. A pupil who sits Biology but not Chemistry cannot be part of a genuine triple-science cohort, so the true number of Roundhay pupils completing all three separate sciences is capped at 60, not 62; Chemistry and Physics, not Biology, set the real ceiling at this school. Using the Chemistry figure narrows a locally calculated estimate to 19.9% (60 of 301) rather than the 20.5% a Biology-only count would suggest, but DfE's own published measure — which counts against the school's whole pupil cohort rather than against science entries alone — records 19.7% of Roundhay's pupils entering for biology, chemistry and physics. That is a different base, not a different rule: the ceiling at Roundhay is set by Chemistry and Physics, not by any general pattern in how DfE's combined measure is built.
These four schools are not a full survey of Leeds's secondary schools — DfE does not publish a Leeds-wide total of separate Chemistry entries, only school-by-school subject lists — but across just these four, Combined Science entries outnumber separate Chemistry entries more than four to one: 739 against 171, an 81.2% Combined Science share against 18.8% for Chemistry.
Our GCSE Chemistry tutors work with pupils at every one of these schools, whether they are on the triple-science route, sitting Combined Science, or — like some of Roundhay's own Biology pupils — on a mixed combination the school itself has set.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppBoth, depending on which half of the measure you look at. The EBacc science pillar requires two science GCSEs — satisfied either by Combined Science's two grades or by two of the three separate sciences — and DfE publishes entry and achievement separately for it, as the table below shows.
| GCSE science EBacc pillar, 2024/25 | Leeds (local authority) | England (state-funded) |
|---|---|---|
| Entered for the two required science GCSEs | 92.8% | 94.1% |
| Achieved grade 5+ (of those entered) | 49.7% | 47.9% |
| Achieved grade 4+ (of those entered) | 66.8% | 65.8% |
Source: Department for Education, Compare School and College Performance, EBacc additional measures, "Achievement by subject group" and "Entries by subject group", Leeds local authority and England state-funded columns, 2024/25 academic year.
On entry, Leeds trails England by a small margin: 92.8% of Leeds's 2024/25 Key Stage 4 pupils were entered for the two required science GCSEs, against 94.1% across England's state-funded schools, a 1.3 percentage point gap. But DfE calculates achievement only among the pupils who were entered, not the whole cohort — and on that entered group, Leeds leads narrowly: 49.7% of entered Leeds pupils reached grade 5 or above on the science pillar, against 47.9% nationally, and 66.8% reached grade 4 or above against 65.8% nationally. Neither figure is a Chemistry score in its own right — Attainment 8 has no science element, and the EBacc science pillar mixes Combined Science and separate-science pupils into one measure, the same mixture that makes a Biology-only count overstate Roundhay's true triple-science cohort — which is exactly why the school-by-school entries in the table above matter more to a family than a single Leeds-wide science percentage.
One further measure will not appear on this page at all: Progress 8. DfE states plainly that it cannot be calculated for the 2024/25 or 2025/26 academic years, for Leeds or any other local authority, because these cohorts sat no Key Stage 2 tests after primary assessments were cancelled during the Covid-19 disruption of 2019/20 and 2020/21, and the previous government confirmed in April 2024 that neither year would get a replacement measure.
Our expert GCSE Chemistry tutors help Leeds students hit the exact grade their sixth form asks for. Leeds Sixth Form College asks for a 9-6 in GCSE Chemistry or GCSE Combined Science, plus a 9-6 in Maths, for A-level Chemistry — every programme is built around that target, whichever route a student's own school has entered them for. Leading Tuition is rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 58 reviews, read on 22 August 2026.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppThe grade threshold that decides what happens next is not an abstraction — it is written into the entry requirements of the city's own sixth forms. Leeds Sixth Form College, part of the Luminate Education Group, sets its A-level Chemistry requirement as a grade 9-6 in GCSE Chemistry or a grade 9-6 in GCSE Combined Science, together with a grade 9-6 in GCSE Maths. The college treats both qualifications as valid routes in, provided the grade threshold itself is met — a pupil who sat Combined Science at a school like Leeds East Academy is not shut out of A-level Chemistry because they never had a standalone Chemistry GCSE.
Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College sets a comparable general threshold for courses starting in September 2026: five GCSEs at grade 4 or above, including GCSE English Language and Maths, for its A-level, Mixed Programme and Level 3 BTEC and CTEC courses. Between the two colleges, reaching that 9-6 in Chemistry or Combined Science matters far more than which route a pupil's own school happened to enter them for — or how many of its pupils a Biology-only count might otherwise seem to promise.
None of this spread is fixed by postcode, or by which qualification a school happens to have entered a pupil for. A student sitting Combined Science at a school like Leeds East Academy still needs the same 9-6 threshold Leeds Sixth Form College asks for as a student sitting separate Chemistry at Cardinal Heenan — the qualification route does not change the target grade. Our GCSE Chemistry tutors work with students at schools across the city, from Meanwood and Roundhay to Seacroft, building a programme around the specification and tier a student's own school has actually entered them for, rather than assuming every pupil is sitting the same paper.
That distinction matters most for a Combined Science student aiming at A-level Chemistry: the Combined Science specification does not cover every topic a separate Chemistry GCSE does, so a tutor who treats the two routes identically risks leaving real gaps before A-level content begins. It also matters for a Roundhay pupil taking Biology without Chemistry — the two subjects are examined and graded independently, so strong Biology results do not carry across to a Chemistry paper a pupil never sat. Families with a younger child also facing 13+ entry can see our 13+ tuition in Leeds page, and students preparing for the next stage can read about our A-level Chemistry tuition. 91% of our students achieve their desired grades.
