Grammar, punctuation and spelling results for 10 to 11 year olds

Published 13 May 2020

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• 78% of 10 to 11 year olds met the expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling in the 2018 to 2019 school year

• 36% of pupils met the higher standard

• out of all ethnic groups, pupils from the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups were most likely to meet the expected standard

• pupils from the Chinese ethnic group were most likely to meet the higher standard

• out of all ethnic groups, White Gypsy and Roma pupils were least likely to meet both the expected and higher standards

• in every ethnic group, girls were more likely than boys to meet both the expected and higher standard

Things you need to know

In the 2018 to 2019 school year, 644,729 pupils were assessed for grammar, punctuation and spelling in key stage 2 at state-funded schools.

Ethnicity was known for 99% of pupils. Of those:

• 74% of pupils were White
• 11% were Asian
• 6% were Mixed ethnicity
• 6% were Black
• 0.4% were Chinese
• 2% were from Other ethnic groups

Numbers of pupils vary in the results for different subjects. This is because pupils who don’t have a valid result for a particular subject are excluded from the total. For more about valid results, see the Methodology.

There were 2,320 White Gypsy and Roma pupils and 473 Traveller of Irish Heritage pupils.

The Isles of Scilly had 19 pupils and the City of London had 28. Please use caution when interpreting figures for these groups and local authorities as they are based on small numbers of pupils.

What the data measures

This data measures the grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment of pupils at the end of key stage 2 (year 6), when children are 10 or 11 years old.

The data covers the 2018 to 2019 school year. The download file provides attainment for pupils who were eligible for free school meals and those who were not eligible.

Teachers assess each pupil against the following standards:

• expected standard – pupils must have a ‘scaled score’ of 100 or more
• higher standard – pupils must have a ‘scaled score’ of 110 or more

Scaled scores range from 80 to 120. They allow for variations in test difficulty year on year and help give a clearer comparison between years. Read more about scaled scores at key stage 2.

The ethnic categories used in this data

This data uses categories from the Department for Education’s school census. These groupings are broadly based on the 2001 national Census, with 2 exceptions:

• White Irish Traveller and White Gypsy and Roma children have been separated into 2 categories
• pupils in the Chinese ethnic group are in a separate category from Asian pupils

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

Local authority data is only provided for 6 ethnic groups:

• Asian
• Black
• Chinese
• Mixed
• White
• Other

2. By ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: 2018 to 2019 school year
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2019 (revised)

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

Ethnicity	Expected standard	Higher standard	Average scaled score
All	78	36	106
Asian	85	50	109
Bangladeshi	87	51	109
Indian	90	60	111
Pakistani	82	41	107
Asian other	86	54	110
Black	82	42	108
Black African	84	47	109
Black Caribbean	74	29	105
Black other	78	37	107
Chinese	90	63	112
Mixed	80	39	107
Mixed White/Asian	85	46	108
Mixed White/Black African	80	39	107
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	74	28	105
Mixed other	81	42	108
White	77	33	106
White British	77	32	106
White Irish	82	40	107
Gypsy/Roma	29	5	96
Irish Traveller	37	8	98
White other	76	36	106
Other	77	41	107
Unknown	61	27	105

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Grammar, punctuation and spelling results for 10 to 11 year olds By ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• 78% of pupils met the expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling in year 6 (when they were 10 or 11 years old)

• 36% met the higher standard

• 90% of pupils from the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups met the expected standard, the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups

• 29% of White Gypsy and Roma pupils met the expected standard, the lowest percentage out of all ethnic groups

• 63% of pupils from the Chinese ethnic group met the higher standard, the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups

• 5% of White Gypsy and Roma pupils met the higher standard, the lowest percentage out of all ethnic groups

• pupils from the Chinese ethnic group had the highest average scaled score, at 112, compared with the national average of 106

3. By ethnicity and gender

• Location: England
• Time period: 2018 to 2019 school year
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2019 (revised)

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

	Boys			Girls
Ethnicity	Boys Expected	Boys Higher	Boys Average scaled score	Girls Expected	Girls Higher	Girls Average scaled score
All	74	31	105	83	41	107
Asian	82	45	108	89	55	110
Bangladeshi	83	46	109	90	57	110
Indian	87	54	110	93	65	112
Pakistani	78	36	107	86	47	109
Asian other	84	49	109	89	59	111
Black	77	37	107	86	47	109
Black African	81	41	108	88	52	110
Black Caribbean	67	22	104	81	36	107
Black other	73	32	106	84	42	108
Chinese	88	59	111	93	68	112
Mixed	75	34	106	85	44	108
Mixed White/Asian	81	41	107	89	52	110
Mixed White/Black African	74	33	106	86	44	108
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	68	23	104	80	34	106
Mixed other	77	37	107	86	46	109
White	72	28	105	81	38	107
White British	72	27	105	82	37	107
White Irish	79	36	106	85	45	108
Gypsy/Roma	24	3	95	34	8	97
Irish Traveller	31	6	97	43	9	99
White other	72	31	105	80	41	107
Other	73	37	106	81	45	108
Unknown	57	22	104	66	32	106

