The proportion of A-level entries awarded an A grade or higher has fallen to the lowest for more than a decade, national figures show.

Girls narrowly clawed back the lead from boys in terms of A* and A grades, although boys still outperformed their female classmates in the highest result.

For the first time, there were more entries for A-level science subjects from girls than from boys.

The shift comes after a major push in recent years to encourage girls to study science and maths-based subjects.

A-level candidates getting A/A* grades (PA Graphics) Spanish has become the most popular foreign language at A-level, overtaking French for the first time.

The figures, published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), cover A-level entries from students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Around 300,000 students are receiving their results today.

In total, 25.5% of UK entries were awarded an A or A* grade this summer, the lowest proportion since 2007 when it was 25.3%.

A* grades were introduced in 2010. Before this, the highest result was an A.

Girls are back in front in terms of top grades, with 25.5% of entries handed at least an A, compared with 25.4% of boys – a gap of 0.1 percentage points.

But on A* grades alone, boys performed better, with 8.2% of entries getting the highest result, compared with 7.5% of girls’ entries.

Girls are now more likely in general to take a science A-level than boys, the data shows.

For biology, chemistry and physics A-levels, there were 84,111 entries from girls this year, compared with 83,133 from boys.

The change has been driven by more girls than boys taking biology and chemistry.

But boys are still significantly more likely to take physics, with more than three times as many entries than their female counterparts (30,159 compared with 8,799).

In languages, there were 8,625 entries for Spanish A-level and 8,355 for French.

French has seen a decline in recent years, while Spanish has been increasing in popularity.

Dr Philip Wright, JCQ director general, said: “This year’s pass rates are stable across all A-levels and it is particularly encouraging to see the rise in young women being inspired to take science A-levels.

“For the very first time, female entries have overtaken male entries in science.”