Maths attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2)

Published 24 August 2018

Last updated 14 May 2019 - see all updates

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• overall, in 2016/17, 75% of pupils met the expected standard in maths by the end of key stage 2 (when they are usually aged 10 or 11 years), and 23% met the higher standard
• pupils from the Chinese ethnic group were most likely out of all ethnic groups to meet both the expected standard and higher standard; they also made the most progress between key stage 1 and key stage 2, and had the highest average ‘scaled score’
• Gypsy/Roma children were least likely to meet both the expected standard and higher standard; they also had the lowest average scaled score
• children from a Mixed White and Black Caribbean background made the least progress between key stage 1 and key stage 2
• in most ethnic groups, a higher percentage of boys than girls met the higher standard
• the local authorities with the highest percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard were the City of London (where 92% did so) and Kensington and Chelsea (89%); the data for the City of London is based on small numbers of pupils and is therefore highly variable over time

Things you need to know

In 2016/17, there were 599,683 pupils in key stage 2 at state-funded schools in England, and ethnicity was known for 593,776 (99%) of them.

Of those whose ethnicity was known, 75% were White, 11% were Asian, 6% were Black, 6% were Mixed, 2% belonged to 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 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 result for a particular subject are excluded from the total. For more about valid results, see the Methodology section.

What the data measures

This data measures the maths 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.

Standards in maths are divided into 2 categories:

• expected standard – to meet this, pupils must have achieved a ‘scaled score’ of 100 or more
• higher standard – to meet this, pupils must have achieved a ‘scaled score’ of 110 or more

For each ethnic group, there are also figures for:

• average scaled score
• progress score

The average scaled score measures the average attainment of pupils in key stage 2 maths 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 progress score measures the progress that pupils make between the end of key stage 1 (primary school year 2) and the end of key stage 2 (year 6). A pupil’s results are compared with the actual achievements of other pupils nationally with similar key stage 1 attainment.

This data shows an average progress score for each ethnic group. A progress score of 0 (the national average) means pupils are making the expected amount of progress. A positive score (0.1 and above) means they are making more progress than expected, and a negative score (-0.1 and below) less progress than expected.

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 mathematics, and average scaled score and progress score, by ethnicity

Ethnicity	Expected standard	Higher standard	Average scaled score	Progress score
All	75	23	104	0.0
Asian	80	31	106	1.9
Bangladeshi	80	28	105	1.9
Indian	86	42	108	2.5
Pakistani	74	22	104	1.1
Asian other	84	39	107	2.9
Black	74	21	104	0.6
Black African	77	24	105	1.2
Black Caribbean	67	13	102	-0.9
Black other	71	19	103	0.3
Chinese	92	56	110	4.6
Mixed	75	24	104	0.0
Mixed White/Asian	81	32	106	0.7
Mixed White/Black African	75	21	104	-0.1
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	68	15	102	-1.2
Mixed other	77	26	105	0.4
White	74	21	104	-0.4
White British	75	21	104	-0.5
White Irish	80	29	106	0.8
White Irish Traveller	34	5	97	-0.3
White Gypsy/Roma	31	3	96	-0.7
White other	74	24	104	2.2
Other	76	25	105	2.4

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Maths attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) By ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• overall in 2016/17, 75% of pupils met the expected standard in maths by the end of key stage 2 (when they are usually aged 10 to 11 years), and 23% met the higher standard
• 92% of pupils from the Chinese ethnic group met the expected standard and 56% met the higher standard (the highest percentages of any ethnic group)
• 31% of Gypsy/Roma pupils met the expected standard and 3% met the higher standard (the lowest percentages of any ethnic group); Gypsy/Roma pupils also had the lowest average scaled score (96)
• pupils from the Chinese ethnic group had the highest average scaled score (110), and made the most progress between key stage 1 and key stage 2 (with a progress score of 4.6 points)
• pupils from a Mixed White and Black Caribbean background made the least progress in maths between key stage 1 and key stage 2, with a progress score of -1.2

