Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2)

Published 10 October 2017

Last updated 5 March 2018 - see all updates

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• in 2015/16, there were 586,165 pupils in key stage 2 at state-funded mainstream schools in England, and ethnicity was known for 581,286 (99%) of them

• 76% were White, 11% were Asian, 6% were Black, 5% were Mixed, 2% were from the Other ethnic group and 0.4% were Chinese

• overall, 72% of pupils met the expected standard and 22% of pupils met the higher standard (making these figures the national averages)

• Chinese and Indian pupils were most likely to meet both the expected and the higher standard

• Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma pupils were least likely to meet both the expected and the higher standard

• across all ethnic groups, girls were more likely than boys to meet both the expected and higher standard

• Chinese boys and girls had the highest average scaled score, at 107 and 109 respectively

• Gypsy/Roma boys and girls had the lowest average scaled score, at 94 and 96 respectively

Things you need to know

The Department for Education (DfE) has excluded, or ‘suppressed’, very small numbers (for example, values of 1 or 2, a percentage based on 1 or 2 pupils who achieved, or 0, 1 or 2 pupils who did not achieve a particular standard).

This is because, where the size of the ethnic group population is small enough that an individual’s identity could be revealed, information is suppressed to preserve confidentiality. This is consistent with DfE’s statistical policy statement on confidentiality (PDF opens in a new window or tab) (PDF).

Pupil numbers for key stage 2 vary between measures of attainment for different subjects. This is because pupils who don't have a valid test result for a particular subject are excluded from the total. For more about valid test results, see the Methodology section.

What the data measures

This data measures the grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment of children in key stage 2 (years 3 to 6, when pupils are aged between 7 and 11).

The data covers the academic year 2015/16 (September 2015 to July 2016).

Key stage 2 test results range from 80 to 120 on a ‘scaled score’. (A ‘scaled score’ allows for variations in test difficulty year on year by standardising each pupil’s test results. This allows a clearer comparison between years.)

The standards for this measure, which combines grammar, punctuation and spelling, are divided in 2 categories:

• expected standard
• higher standard

To reach the expected standard, pupils must have achieved a scaled score of 100 or more in their key stage 2 grammar, punctuation and spelling tests.

To reach the higher standard, pupils must have achieved a score of 110 or more in their key stage 2 grammar, punctuation and spelling tests.

The average scaled score measures the average attainment of pupils in key stage 2 tests. This data compares the average scaled score for all children in England with the score for particular ethnic groups.

The ethnic categories used in this data

This data uses categories from the Department for Education’s school census, which is broadly based on the 2001 national Census, with 3 exceptions:

• Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma children have been separated into 2 categories
• Sri Lankan has been added to the Asian/Asian British group but is not reported separately
• Chinese pupils have been assigned a separate category

These changes were made after consultations with local authorities and lobby groups.

The categories in the school census are as follows:

White:

• White British
• White Irish
• Traveller of Irish Heritage
• Gypsy/Roma
• Other White

Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups:

• White and Black Caribbean
• White and Black African
• White and Asian
• Other Mixed background

Asian/Asian British:

• Indian
• Pakistani
• Bangladeshi
• Sri Lankan
• Other Asian background

Black/African/Caribbean/Black British:

• Black African
• Black Caribbean
• Other Black background
• Chinese
• Other ethnic group

Information is provided for both detailed and broad ethnic groups where possible and when the data is available.

The 6 broad categories used are as follows:

• Asian/Asian British
• Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
• Chinese
• Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
• White
• Other ethnic group

However, local authority data is only provided for 5 broad ethnic groups. Information about the specific ethnic categories is excluded to preserve confidentiality and ensure individuals cannot be identified. Information about the Other ethnic group is not given because DfE does not publish data for this group at the local authority level.

The 5 broad categories are as follows:

• Asian/Asian British
• Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
• Chinese
• Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
• White

2. Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 7 to 11 by ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/16
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2016 (revised)

Percentage of pupils meeting the expected and higher standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling, and average scaled score, by ethnicity

Ethnicity	Expected standard	Higher standard	Average scaled score
All	72	22	104
Asian	79	30	106
Bangladeshi	81	30	106
Indian	85	39	107
Pakistani	73	22	104
Asian other	82	37	107
Black	75	24	105
Black African	78	27	105
Black Caribbean	67	16	103
Black other	72	21	104
Chinese	87	46	108
Mixed	75	25	105
Mixed White/Asian	81	32	106
Mixed White/Black African	75	25	104
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	69	18	103
Mixed other	77	27	105
White	71	21	104
White British	72	21	104
White Irish	78	31	105
White Irish Traveller	33	4	97
White Gypsy/Roma	22	2	95
White other	67	22	103
Other	72	25	105
Unknown	60	18	103

