Bury St Edmunds GCSE results day: 20 August times

GCSE results are issued on Thursday 20 August 2026. The date is set nationally. Ofqual confirms it in its own summer series release, which says results for level 1/2 and level 2 qualifications will be issued on 20 August, following A levels on 13 August (Qualification results in England: summer 2026).

Most West Suffolk schools have not put their arrangements online. We checked nine secondary schools and colleges across Bury St Edmunds, Thurston, Haverhill and Newmarket on 19 August. Three had published something useful.

Where and when to collect

• Thurston Community College: results are handed out at the Thurston Sixth, Beyton campus, from 09:00 to 10:30, not at the Thurston site. Park on the front field, entered from Drinkstone Road. The school gives IP30 9AG for parking. Students go in through the Millennium Wing, and parents and carers are welcome to come in too (GCSE Results Day 2026 letter).
• St Benedict’s Catholic School, Bury St Edmunds: the school calendar lists GCSE results day from 9.00am to 3.45pm, with sixth form enrolment running at the same time (school calendar).
• West Suffolk College: there is nothing to collect. GCSE maths and English grades go onto the college’s Grades Portal from 8am on 20 August. Queries go to tutors first, and portal access problems to examsadmin@easterneducationgroup.ac.uk (West Suffolk College).

Thurston also puts results on Go4Schools from midday. The letter asks families to log in through a web browser rather than the app, because the app does not show them.

The schools that have published nothing

King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds County High School, Sybil Andrews Academy, Newmarket Academy, Castle Manor Academy in Haverhill and Samuel Ward Academy in Haverhill had no results day time on their websites when we checked on 19 August. King Edward VI has a detailed examinations section covering timetables, appeals and past results data, but no collection time for Thursday.

If your school is one of those, the arrangements have usually gone out by letter, email or text to parents rather than onto the website. Check the last newsletter of term before ringing on the morning.

If you cannot get there on the day

Thurston sets out the rule that most centres apply, and it is worth knowing in advance. A friend or family member can collect on a student’s behalf, but they must bring a signed note from the student giving permission, plus personal identification. The school also took stamped addressed envelopes until 17 July for results to be posted, and says plainly that results are not posted before results day and are never emailed.

If the grades are not what you expected

Results issued on results day are provisional. Ofqual says so in the same release: they “may be changed, for example following a review or appeal”, and the certificate is the final record.

Three things follow from the Joint Council for Qualifications timetable for this summer:

• Clerical re-checks, reviews of marking and reviews of moderation can be requested from 20 August, the day results come out.
• Centres can request copies of GCSE scripts from the same date, either to support a review or for teaching.
• The deadline for awarding bodies to receive review requests is 24 September 2026. JCQ states that requests received after the closing date will not be processed.

The catch is in the word “centres”. Requests go to the awarding body through the school’s exams office, submitted online, not by the student or the parent (JCQ post-results services). So the conversation to have on Thursday is with the exams officer, and it needs to happen well before late September.

What it means for you

If your child is at Thurston, the address matters more than the time: Beyton, not Thurston, and the doors are open for 90 minutes only. Give yourself longer than usual for the drive. The A14 has overnight closures west of Kentford this week, and the daytime picture on local roads is on our Bury St Edmunds roadworks and travel page.

If your child is at any of the other schools, treat Thursday morning as the moment to ask two questions in person: whether a review of marking is worth it in any subject, and what the sixth form or college place now depends on. Both answers are easier to get standing in front of a teacher than on the phone a week later.

If the grade in maths or English is the problem, West Suffolk College runs GCSE maths and English and publishes those grades itself, which is why its portal opens at 8am on the same day.

Sources

• Qualification results in England: summer 2026 (Ofqual) for the 20 August results date and for results being provisional until certificated.
• Thurston Community College GCSE Results Day 2026 letter for the Beyton campus, the 09:00 to 10:30 window, parking, Go4Schools and the proxy collection rules.
• St Benedict’s Catholic School calendar for the 9.00am to 3.45pm results day and sixth form enrolment entries.
• West Suffolk College for GCSE grades on the Grades Portal from 8am on 20 August.
• JCQ post-results services, June and November 2026 series for the 20 August start and 24 September deadline for reviews of results, and for requests being made by centres.