The Department for Education can provide a straightforward explanation of the GCSE system.

English Baccalaureate:
The English Baccalaureate was introduced 2010 as a performance measure that recognises where pupils have secured a C grade or better across a core of academic subjects: English, mathematics, history or geography, the sciences and a language. GCSE Japanese can be taken as part of the English Baccalaureate. For more information, please click the link in the Resources box below.