Children experiencing poor mental health are three times more likely not to secure five GCSE passes at grades A*-C, a study suggests. Researchers warned that pupils are facing a “double hit” to their educational prospects as the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted their learning and affected their mental health. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and those whose mental health has been affected most by the pandemic, are likely to face the greatest challenges catching up at school, researchers said. Young people who had mental health difficulties at secondary school were over three times more likely not to secure five or more A*-C (or 9 to 4) GCSE grades, including maths and English, than their peers, according to the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).