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Grammar, punctuation and spelling results for 10 to 11 year olds By ethnicity and gender Summary

The data shows that:

• 83% of girls and 74% of boys met the expected standard

• 41% of girls and 31% of boys met the higher standard

• in every ethnic group, girls were more likely than boys to meet both the expected and higher standard

• girls from the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups were the most likely to meet the expected standard (93%)

• boys from the White Gypsy and Roma ethnic group were the least likely to meet the expected standard (24%)

• girls from the Chinese ethnic group were most likely to meet the higher standard (68%)

• boys from the White Gypsy and Roma ethnic group were least likely to meet the higher standard (3%)

• the biggest gap between girls and boys at the expected standard was in the Black Caribbean ethnic group, where 81% of girls and 67% of boys met the standard

• the smallest gap between girls and boys at the expected standard was in the Chinese ethnic group (93% compared with 88%)

• overall, the average scaled score was 107 for girls and 105 for boys

• girls from the Chinese and Indian ethnic group had the highest average scaled score (112), while boys from the White Gypsy and Roma ethnic group had the lowest (95)

4. By ethnicity and area

• Location: England
• Time period: 2018 to 2019 school year
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2019 (revised)

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

	All		Asian		Black		Chinese		Mixed		White		Other
Local authority	All %	All Pupils	Asian %	Asian Pupils	Black %	Black Pupils	Chinese %	Chinese Pupils	Mixed %	Mixed Pupils	White %	White Pupils	Other %	Other Pupils
Barking and Dagenham	83	2,898	89	681	88	959	100	10	79	243	76	959	67	32
Barnet	85	3,570	90	420	82	407	95	52	85	364	85	1,889	86	398
Barnsley	77	2,182	96	24	77	17	100	2	79	56	77	2,061	90	9
Bath and North East Somerset	80	1,454	89	25	73	8	80	4	86	81	80	1,318	67	6
Bedford	72	1,560	76	250	83	104	83	5	69	175	71	1,004	57	16
Bexley	82	2,745	91	247	90	545	100	56	82	193	77	1,640	78	46
Birmingham	79	12,863	84	5,076	81	1,707	89	77	78	1,084	74	4,098	78	665
Blackburn with Darwen	82	1,798	86	846	88	29	100	5	86	62	77	830	100	21
Blackpool	80	1,334	91	32	60	3	75	3	77	46	80	1,244	63	5
Bolton	81	3,191	85	820	74	184	100	6	84	131	80	1,981	74	55
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	79	3,019	92	121	88	14	93	13	81	184	78	2,627	78	31
Bracknell Forest	80	1,134	92	72	88	42	90	9	80	81	79	919	86	6
Bradford	78	6,171	83	2,800	83	109	100	7	76	309	74	2,839	75	76
Brent	84	3,065	87	962	85	744	100	9	85	240	81	746	80	343
Brighton and Hove	78	2,107	87	74	88	51	89	17	85	238	77	1,643	80	45
Bristol, City of	77	3,741	80	310	75	409	96	22	74	330	78	2,617	69	34
Bromley	83	3,103	94	201	85	312	96	27	83	340	82	2,121	76	52
Buckinghamshire	81	5,045	86	903	82	136	92	23	81	394	79	3,515	83	35
Bury	79	1,888	81	294	76	44	83	10	81	94	79	1,416	77	24
Calderdale	78	2,149	85	408	56	14	100	9	82	90	77	1,611	73	11
Cambridgeshire	76	5,387	91	270	83	71	92	44	80	302	75	4,587	80	49
Camden	84	1,296	86	295	84	244	94	16	85	145	84	511	83	67
Central Bedfordshire	73	2,549	86	64	87	77	100	4	75	193	72	2,174	83	15
Cheshire East	81	3,428	85	73	81	13	79	11	84	147	81	3,154	79	15
Cheshire West and Chester	79	3,165	92	55	63	12	76	13	79	84	79	2,976	81	17
City of London	100	28	100	11	100	2	N/A*	N/A*	100	4	100	9	100	2
Cornwall	73	4,285	73	11	67	2	89	8	78	112	73	4,088	77	17
County Durham	79	4,504	88	30	78	7	78	14	87	87	79	4,342	84	16
Coventry	79	3,470	83	792	84	448	90	19	81	238	76	1,895	69	49
Croydon	79	3,684	90	654	79	1,044	91	29	75	546	77	1,313	80	55
Cumbria	78	4,073	84	37	78	7	75	6	83	64	78	3,895	84	16
