Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2)

Published 24 August 2018

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• overall, in 2016/17, 77% of pupils met the expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling by the end of key stage 2 (when they are usually aged 10 or 11 years) and 31% of pupils met the higher standard
• pupils from the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups were the most likely to meet the expected standard, out of all ethnic groups; pupils from the Chinese group were also most likely to meet the higher standard
• Gypsy/Roma pupils were least likely to meet both the expected and higher standards
• across all ethnic groups, girls were more likely than boys to meet both the expected and higher standards
• Chinese and Indian girls had the highest average scaled score, at 111 (5 points higher than the overall average of 106)
• Gypsy/Roma and Traveller of Irish heritage boys had the lowest average scaled score, at 95 and 97 respectively

Things you need to know

In 2016/17, there were 599,694 pupils in key stage 2 at state-funded schools in England, and ethnicity was known for 594,381 (99%) of them.

Of those whose ethnicity was known, 75% were White, 11% were Asian, 6% were Black, 6% were Mixed, 2% were from the Other ethnic group and 0.4% were Chinese.

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).

Pupil numbers for key stage 2 vary between measures of attainment 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 test results, see the Methodology section.

What the data measures

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

The data covers the academic year 2016/17 (September 2016 to July 2017). Data for the academic year 2015/16 is available in the download file.

The standards are divided in 2 categories:

• expected standard – to meet this, pupils must have achieved a ‘scaled score’ of 100 or more in their grammar, punctuation and spelling tests
• higher standard – to meet this, pupils must have achieved a ‘scaled score’ of 110 or more in their grammar, punctuation and spelling tests

The average scaled score measures the average attainment of pupils in key stage 2 grammar, punctuation and spelling tests. Results range from 80 to 120. 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. You can 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, 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:

Asian/Asian British:

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

Black/African/Caribbean/Black British:

• Black African
• Black Caribbean
• Other Black background

Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups:

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

White:

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

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. By ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: 2016/17
• Source: Key stage 2 statistics

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	77	31	106
Asian	84	43	108
Bangladeshi	85	44	109
Indian	88	52	110
Pakistani	80	35	107
Asian other	85	49	109
Black	80	36	107
Black African	83	40	108
Black Caribbean	74	26	105
Black other	78	33	107
Chinese	88	56	110
Mixed	79	34	107
Mixed White/Asian	84	41	108
Mixed White/Black African	80	33	106
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	73	25	105
Mixed other	80	36	107
White	76	28	105
White British	76	28	106
White Irish	82	39	107
White Irish Traveller	33	6	98
White Gypsy/Roma	29	4	97
White other	72	29	105
Other	76	34	107

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary

The data shows that:

• overall, in 2016/17, 77% of pupils met the expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling by the end of key stage 2 (when they are usually aged 10 to 11 years), and 31% of pupils met the higher standard
• 88% of pupils from the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups met the expected standard (the highest percentages of any ethnic group); Chinese and Indian pupils also had the highest percentage of pupils meeting the higher standard (at 56% and 52% respectively)
• 29% of Gypsy/Roma pupils met the expected standard and 4% met the higher standard (the lowest percentages of any ethnic group)
• pupils from the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups had the highest average scaled scores, at 110 (compared with the overall average of 106); Gypsy/Roma pupils had the lowest average scaled score, at 97