3. By ethnicity and area

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

Percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in maths by ethnicity and area

Local authority	All	Asian	Black	Chinese	Mixed	White
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Barking and Dagenham	81	87	81		78	78
Barnet	82	87	76		79	84
Barnsley	75		57	N/A*	76	75
Bath and North East Somerset	75		23		68	76
Bedford	68	67	66		70	68
Bexley	77	92	79	100	75	74
Birmingham	73	76	71	92	67	71
Blackburn with Darwen	76	79	61		79	74
Blackpool	78	86			86	77
Bolton	76	81	68		72	76
Bournemouth	77	93		100	81	75
Bracknell Forest	71	87	78		73	69
Bradford	73	75	64		68	70
Brent	78	82	73	100	75	81
Brighton and Hove	75	76	68	85	78	75
Bristol, City of	74	77	64		67	75
Bromley	86	92	86	91	85	85
Buckinghamshire	76	77	71	100	69	76
Bury	79	78	71	100	74	79
Calderdale	74	72	57		78	74
Cambridgeshire	73	77	66		76	72
Camden	82	84	82	100	79	83
Central Bedfordshire	73	81	72	100	72	73
Cheshire East	77	90	64	100	70	77
Cheshire West and Chester	74	88	63		73	73
City of London	92			N/A*
Cornwall	71	70			77	71
County Durham	78	89	70	100	91	78
Coventry	73	81	72	100	71	70
Croydon	78	87	71	88	76	79
Cumbria	74	90			84	73
Darlington	78	92		100	82	77
Derby	71	75	68		73	69
Derbyshire	74	81	84	82	73	74
Devon	74	87	64	70	70	75
Doncaster	70	70	61		77	70
Dorset	72	76			75	71
Dudley	71	73	68		72	71
Ealing	81	82	76	100	78	84
East Riding of Yorkshire	74				80	74
East Sussex	70	80	58	100	71	70
Enfield	75	87	73	100	79	74
Essex	77	88	79	87	77	76
Gateshead	80	78	71	100	87	80
Gloucestershire	76	86	68		74	75
Greenwich	82	91	82		82	79
Hackney	83	87	78		84	85
Halton	70				74	70
Hammersmith and Fulham	86	84	85		86	85
Hampshire	77	88	81	90	78	77
Haringey	79	86	73	88	78	82
Harrow	85	90	73	100	82	83
Hartlepool	81	77		100		81
Havering	83	86	85	82	84	82
Herefordshire, County of	72				68	72
Hertfordshire	77	85	74		76	76
Hillingdon	80	87	74		81	75
Hounslow	81	86	76	100	81	77
Isle of Wight	69	77			73	69
Isles of Scilly	71	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	71
Islington	79	82	76	100	78	81
Kensington and Chelsea	89	81	84	100	90	91
Kent	76	89	82		78	75
Kingston upon Hull, City of	76	88	74		86	75
Kingston upon Thames	82	85	74	100	84	81
Kirklees	73	74	61		64	74
Knowsley	74	82		N/A*	64	74
Lambeth	83	89	81	100	82	86
Lancashire	76	74	71		74	76
Leeds	71	71	66	91	66	72
Leicester	75	82	79		74	66
Leicestershire	75	80	73		74	74
Lewisham	74	86	70	93	74	77
Lincolnshire	71	93	79		78	71
Liverpool	73	84	73	92	76	72
Luton	73	74	70		77	73
Manchester	75	76	76	89	71	76
Medway	71	84	82		73	69
Merton	81	92	75	100	79	78
Middlesbrough	76	75	67	N/A*	68	77
Milton Keynes	76	90	75		75	74
Newcastle upon Tyne	79	83	78		82	78
Newham	83	85	83	100	84	80
Norfolk	69	85	50	88	67	69
North East Lincolnshire	73				78	73
North Lincolnshire	76	83	46		83	75
North Somerset	73	64	58	100	74	73
North Tyneside	78	83	86		84	78
North Yorkshire	72	80	62		72	72
Northamptonshire	71	72	67	88	72	71
Northumberland	73	87		100	80	72
Nottingham	75	80	75		76	73
Nottinghamshire	76	81	63		73	76
Oldham	74	74	82		76	74
Oxfordshire	76	74	67	77	77	76
Peterborough	68	71	72	100	67	67
Plymouth	73	100	63	75	77	73
Poole	72	84			75	72
Portsmouth	71	79	77	67	83	70
Reading	73	78	71		64	74
Redbridge	81	85	69		80	79
Redcar and Cleveland	83	100	N/A*		83	83
Richmond upon Thames	87	88	71		86	88
Rochdale	71	73	66		77	71
Rotherham	76	78	74	100	82	76
Rutland	78					78
Salford	75	84	74		69	75
Sandwell	73	80	68		72	71
Sefton	80	86		63	75	80
Sheffield	74	78	74		68	73
Shropshire	75	65	50	100	82	75
Slough	77	82	75		75	70
Solihull	78	86	77		71	77
Somerset	72	80	67		71	72
South Gloucestershire	73	84	63		68	73
South Tyneside	79	82	79		88	79
Southampton	75	81	82	100	76	74
Southend-on-Sea	77	86	85		86	75
Southwark	79	88	75		77	81
St. Helens	73				72	73
Staffordshire	76	78	73	87	77	76
Stockport	77	78	79	81	80	77
Stockton-on-Tees	78	83	81		87	78
Stoke-on-Trent	72	73	70		75	71
Suffolk	70	82	72		71	70
Sunderland	80	78		100	80	80
Surrey	79	87	76	92	81	78
Sutton	84	97	84	88	83	80
Swindon	76	86	75		75	75
Tameside	74	73	57	70	72	74
Telford and Wrekin	73	75	78	100	72	73
Thurrock	76	84	84		72	74
Torbay	73				70	73
Tower Hamlets	81	83	79		74	77
Trafford	83	90	75		81	82
Wakefield	71	68	71		73	71
Walsall	68	74	72	100	65	65
Waltham Forest	80	81	77		77	82
Wandsworth	80	82	74		75	85
Warrington	84	91		100	86	83
Warwickshire	74	84	65		75	73
West Berkshire	73	80	77		71	73
West Sussex	71	82	59	86	74	71
Westminster	84	84	80	100	83	85
Wigan	79	84	74		83	79
Wiltshire	72	91	49		71	72
Windsor and Maidenhead	76	85	67		75	75
Wirral	71	78			84	71
Wokingham	82	92	86		79	80
Wolverhampton	76	82	78		72	73
Worcestershire	70	68	81	100	74	70
York	76	75	67		77	76