Darlington	79	1,014	84	26	71	5	100	1	80	24	79	942	82	9
Derby	75	2,493	85	530	86	112	100	10	77	192	72	1,568	73	54
Derbyshire	78	6,806	93	99	79	19	97	32	82	214	78	6,369	86	19
Devon	76	6,030	92	57	91	10	91	21	77	150	76	5,715	68	36
Doncaster	75	2,815	81	88	80	44	86	18	76	84	75	2,554	77	17
Dorset	76	2,954	93	25	83	10	100	12	78	95	75	2,794	100	3
Dudley	74	2,888	84	341	70	66	71	10	73	189	74	2,219	62	51
Ealing	86	3,742	89	1,114	85	586	100	18	87	313	85	1,118	84	556
East Riding of Yorkshire	78	2,863	94	16	71	5	100	2	86	67	78	2,736	78	14
East Sussex	73	3,993	85	98	78	32	93	13	75	242	72	3,552	53	17
Enfield	80	3,721	90	347	82	960	93	27	83	400	76	1,718	86	213
Essex	79	13,111	94	420	88	459	94	51	83	745	78	11,187	81	107
Gateshead	82	1,716	87	40	86	32	89	8	87	33	81	1,566	79	26
Gloucestershire	78	5,321	89	181	75	83	82	14	83	281	77	4,689	77	17
Greenwich	83	2,785	89	251	88	1,076	90	43	85	290	75	1,045	89	72
Hackney	78	2,022	83	258	78	736	91	10	80	214	74	666	81	124
Halton	75	1,199	86	6	100	1	N/A*	N/A*	79	26	75	1,153	40	2
Hammersmith and Fulham	84	1,107	86	69	79	295	100	3	74	136	89	451	87	130
Hampshire	79	11,671	89	426	87	161	83	44	83	486	78	10,418	88	84
Haringey	81	2,480	93	175	80	640	93	28	83	286	80	1,199	72	134
Harrow	89	2,606	93	1,300	84	238	100	8	85	217	85	701	87	106
Hartlepool	79	930	88	21	67	2	89	8	80	12	79	882	40	2
Havering	83	2,511	91	222	88	321	78	7	86	181	81	1,735	85	17
Herefordshire, County of	81	1,514	90	9	100	7	100	3	83	50	80	1,433	86	6
Hertfordshire	80	11,383	88	1,077	83	541	93	63	82	828	78	8,656	81	137
Hillingdon	84	3,294	91	978	85	375	100	6	85	399	79	1,210	86	278
Hounslow	85	2,800	91	983	87	343	94	17	82	238	78	861	86	324
Isle of Wight	70	903	80	8	67	2	100	5	74	37	70	846	100	1
Isles of Scilly	53	10	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	50	9	N/A*	N/A*
Islington	81	1,537	85	128	78	383	100	10	80	245	81	676	81	79
Kensington and Chelsea	88	835	86	36	90	164	100	3	89	166	88	303	88	145
Kent	77	13,845	92	668	88	465	100	51	82	804	76	11,614	84	133
Kingston upon Hull, City of	78	2,492	94	50	78	51	100	5	80	94	77	2,225	81	60
Kingston upon Thames	85	1,614	92	304	89	32	100	30	86	183	82	933	87	114
Kirklees	78	4,312	81	1,224	74	76	100	16	74	274	77	2,659	70	35
Knowsley	77	1,395	89	34	75	9	50	1	69	27	77	1,309	89	8
Lambeth	83	2,512	91	143	81	1,089	88	15	83	348	84	775	82	124
Lancashire	78	10,961	82	1,319	79	45	88	36	82	394	77	9,066	84	54
Leeds	76	7,133	81	895	77	587	88	46	74	469	76	4,964	69	126
Leicester	79	3,736	85	1,725	84	402	100	17	78	258	70	1,212	81	87
Leicestershire	80	6,133	91	520	85	77	86	24	85	320	79	5,133	80	24
Lewisham	80	2,765	91	187	79	1,084	87	41	78	438	79	887	79	89
Lincludingolnshire	75	6,165	97	84	81	34	92	23	80	199	74	5,741	83	29
Liverpool	76	3,952	83	197	80	200	89	70	78	231	75	3,099	68	145
Luton	80	2,591	82	1,260	83	285	90	9	82	230	74	745	83	43
Manchester	78	5,286	84	1,287	82	982	86	55	79	452	75	2,102	75	370
Medway	73	2,460	90	168	87	213	86	6	74	167	70	1,862	85	29
Merton	86	1,970	93	456	85	293	100	15	80	185	84	947	88	63
Middlesbrough	76	1,406	85	167	78	14	N/A*	N/A*	79	88	75	1,096	77	36
Milton Keynes	81	3,047	93	453	86	460	92	24	84	262	77	1,755	93	28
Newcastle upon Tyne	78	2,303	86	349	83	157	92	33	78	105	76	1,590	74	59
Newham	87	4,133	90	1,940	87	967	100	20	83	258	80	670	88	246
Norfolk	71	6,553	90	128	77	63	87	33	72	233	71	5,983	75	59
North East Lincludingolnshire	78	1,492	94	17	86	6	100	1	84	49	78	1,395	76	16
North Lincludingolnshire	78	1,533	86	65	75	9	100	3	76	26	78	1,409	71	10
North Somerset	76	1,829	82	27	92	11	88	7	85	78	75	1,696	75	3
North Tyneside	79	1,918	84	49	84	16	94	16	82	62	78	1,764	75	6
North Yorkshire	75	4,768	86	72	65	20	90	9	74	128	75	4,494	64	16
Northamptonshire	75	7,081	88	393	83	441	97	32	76	392	73	5,726	70	49
