Thousands of GCSE students will today receive their long-awaited exam results, with girls again expected to do better than boys over the vast majority of subjects.

And while young people will still receive their individual GCSE grades in the same way as previous years, the way the schools are compared with each other is changing.

The government has abolished the familiar measure of the proportion of students receiving at least five GCSEs at A*-C, including English and maths, and will replace it with a new measure, Progress 8, which measures the progress students made during their time at high school.

However, schools' Progress 8 scores will not be known until the government publishes a provisional league table in October. Instead, the EDP is today asking schools how many students received A*-C grades in both English and maths.

Locally, the results at a number of schools will be of particular interest.

The Hewett Academy will report its first GCSE results since it controversially became an Inspiration Trust academy last September, after it plunged into special measures. Last year, 43pc of students gained A*-C in English and maths.

Other schools hoping to improve on poor headlines results last year include City Academy Norwich, Great Yarmouth High, Ormiston Victory Academy, Wayland Academy, Ormiston Denes, East Point Academy, the Benjamin Britten High School, IES Breckland and the Thomas Clarkson Academy.

It will be also be the first year of GCSE results at the University Technical College Norfolk, which fuses academic and vocations skills for 14-to-19-year-olds.

And seven high schools in Norfolk could fall into the government's new category of 'coasting schools' if their results do not improve this year, and could be turned into academies, or transferred to a different academy trust.

They are:

• Acle Academy

• City Academy Norwich

• Flegg High School

• Great Yarmouth VA High School

• King's Lynn Academy

• North Walsham High School

• Wayland Academy

Alan Smithers, director of Buckingham University's Centre for Education and Employment Research, said: 'Girls are a long way ahead of boys, doing better in 47 of the 49 subjects and being over 15 percentage points ahead in English.'

This is the last year in which GCSE results will be scored with grades A* to G.

From next summer, pupils will take reformed courses in English language, English literature and maths. These subjects will be marked numerically - from nine for the top-performing students down to one.

The changes will be rolled out across a further 17 subjects by summer 2018.

HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED IN OUR RESULTS DAY COVERAGE

You can take part in our live coverage of GCSE results day as the results come in throughout the day.

We will be reporting live on our website and social media as schools tell us how their students performed, but we want to hear your stories and see your photos.

Tweet us your results day photos to @EDP24 or @EveningNews24, or upload them to www.iwitness24.co.uk, and tell us how you did, and how you are celebrating.

Don't forget to keep an eye on our website throughout the day as our reporters at schools and colleges across the region bring you the excitement as teenagers find out how they have done.

And buy tomorrow's papers for our special GCSE results supplements.

See www.edp24.co.uk and www.eveningnews24.co.uk and follow us on Twitter at @EDP24 and @EveningNews24