With numbers flooding in, grades to study and percentages to consider, analysing GCSE results can be confusing. Here, we've picked five things to keep an eye on Thursday, the big day.

1. Great Yarmouth Charter Academy

Great Yarmouth High School last year saw the lowest results in the county, with just 30pc of its students achieving a grade four or above in and English and maths.

It just before the school was taken over by the Inspiration Trust, who quickly introduced tougher rules to combat poor behaviour.

The school has provided divisive - while some have shared concerns over its strict approach, others have praised polite students and a peaceful atmosphere.

Either way, there will be many with a close eye on Charter's first set of results.

2. New courses

The grading for GCSEs is midway through a major shake-up, with traditional letters being phased out and replaced by a numbered scale from one to nine.

Nine is equivalent to a high A*, while a four is roughly equivalent to a C - a five is considered a high pass, a distinction which has caused controversy.

The changes come along aside new courses, which focus less on coursework and rely more heavily on exams, a move many say makes them more difficult.

You can read more about the changes here.3. Norwich academies

While many performed well last year, there were several that had disappointing results.

Sewell Park Academy's pass rate dropped to 41pc, and Open Academy fell from 53pc to 37pc.

After Sewell Park's recent Ofsted report, headteacher Penny Bignell said the school was optimistic for better results this year, while Open Academy will see its first set of results under new headteacher Jon Ford, former principal at Downham Market Academy.

At City Academy Norwich, the level of students passing English and maths was 34pc.

Since then, the school has left the Transforming Education in Norfolk (TEN) Group, and is being supported by the Bohunt Education Trust.

4. High performers

Last year, there were several schools which noted marked increases in results.

While the change in grades makes the 2016 results difficult to compare to those in 2017, at Ormiston Denes Academy, in Lowestoft, the headline figure increase by 21 percentage points.

The Hewett Academy, in Norwich, also jumped 20 percentage points, as did Stradbroke High School.

It will be interesting to see, one year on, whether that improvement journey has been maintained.

To see how schools fared last year, click here.

5. Success stories

By the nature of results, data, percentages and overall results generally come first.

But there will be plenty of success stories around the region - whether that's a student securing a clutch of grade nines, or another achieving a grade four which seemed impossible.

As always, we'll be providing live coverage on the day, and would love to hear your success stories. Please email lauren.cope@archant.co.uk