Northumberland	76	2,694	89	51	40	2	100	7	79	52	75	2,566	75	9
Nottingham	77	2,772	87	505	81	360	92	11	80	390	73	1,412	78	82
Nottinghamshire	78	7,245	89	254	78	86	92	24	81	337	77	6,443	80	47
Oldham	79	2,741	82	960	80	104	85	11	80	144	77	1,492	56	15
Oxfordshire	77	5,750	81	378	80	168	95	19	78	400	77	4,639	68	68
Peterborough	72	2,169	78	441	79	107	88	7	75	141	70	1,416	78	28
Plymouth	78	2,310	89	24	92	22	100	10	80	72	78	2,136	75	30
Portsmouth	73	1,621	90	108	84	64	56	5	87	104	70	1,284	81	35
Reading	78	1,470	88	334	83	159	100	11	75	162	74	760	88	21
Redbridge	86	3,492	90	1,963	83	389	100	21	81	250	79	780	85	46
Redcar and Cleveland	81	1,327	80	8	80	4	100	1	94	47	81	1,256	29	2
Richmond upon Thames	91	2,114	95	197	76	44	92	22	88	201	92	1,576	87	47
Rochdale	79	2,386	83	652	79	100	100	12	79	91	78	1,495	70	26
Rotherham	73	2,461	66	175	77	51	92	11	70	76	73	2,111	86	24
Rutland	84	334	100	5	67	4	N/A*	N/A*	100	12	84	308	100	4
Salford	79	2,360	93	95	84	144	100	1	80	193	79	1,844	64	63
Sandwell	78	3,712	85	1,179	79	385	92	22	76	337	74	1,681	78	89
Sefton	79	2,322	90	27	71	10	86	6	83	64	79	2,197	69	9
Sheffield	75	4,764	81	636	77	297	90	43	74	362	74	3,221	79	174
Shropshire	78	2,406	88	21	86	6	100	4	82	76	78	2,281	75	3
Slough	84	1,988	92	1,043	85	180	100	3	84	178	71	487	92	85
Solihull	83	2,174	91	311	88	50	97	29	84	185	80	1,541	91	29
Somerset	73	4,310	86	69	88	14	92	12	76	135	73	4,040	56	10
South Gloucestershire	78	2,581	88	92	84	38	91	10	86	147	77	2,260	77	20
South Tyneside	80	1,327	88	50	90	9	100	3	72	31	80	1,222	89	8
Southampton	74	2,091	78	288	81	73	94	15	73	128	73	1,542	77	40
Southend-on-Sea	80	1,759	91	128	84	54	96	22	82	121	78	1,402	94	15
Southwark	82	2,712	86	155	82	1,231	83	25	80	301	81	753	78	198
St. Helens	79	1,738	100	20	83	10	90	9	79	34	79	1,658	63	5
Staffordshire	79	7,702	85	376	70	54	89	33	75	265	79	6,897	83	38
Stockport	80	2,761	89	224	82	37	91	20	79	143	80	2,296	78	25
Stockton-on-Tees	81	2,037	85	117	89	24	71	5	87	58	81	1,821	71	5
Stoke-on-Trent	75	2,508	82	412	82	106	92	11	82	130	73	1,806	73	41
Suffolk	73	5,862	87	127	77	66	50	2	78	362	73	5,173	78	58
Sunderland	79	2,582	91	120	96	27	69	9	82	45	79	2,375	33	1
Surrey	82	10,207	89	773	84	193	96	67	85	669	81	8,301	80	106
Sutton	85	2,035	94	398	89	150	93	38	86	202	81	1,190	94	32
Swindon	78	2,260	86	298	85	77	87	13	75	135	76	1,697	83	20
Tameside	79	2,335	86	268	86	72	100	13	83	117	78	1,833	79	19
Telford and Wrekin	78	1,792	81	120	87	76	92	12	89	104	77	1,466	83	5
Thurrock	81	1,958	93	125	91	362	100	16	89	127	77	1,287	81	21
Torbay	74	1,074	92	23	100	1	75	3	67	28	74	1,005	64	7
Tower Hamlets	85	2,806	87	1,888	83	278	100	11	79	169	76	348	89	97
Trafford	86	2,600	92	408	82	113	95	59	88	204	85	1,720	86	70
Wakefield	76	3,058	81	133	89	50	95	21	75	93	76	2,742	62	16
Walsall	77	2,928	86	808	78	153	93	13	73	172	74	1,738	61	31
Waltham Forest	84	2,787	88	769	82	526	93	27	86	344	81	999	82	106
Wandsworth	83	1,981	86	380	79	437	100	10	81	241	83	816	82	73
Warrington	83	2,177	89	78	83	19	100	6	96	73	83	1,976	65	13
Warwickshire	79	5,013	90	345	84	66	91	20	83	263	77	4,251	90	27
West Berkshire	75	1,458	85	46	70	16	100	6	78	81	74	1,291	80	8
West Sussex	75	6,974	84	367	78	98	91	20	80	367	75	6,010	79	41
Westminster	86	1,224	88	169	83	213	92	11	87	130	85	317	87	372
Wigan	79	3,031	81	35	74	42	67	4	84	82	80	2,838	68	26
Wiltshire	76	4,075	92	61	75	67	100	16	84	158	75	3,704	77	37
Windsor and Maidenhead	78	1,236	82	208	82	18	100	6	81	112	76	857	90	19
Wirral	75	2,821	90	81	72	13	95	19	80	78	75	2,611	56	5
Wokingham	85	1,809	93	285	98	61	100	14	86	144	82	1,270	94	17
Wolverhampton	79	2,646	84	656	83	329	88	7	75	297	76	1,308	77	36
Worcestershire	75	4,601	81	205	86	25	100	10	76	184	74	4,120	75	18
York	78	1,543	90	37	86	6	100	4	79	48	77	1,429	82	9