Our expert GCSE Chemistry tutors help Leeds students close the gap between Combined Science and the separate-Chemistry route, whichever one their school has chosen for them. Book a free consultation to find out which grade boundary matters for your child's next step.
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They are different qualifications, and the Department for Education reports them in separate rows. GCSE Chemistry is one of three separate sciences, alongside Biology and Physics, each sat as its own GCSE with its own single grade — a route usually called triple science. GCSE Combined Science, which exam boards also call Science: Double Award, is one qualification covering all three sciences that produces two grades on a 17-point scale running from 9-9 down to 1-1, and carries no standalone Chemistry grade at all. Nationally in the 2026 GCSE results, 159,731 pupils in England sat separate GCSE Chemistry, against 942,776 Combined Science entries — a figure the Joint Council for Qualifications counts twice per pupil because the qualification is worth two GCSEs, equivalent to 471,388 pupils.
Among the four Leeds secondary schools compared on this page, access to triple science varies sharply. Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School entered 58 pupils for separate GCSE Chemistry against 114 for Combined Science in the 2024/25 results; DfE's own published measure puts 33.1% of its pupils on the triple-science route. Allerton High School entered 46 of its 224 science pupils for Chemistry, with DfE recording 20.3%, and Roundhay School entered 60 of its 301, with DfE recording 19.7%. Leeds East Academy entered just 7 pupils for separate Chemistry against 206 for Combined Science, with DfE recording 3.2% — meaning Cardinal Heenan's triple-science rate is more than ten times higher than Leeds East Academy's.
Because at Roundhay School, not every pupil who sits Biology also sits Chemistry and Physics. In the 2024/25 results, Roundhay entered 62 pupils for separate GCSE Biology, but only 60 for GCSE Chemistry and only 60 for GCSE Physics. A pupil cannot complete triple science with only one of the three separate sciences, so the true number of Roundhay pupils sitting all three is capped at 60, not 62 — Chemistry and Physics, tied together, set the real ceiling at this school, not Biology. It is a reminder that a Biology entry count alone can overstate how many pupils are actually on the full triple-science route.
On the published national figures, yes, by a wide margin — but the gap reflects who sits each qualification, not which one is easier. In the 2026 GCSE results for England, 92.1% of separate GCSE Chemistry entries reached grade 4 or above, against 58.1% of Combined Science entries reaching the equivalent 4-4 threshold, a 34.0 percentage point gap. At the top end, 14.7% of Chemistry entries achieved grade 9, against 1.1% of Combined Science entries achieving 9-9, roughly a thirteen-fold difference. Schools generally enter their higher-attaining pupils for triple science, so the two groups of pupils differ before a single exam is sat — the gap is not evidence that Combined Science teaching is weaker.
Both, on different parts of the same measure. In the 2024/25 results, 92.8% of Leeds pupils were entered for the two science GCSEs the EBacc pillar requires — most commonly Combined Science, or two of the three separate sciences — against 94.1% across England's state-funded schools, so Leeds trails by 1.3 percentage points on entry. But among the pupils who were entered, 49.7% of Leeds pupils achieved the science pillar at grade 5 or above, against 47.9% nationally, and 66.8% reached grade 4 or above against 65.8% nationally — Leeds leads slightly on both achievement thresholds once the entered group, not the whole cohort, is the base. Neither figure is a Chemistry score in its own right.
Leeds Sixth Form College's published entry requirement for A-level Chemistry is a grade 9-6 in GCSE Chemistry or a grade 9-6 in GCSE Combined Science, together with a grade 9-6 in GCSE Maths — the college treats both qualifications as valid routes in, provided the grade threshold is met. Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College's general entry requirement for A-level programmes starting in September 2026 is five GCSEs at grade 4 or above, including GCSE English Language and Maths.
The Department for Education states it cannot calculate Progress 8 for the 2024/25 or 2025/26 academic years, for Leeds or anywhere else in England, because these pupils sat no Key Stage 2 tests to use as a baseline after primary assessments were cancelled during the Covid-19 disruption of 2019/20 and 2020/21. The previous government confirmed in April 2024 that neither year would get a replacement measure. Attainment 8 does not fill the gap for Chemistry either: Attainment 8 has no science element, since science sits inside the EBacc bucket alongside languages, history and geography, not as its own scored component.
Yes. Our expert GCSE Chemistry tutors help students across Leeds with both separate Chemistry and Combined Science, across AQA, Edexcel and OCR, whichever route a student's own school has entered them for. We are rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 58 reviews, read on 22 August 2026.
Across the four Leeds schools compared on this page, Combined Science entries outnumber separate Chemistry entries by more than four to one: 739 Combined Science entries against 171 separate Chemistry entries, an 81.2% Combined Science share against 18.8% for Chemistry. That is four named schools, not a full survey of Leeds's secondary schools, but it matches the wider national pattern, where Combined Science entries also greatly outnumber separate Chemistry entries.
Whether your child is sitting separate GCSE Chemistry at a school like Cardinal Heenan or Combined Science at a school like Leeds East Academy, or is one of Roundhay's Biology pupils who never sat Chemistry at all, we can build a programme around their actual specification, tier and target grade.
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