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2) Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 7 to 11 by ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• of White British pupils, 72% met the expected standard and 21% met the higher standard

• of the broad ethnic categories, Chinese, Asian, Mixed and Black pupils all did better than the national average for the expected standard, which is 72%

• Chinese and Indian pupils were most likely to meet the expected standard, at 87% and 85% respectively

• Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma pupils were least likely to meet the expected standard, at 33% and 22% respectively

• Chinese and Indian pupils were most likely to meet the higher standard, at 46% and 39% respectively

• Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma pupils were least likely to meet the higher standard, at 4% and 2% respectively

3. Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 7 to 11 by ethnicity and area

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/16
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2016 (revised)

Percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling by ethnicity and area

Local Authority	All	Asian	Black	Chinese	Mixed	White
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Barking and Dagenham	78	90	84		74	69
Barnet	80	85	75		77	82
Barnsley	72		80		77	72
Bath and North East Somerset	73	89	71		73	72
Bedford	68	71	70	100	72	66
Bexley	78	91	86		77	73
Birmingham	71	74	71	92	73	69
Blackburn with Darwen	74	78	83		82	70
Blackpool	69	90			72	68
Bolton	76	83	72	100	74	74
Bournemouth	75	85			79	74
Bracknell Forest	64	79	73		70	61
Bradford	69	73	76	50	69	66
Brent	77	81	74		81	75
Brighton and Hove	75	76	70	100	77	75
Bristol, City of	72	76	65	69	69	72
Bromley	81	91	85		87	79
Buckinghamshire	77	79	68	100	78	77
Bury	74	76	63		76	74
Calderdale	69	72	74		77	68
Cambridgeshire	70	85	67	71	77	69
Camden	79	83	75		77	80
Central Bedfordshire	68	74	72	73	74	67
Cheshire East	76	94			75	75
Cheshire West and Chester	73	78	69		79	73
City of London		100				100
Cornwall	68	64			70	68
County Durham	76	88		81	80	76
Coventry	74	82	76		73	71
Croydon	75	84	72	100	76	73
Cumbria	70	78		79	85	70
Darlington	75	82			86	74
Derby	69	76	80	100	71	66
Derbyshire	72	78		86	75	72
Devon	71	80	61		78	71
Doncaster	65	70	87	75	76	65
Dorset	67	76		100	75	67
Dudley	69	77	69	63	73	68
Ealing	78	80	75	100	78	77
East Riding of Yorkshire	71	100			74	71
East Sussex	67	81	64	47	72	67
Enfield	75	88	75	100	77	73
Essex	74	87	83	93	78	73
Gateshead	78	77	80		79	78
Gloucestershire	73	84	78	82	80	72
Greenwich	78	86	83		80	70
Hackney	77	79	74	100	81	80
Halton	70				76	70
Hammersmith and Fulham	82	88	83		82	81
Hampshire	74	85	80	84	77	74
Haringey	76	80	71	71	81	78
Harrow	82	88	73		82	78
Hartlepool	74	85				74
Havering	80	90	84		79	78
Herefordshire, County of	74	100			77	74
Hertfordshire	77	86	77	90	78	76
Hillingdon	80	86	80		81	75
Hounslow	80	86	79	100	76	74
Isle of Wight	64	56			69	64
Isles of Scilly	60					60
Islington	77	86	78		77	77
Kensington and Chelsea	87	92	86		84	87
Kent	73	88	84	93	82	71
Kingston upon Hull, City of	70	91	70		74	70
Kingston upon Thames	80	85	71		77	79
Kirklees	69	72	65		65	69
Knowsley	70	86			85	69
Lambeth	79	93	78		80	79
Lancashire	73	74	65	82	77	73
Leeds	70	73	66	88	72	70
Leicester	72	79	75		72	64
Leicestershire	72	83	70	86	73	71
Lewisham	75	86	73		74	74
Lincolnshire	71	89	67	100	74	71
Liverpool	68	80	69	84	67	67
Luton	71	72	76	100	69	69
Manchester	73	77	78	81	72	70
Medway	67	85	90		70	64
Merton	78	86	78	100	66	75
Middlesbrough	70	76			75	68
Milton Keynes	75	89	81	100	74	72
Newcastle upon Tyne	73	81	72		69	72
Newham	82	86	80	57	79	73
Norfolk	66	83	65	80	71	66
North East Lincolnshire	71	69			79	71
North Lincolnshire	70	84	45	100	76	69
North Somerset	73	80	57		72	73
North Tyneside	74	76	64	100	76	74
North Yorkshire	68	83	55		83	68
Northamptonshire	70	82	76		70	69
Northumberland	70	78			63	70
Nottingham	70	76	75	100	68	68
Nottinghamshire	73	81	68		77	72
Oldham	72	73	78		72	72
Oxfordshire	72	70	68		69	72
Peterborough	65	71	68		65	63
Plymouth	72	79	80	100	77	71
Poole	73	86			71	73
Portsmouth	70	86	72		73	68
Reading	74	82	73		72	72
Redbridge	78	83	73	100	75	69
Redcar and Cleveland	77				79	78
Richmond upon Thames	85	92	81	100	88	84
Rochdale	74	73	75	100	70	75
Rotherham	71	77	74	100	71	70
Rutland	75				67	75
Salford	77	85	76	100	82	77
Sandwell	73	80	72	100	75	70
Sefton	78	78	67		91	77
Sheffield	70	76	71		70	69
Shropshire	69	75			72	69
Slough	77	84	72		77	67
Solihull	77	85	77		76	77
Somerset	71	87	67		82	71
South Gloucestershire	73	84	72		74	73
South Tyneside	75	86	100		83	74
Southampton	72	76	92		77	70
Southend-on-Sea	73	74	74	73	76	73
Southwark	76	90	76		71	75
St. Helens	75	85		57	77	75
Staffordshire	72	77	75	89	69	72
Stockport	77	80	70		81	77
Stockton-on-Tees	76	80	83		81	75
Stoke-on-Trent	67	75	66		64	66
Suffolk	68	82	78	57	72	67
Sunderland	75	88	69		75	75
Surrey	77	83	72	92	82	76
Sutton	80	93	81	100	80	76
Swindon	73	79	87		76	71
Tameside	74	83	75		80	73
Telford and Wrekin	77	77	76		78	77
Thurrock	72	81	85	100	73	68
Torbay	72				74	71
Tower Hamlets	82	84	78	100	77	74
Trafford	84	86	87	100	86	82
Wakefield	69	71	69	79	77	68
Walsall	70	76	76	100	74	67
Waltham Forest	75	81	75	76	76	71
Wandsworth	78	80	73	73	75	81
Warrington	76	82	45	100	83	76
Warwickshire	75	88	69		73	74
West Berkshire	72	82	79		75	71
West Sussex	68	76	68	71	71	67
Westminster	80	84	80	100	84	80
Wigan	75	76	71	100	69	75
Wiltshire	71	80	61		72	70
Windsor and Maidenhead	74	73	73		76	74
Wirral	70	84			75	69
Wokingham	82	92	84		78	81
Wolverhampton	74	82	77		70	71
Worcestershire	67	78	67	40	72	66
York	70	83			84	69