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Grammar, punctuation and spelling results for 10 to 11 year olds By ethnicity and area Summary

The data shows that:

• out of all local authorities, White pupils were most likely to meet the expected standard in Richmond upon Thames (92%) and least likely to in Isle of Wight, Leicester, Medway, Peterborough, and Portsmouth (70%) – this doesn't include City of London and Isles of Scilly which only have one school each, and whose results need to be treated with caution
• figures for other ethnic groups are based on small numbers of pupils, so reliable generalisations can't be made

5. Methodology

The key stage 2 datasets combine information from the following 2 data sources:

• prior attainment records (key stage 1 results)
• school census records

Key stage 2 data from the Standard Testing Agency is matched to school census records to identify pupils’ ethnicities and free school meal eligibility.

Only pupils with a valid outcome are included in the calculations for that subject.

Valid outcomes are:

• achieved the higher standard
• achieved the expected standard
• working towards the expected standard
• special consideration
• absent
• working below the standard of the test
• unable to access the test

Rounding

Percentages given in charts, tables and downloads are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Related publications

Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2019

Quality and methodology information

6. Data sources

Source

National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2019 (revised)

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Education

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

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

7. Download the data

KS2 Grammar, punctuation and spelling -- National - Spreadsheet (csv) 130 KB

This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, time_type, geography, geography_type, geography_code, gender, age, FSM, value, value_type, denominator, numerator

KS2 Grammar, punctuation and spelling -- Local authority - Spreadsheet (csv) 868 KB

This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, time_type, geography, geography_type, geography_code, gender, age, value, value_type, denominator, numerator

Publication release date: 13 May 2020

full page history

1. 13 May 2020 Updated with the latest available data (for the 2018 to 2019 school year).

From: Department for Education

Previous editions:

1. 19 September 2019
2. 14 May 2019
3. 5 March 2018

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