^* Not applicable Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Maths attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) By ethnicity and area 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 maths by the end of key stage 2 – this was the highest percentage out of all local authorities, followed by Kensington and Chelsea (also in London), where 89% of pupils met the standard
• the local authorities where the lowest percentage of pupils met the expected standard were Peterborough (in the East of England), Bedford (East of England) and Walsall (West Midlands) – 68% of pupils met the standard in these local authorities
• 100% of Asian pupils met the expected standard in Redcar and Cleveland (North East) and Plymouth (South West), while 64% did so in North Somerset (South West) – these were the highest and lowest percentages of Asian pupils meeting the standard out of all local authorities
• 86% of Black pupils met the expected standard in Wokingham (South East), North Tyneside (North East) and Bromley (London), while 23% did so in Bath and North East Somerset (South West)
• 100% of Chinese pupils met the expected standard in maths in 36 local authorities (out of the 62 for which data was available), while 63% did so in Sefton (North West)
• 91% of pupils with Mixed ethnicity met the expected standard in County Durham (North East), while 64% did so in Kirklees (Yorkshire and the Humber), Knowsley (North West) and Reading (South East)
• 91% of White pupils met the expected standard in Kensington and Chelsea (London), while 65% did so in Walsall (West 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 mathematics, and average scaled score and progress score, by ethnicity and gender