3. By ethnicity and area

• Location: England
• Time period: 2016/17
• Source: Key stage 2 statistics

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	81	87	87		79	75
Barnet	85	90	84	93	83	85
Barnsley	75		57	N/A*	85	75
Bath and North East Somerset	79	86	54		79	79
Bedford	72	77	75		75	70
Bexley	80	90	86	100	82	76
Birmingham	78	83	78	89	76	74
Blackburn with Darwen	79	83	79		77	75
Blackpool	78	83			84	78
Bolton	79	86	72		81	77
Bournemouth	77	86			84	76
Bracknell Forest	76	87	89		86	74
Bradford	75	80	70		75	72
Brent	81	83	81	100	78	82
Brighton and Hove	78	82	74	75	78	78
Bristol, City of	76	82	73		74	76
Bromley	85	91	87	91	87	83
Buckinghamshire	79	84	79	100	73	79
Bury	80	81	80	100	77	80
Calderdale	76	80	79		76	74
Cambridgeshire	75	82	72		80	75
Camden	83	87	85	100	77	81
Central Bedfordshire	73	83	82		71	73
Cheshire East	81	93		100	86	80
Cheshire West and Chester	79	94	63		77	78
City of London	92			N/A*
Cornwall	73	74			84	72
County Durham	79	89		100	89	79
Coventry	78	86	82	100	77	75
Croydon	80	89	77		76	79
Cumbria	76	83			89	76
Darlington	78	85			89	78
Derby	74	80	79		74	72
Derbyshire	76	88		82	80	76
Devon	76		64	60	77	76
Doncaster	72	80	70		81	71
Dorset	73	76	100		77	73
Dudley	73	77	74		74	72
Ealing	84	86	79	100	83	86
East Riding of Yorkshire	77				85	77
East Sussex	71	77	67	100	76	71
Enfield	78	89	79		83	75
Essex	79	91	88	89	81	78
Gateshead	82	76	80	100	85	82
Gloucestershire	77	90	74	72	73	77
Greenwich	82	90	86	100	83	75
Hackney	84	89	82		84	82
Halton	75				76	75
Hammersmith and Fulham	87	83	87		88	86
Hampshire	78	92	88	90	81	77
Haringey	81	89	80	79	82	81
Harrow	87	92	80		86	83
Hartlepool	81	86				81
Havering	84	90	90	82	84	83
Herefordshire, County of	76	100			79	76
Hertfordshire	80	87	85	93	80	79
Hillingdon	83	89	83		88	78
Hounslow	84	88	83	100	85	79
Isle of Wight	70				71	70
Isles of Scilly	76	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	76
Islington	81	87	81	100	82	80
Kensington and Chelsea	91	87	90	100	92	91
Kent	76	91	87	84	82	75
Kingston upon Hull, City of	76	88	68		87	75
Kingston upon Thames	86	91	85	100	87	85
Kirklees	76	79	70	86	69	75
Knowsley	74	86		N/A*	78	74
Lambeth	85	90	83	83	86	86
Lancashire	78	80	73	89	80	77
Leeds	75	78	74	86	72	74
Leicester	76	84	82		77	66
Leicestershire	77	86	81	100	77	76
Lewisham	77	86	76	91	77	76
Lincolnshire	74		90		84	73
Liverpool	75	86	76	88	80	74
Luton	79	82	81		79	74
Manchester	79	82	81	81	77	77
Medway	70	87	84		71	68
Merton	84	92	81		82	80
Middlesbrough	78	82	71	N/A*	72	77
Milton Keynes	80	91	85		78	76
Newcastle upon Tyne	78	83	85	83	79	77
Newham	86	88	86	100	85	77
Norfolk	70	89	70	85	70	70
North East Lincolnshire	74				83	74
North Lincolnshire	76	94	62		78	76
North Somerset	75	76	67	100	81	75
North Tyneside	79	87			84	78
North Yorkshire	74	83	81	82	79	74
Northamptonshire	74	78	77	88	76	73
Northumberland	74	91		100	78	73
Nottingham	76	84	79	72	76	72
Nottinghamshire	77	85	71	91	77	77
Oldham	77	79	82		75	76
Oxfordshire	77	80	75		81	76
Peterborough	70	78	72		76	68
Plymouth	76	100	63	75	85	76
Poole	72	88			84	71
Portsmouth	75	83	84	56	80	73
Reading	78	83	81		68	78
Redbridge	84	87	80	85	84	78
Redcar and Cleveland	83		N/A*		86	83
Richmond upon Thames	90	92	84		90	89
Rochdale	77	82	82		81	75
Rotherham	76	81	85		82	75
Rutland	81	100				80
Salford	78	93	81		80	77
Sandwell	77	85	78		77	73
Sefton	80	89	77	63	78	80
Sheffield	74	81	80		73	73
Shropshire	75	76	50		85	75
Slough	81	88	83		78	69
Solihull	79	87	79		75	78
Somerset	74	88	67		75	74
South Gloucestershire	78	90	83	100	77	77
South Tyneside	79	90	100		91	78
Southampton	76	81	80	100	79	74
Southend-on-Sea	80	93	94		85	78
Southwark	81	88	81	88	79	79
St. Helens	78				78	77
Staffordshire	78	82	82	87	80	78
Stockport	80	84	79		82	79
Stockton-on-Tees	80	90			92	79
Stoke-on-Trent	73	77	77	77	74	71
Suffolk	72	87	80		74	72
Sunderland	81	83		100	78	81
Surrey	81	89	82	92	85	80
Sutton	84	96	91	88	86	80
Swindon	79	89	82		78	77
Tameside	77	82	63		79	77
Telford and Wrekin	77	80	83		79	76
Thurrock	78	93	89		80	75
Torbay	76	100			86	75
Tower Hamlets	84	87	84	83	75	74
Trafford	85	92	80	92	85	84
Wakefield	72	76	80	55	75	71
Walsall	74	83	79	100	72	71
Waltham Forest	82	85	80	91	81	80
Wandsworth	84	84	81		81	86
Warrington	83	93	80	100	89	82
Warwickshire	77	92	76		83	76
West Berkshire	76	89	82		84	75
West Sussex	74	83	73	86	80	73
Westminster	86	90	88	100	87	86
Wigan	80		84		83	80
Wiltshire	74	92	59	71	76	74
Windsor and Maidenhead	79	91	63		80	78
Wirral	75	85	100	100	87	75
Wokingham	85	95	93		86	83
Wolverhampton	79	86	85		75	75
Worcestershire	73	78	71	100	77	72
York	76	83			78	76

^* Not applicable Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary

Except for the information for White pupils, the statistics quoted for attainment by ethnicity and local authority are often based on small numbers of pupils and are therefore highly variable over time. The number of pupils from different ethnic groups varies considerably between local authorities, and data isn't published for some local authorities where the number of pupils is 5 or fewer. For these reasons, you should avoid comparing differences in attainment between local authorities.