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2) Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 7 to 11 by ethnicity and area Summary

The data shows that:

• the highest achieving local authority was Kensington and Chelsea in London, where 87% of pupils met the expected standard

• the lowest performing local authority overall was the Isles of Scilly, where 60% of pupils met the expected standard – however, because there is only one school of 20 pupils on the Isles of Scilly, this result should be treated with caution

• White pupils were most likely to meet the expected standard in the City of London – however, because there is only one school of 28 pupils in this area, this result should be treated with caution

• White pupils were least likely to achieve the expected standard in the Isles of Scilly and then in Bracknell Forest in the South East

• Asian pupils were most likely to meet the expected standard in the East Riding of Yorkshire in Yorkshire and the Humber, in Herefordshire in the West Midlands, and in the City of London; they were least likely to meet the expected standard on the Isle of Wight in the South East

• Black pupils were most likely to meet the expected standard in South Tyneside in the North East; they were least likely to meet the expected standard in Warrington in the North West, and in North Lincolnshire in Yorkshire and the Humber

• 100% of Chinese pupils met the expected standard in 33 local authorities: 11 of these were in London, 6 in the North West, and 3 in the East of England

• Chinese pupils were least likely to meet the expected standard in Worcestershire in the West Midlands

• pupils of a Mixed ethnic background were most likely to meet the expected standard in Sefton in the North West, and least likely to in Northumberland in the North East

4. Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 7 to 11 by ethnicity and gender

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/16
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2016 (revised)

Percentage of pupils meeting the expected and higher standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling, and average scaled score, by ethnicity and gender

	Boys			Girls
Ethnicity	Boys Expected standard	Boys Higher standard	Boys Average scaled score	Girls Expected standard	Girls Higher standard	Girls Average scaled score
All	68	18	103	78	27	105
Asian	74	26	105	83	35	107
Bangladeshi	77	24	105	85	36	107
Indian	81	35	106	89	45	108
Pakistani	68	18	103	78	27	105
Asian other	79	32	106	85	41	107
Black	70	20	104	80	28	105
Black African	74	23	104	83	31	106
Black Caribbean	61	13	102	74	19	104
Black other	67	18	103	77	25	105
Chinese	83	43	107	90	50	109
Mixed	70	21	104	80	30	106
Mixed White/Asian	76	27	105	85	37	107
Mixed White/Black African	70	21	104	79	29	105
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	62	14	102	75	22	104
Mixed other	72	22	104	82	32	106
White	66	17	103	77	25	105
White British	67	17	103	77	25	105
White Irish	73	25	104	83	36	107
White Irish Traveller	26	2	96	40	7	99
White Gypsy/Roma	18	2	94	26	3	96
White other	63	18	103	71	25	104
Other	67	22	104	77	28	105
Unknown	57	17	102	65	21	104