	Boys				Girls
Ethnicity	Boys Expected standard	Boys Higher standard	Boys Average scaled score	Boys Progress score	Girls Expected standard	Girls Higher standard	Girls Average scaled score	Girls Progress score
All	75	24	104	0.6	75	21	104	-0.7
Asian	80	33	106	2.6	80	29	105	1.1
Bangladeshi	80	30	106	2.7	80	25	105	1.0
Indian	86	43	108	3.1	86	40	107	1.9
Pakistani	74	24	104	1.9	74	19	104	0.2
Asian other	84	40	108	3.5	84	38	107	2.2
Black	73	21	104	1.1	76	21	104	0.2
Black African	76	24	105	1.7	79	23	105	0.8
Black Caribbean	65	14	102	-0.6	69	13	102	-1.3
Black other	70	18	103	0.6	73	19	104	0.0
Chinese	91	58	111	5.3	93	54	110	3.9
Mixed	74	25	104	0.6	76	22	104	-0.6
Mixed White/Asian	80	33	106	1.3	82	30	106	0.0
Mixed White/Black African	74	23	104	0.5	75	19	104	-0.7
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	67	16	102	-0.7	69	14	102	-1.7
Mixed other	76	28	105	1.0	77	24	104	-0.2
White	74	23	104	0.3	74	19	104	-1.0
White British	74	23	104	0.1	75	19	104	-1.2
White Irish	80	32	106	1.4	80	25	105	0.1
White Irish Traveller	37	5	98	0.5	31	5	96	-1.0
White Gypsy/Roma	31	3	96	-0.4	31	3	96	-1.0
White other	74	25	105	2.9	74	22	104	1.5
Other	76	27	105	3.0	77	23	105	1.7

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Maths attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) By ethnicity and gender Summary

This data shows that:

• overall, in 2016/17, 75% of both boys and girls met the expected standard in maths by the end of key stage 2 (when they are aged 10 to 11 years); 24% of boys and 21% of girls met the higher standard
• 93% of girls from the Chinese ethnic group met the expected standard, and 58% of boys from the Chinese ethnic group met the higher standard; these were the highest percentages in any ethnic group across boys and girls
• 31% of Gypsy/Roma girls, Irish Traveller girls and Gypsy/Roma boys met the expected standard, the lowest percentages in any ethnic groups across boys and girls; the same groups also had the lowest average scaled score, at 96
• boys from the Chinese ethnic group made the most progress in maths between key stage 1 and key stage 2, with a progress score of 5.3 points; they also had the highest average scaled score (111), compared with an overall average of 104
• girls from the Mixed White and Black Caribbean group made the least progress in maths between key stage 1 and key stage 2, with a progress score of -1.7

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

Confidence intervals:

Confidence intervals are available for the ‘progress score’ if you download the data. These confidence intervals are calculated for a school based on a specific group of pupils. A school may have been just as effective, but have performed differently with a different set of pupils. Similarly, some pupils may be more likely to achieve high or low results, independently of which school they attend. To account for this natural uncertainty, it is best to interpret these school scores alongside their associated confidence intervals.

A 95% confidence interval around progress scores means that if the progress scores of 100 random schools were taken, then 95 times out of 100 their progress score would fall between the upper and lower confidence interval. But 5 times out of 100 it would fall outside this range.

School scores are interpreted alongside their associated confidence intervals in the following manner: If the lower confidence interval is greater than zero, it can be interpreted as meaning that the school has achieved greater than average progress compared to pupils with similar starting points nationally. Similarly, if the upper confidence interval is below zero, then the school has made less than average progress. Where the 95% confidence intervals overlap zero, this means that the school’s progress score is not significantly different from the national average.

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 opens in a new window or tab) (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.

Rounding

Percentages given in charts, tables and downloads are rounded to the nearest whole number. Progress scores are given to 1 decimal place.

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

The Department for Education (DfE) published an updated version of these statistics 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

Maths attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) - national - Spreadsheet (csv) 118 KB

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

Maths attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) - local authorities - Spreadsheet (csv) 328 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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