The Isle of Scilly had 17 pupils in year 6, and the City of London had 26 – results for these local authorities are particularly variable, and any comparisons with them are not recommended.

The data shows that:

• in 2016/17, 92% of pupils in the City of London local authority met the expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling by the end of key stage 2 – this was the highest percentage out of all local authorities, followed by Kensington and Chelsea (London), where 91% of pupils met the standard
• the local authorities where the lowest percentage of pupils met the expected standard (at 70%) were Norfolk and Peterborough (both in the East of England), and the Isle of Wight, and Medway (both in the South East)
• 100% of Asian pupils met the expected standard in Rutland (East Midlands), Herefordshire (West Midlands), Plymouth, and Torbay (both in the South West), while 74% did so in Cornwall (South West) – these were the highest and lowest percentages of Asian pupils meeting the standard out of all local authorities
• 100% of Black pupils met the expected standard in South Tyneside (North East), Wirral (North West) and Dorset (South West), while 50% did so in Shropshire (West Midlands)
• 100% of Chinese pupils met the expected standard in 28 local authorities (out of the 74 for which data was available), while 55% did so in Wakefield (in Yorkshire and the Humber)
• 92% of pupils with Mixed ethnicity met the expected standard in Kensington and Chelsea (London) and Stockton-on-Tees (North East), while 68% did so in Reading (South East)
• 91% of White pupils met the expected standard in Kensington and Chelsea (London), while 66% did so in Leicester (East Midlands)

4. By ethnicity and gender

• Location: England
• Time period: 2016/17
• Source: Key stage 2 statistics

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	Expected standard	Higher standard	Average scaled score	Expected standard	Higher standard	Average scaled score
All	73	27	105	81	35	107
Asian	80	38	107	87	48	109
Bangladeshi	82	38	108	89	49	109
Indian	85	47	109	91	58	111
Pakistani	75	30	106	84	40	108
Asian other	83	44	109	88	54	110
Black	76	32	106	85	41	108
Black African	79	36	107	87	45	109
Black Caribbean	68	20	104	80	32	106
Black other	74	28	106	82	37	107
Chinese	85	51	110	91	61	111
Mixed	75	29	106	84	39	108
Mixed White/Asian	80	35	107	87	47	109
Mixed White/Black African	76	28	106	84	37	107
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	67	20	104	80	30	106
Mixed other	77	31	106	84	41	108
White	71	24	105	80	33	106
White British	72	24	105	81	33	106
White Irish	78	35	107	85	43	108
White Irish Traveller	28	4	97	39	9	99
White Gypsy/Roma	24	3	95	34	5	98
White other	69	26	105	76	33	106
Other	73	31	106	80	38	107

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary

The data shows that:

• in every ethnic group, a higher percentage of girls than boys met the expected and higher standards in grammar, punctuation and spelling in 2016/17
• overall, 81% of girls met the expected standard compared with 73% of boys, and 35% of girls met the higher standard compared with 27% of boys
• 91% of girls from the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups met the expected standard, the highest percentage of any ethnic group across both boys and girls
• 24% of Gypsy/Roma boys met the expected standard, the lowest percentage of any ethnic group across both boys and girls
• the biggest gap between girls and boys, at 13 percentage points, was found in the Mixed White and Black Caribbean ethnic group, where 80% of girls and 67% of boys met the expected standard
• the smallest attainment gap, at 2 percentage points, was found in the Gypsy/Roma ethnic group, where 5% of girls and 3% of boys met the higher standard
• girls from the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups had the highest average scaled score (at 111, compared with the overall average of 106), and Gypsy/Roma boys had the lowest average scaled score (95)

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 75% 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.

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

Changes to assessment:

Because of a change in the way pupils are assessed, data published before 2016 is not comparable to 2015/16 and 2016/17 data.

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

This measure has been replaced by 'value added' progress measures in reading, writing and mathematics.

There is no 'target' for the amount of progress an individual pupil is expected to make, and any amount of progress a pupil makes contributes towards the school's progress scores.

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).

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).

Rounding

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

Related publications

Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2017

Quality and methodology information

6. Data sources

Source

Key stage 2 statistics

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Education

Note on corrections or updates

Revised figures were published by DfE on 25 January 2018.

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

Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) - national - Spreadsheet (csv) 98 KB

This file contains the following variables: Measure, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_Type, Time, Time_Type, Geography (England), Geography_Code, Gender, Value, Value_Type, Denominator.

Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) - local authorities - Spreadsheet (csv) 347 KB

This file contains the following variables: Measure, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_Type, Time, Time_Type, Region, Local_Authority, Local_Authority_Code, Value, Value_Type, Denominator.

Publication release date: 24 August 2018

Updated: 14 May 2019

full page history

1. 14 May 2019 Some headings have been changed. No data or commentary has been updated.
2. 24 August 2018 Updated to include new data (for 2016/17)

From: Department for Education

Previous edition:

1. 5 March 2018

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