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2) Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 7 to 11 by ethnicity and gender Summary

The data shows that:

• overall, a higher percentage of girls met the expected and higher standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling than boys

• 78% of girls met the expected standard, compared with 68% of boys

• 27% of girls met the higher standard, compared with 18% of boys

• Chinese girls did best – 90% met the expected standard

• Gypsy/Roma boys were least likely to meet the expected standard – 18% did so

• the biggest attainment gap, at 14 percentage points, was found among Traveller of Irish Heritage pupils, where 40% of girls met the expected standard, compared with 26% of boys

• the smallest attainment gap, at 1 percentage point, was found among Gypsy/Roma pupils, where 3% of girls met the higher standard, compared with 2% of boys

• Chinese girls had the highest average scaled score (109) and Gypsy/Roma boys had the lowest average scaled score (94)

5. Methodology

The key stage 2 datasets are compiled using information matched together from 3 data sources:

• prior attainment records (key stage 1 results)
• school census records
• qualification entries and results collected from awarding bodies

Key stage assessment data received from the Standard Testing Agency (STA) is combined with information on pupil's characteristics from the school census and prior attainment. Records are matched, using fields such as surname, forename, date of birth, UPN (unique pupil number), gender and postcode. This successfully matches around 60% to 70% of pupils.

Additional, more complex, routines are then applied to match as many of the remaining pupils as possible, up to around 98%. The coverage of the local authority and regional statistics is state-funded mainstream schools only in England. This includes schools and academies but excludes hospital schools, pupil referral units and alternative provision.

The system of national curriculum levels is no longer used by the government to report on end of key stage assessment.

Because of the changes to the curriculum, figures for 2016 are not comparable to those for earlier years.

Any pupils who do not have a valid result for a subject are excluded from the calculations for that subject and do not appear in the number of eligible pupils or in the outcome percentages for that subject.

Valid results for the national test figures are:

• achieved the expected standard
• not achieved the expected standard
• special consideration
• absent
• working below the standard of the test
• unable to access the test

Suppression rules and disclosure control

Values of 1 or 2 or a percentage based on 1 or 2 pupils who achieved, or did not achieve, a particular standard are suppressed. Some additional figures may be suppressed to prevent the possibility of a suppressed figure being revealed. This suppression is consistent with DfE’s statistical policy statement on confidentiality (PDF opens in a new window or tab) (PDF).

Figures for the Isles of Scilly and City of London are suppressed in DfE’s key stage 2 provisional Statistical First Release as these local authorities have a single school and DfE do not publish school level information in the performance tables at the time of the provisional release. These figures are unsuppressed in the revised release as school level figures are already published in the performance tables.

Regional eligible pupil figures are rounded to the nearest 10 so that it is not possible to derive figures for these local authorities by summing the figures for the other local authorities in the region.

In the school level data, any figures relating to a cohort of 5 pupils or fewer are suppressed. This applies to sub-groups of pupils as well as the whole cohort, for example, if there were five boys and three girls in a school, DfE would not publish attainment for boys or girls separately but would publish attainment for all pupils as this is based on 8 pupils. The Code of Practice for Official Statistics requires DfE to take reasonable steps to ensure that their published or disseminated statistics protect confidentiality.

For more information about DfE’s disclosure control procedures for its statistical releases please see DfE’s statistical policy statement on confidentiality (PDF opens in a new window or tab) (PDF).

Rounding

All charts, tables and downloads are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Related publications

Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2016

Quality and methodology information

6. Data sources

Source

National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2016 (revised)

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Education

Publication frequency

3 times a year

Purpose of data source

The main purpose is to measure schools' and pupils' progress and performance from key stage 1 to key stage 2 to monitor and improve standards and inform parental choice when applying to local schools.

7. Download the data

Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling - Spreadsheet (csv) 198 KB

This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, region, local authority, , gender, value and denominator

Average scaled score in grammar, punctuation and spelling - Spreadsheet (csv) 16 KB

This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, value and denominator

Higher standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling - Spreadsheet (csv) 17 KB

This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, gender, value and denominator

Publication release date: 10 October 2017

Updated: 5 March 2018

full page history

1. 5 March 2018 minor corrections for style
2. 11 October 2017 Technical change: Updated url to match page title.
3. 10 October 2017 First published

From: Department for Education

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