Reading attainments for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2)

Published 10 October 2017

Last updated 11 October 2017 - see all updates

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• in 2015/16, there were 586,177 pupils in state-funded mainstream schools in England in key stage 2, of which ethnicity was known for 581,298 (99%)

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

• across all ethnic groups, 66% of pupils reached the expected standard for reading and 19% met the higher standard

• Irish pupils were most likely to reach the expected standard, and Chinese pupils were most likely to reach the higher standard

• Irish pupils and Chinese pupils shared the highest average scaled score, but Irish pupils made the most progress in reading between key stage 1 and key stage 2

• Gypsy/Roma children were least likely to meet both the expected and higher standards, and had the lowest average scaled score

• children from a Traveller of Irish Heritage background made the least progress in reading between key stage 1 and key stage 2

• across all ethnic groups, girls were more likely to meet the expected and higher standards in reading, had a higher average scale score and made more progress between key stage 1 and key stage 2 than boys

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).

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 Methodology.

What the data measures

This data measures the reading 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.)

Standards in reading are divided into 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 reading tests.

To reach the higher standard, pupils must have achieved a scaled score of 110 or more in their key stage 2 reading tests.

The measure also looks at:

• average scaled score
• progress score

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

The progress score measures the progress that pupils make from the end of key stage 1 to the end of key stage 2, when they leave primary school.

The pupils’ results are compared to the actual achievements of other pupils nationally with similar key stage 1 attainment. This data measures the average progress score of all children in England with the score for particular ethnic groups.

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 data is published in the Department for Education’s statistical publication, National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2016 (revised).

The ethnic categories used in this data

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

• Travellers of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma children have been separated into two 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 categories where possible and when the data is available. The 6 broad categories used are as follows:

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

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 these levels.

The 5 broad categories are as follows:

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

2. Reading attainments 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 reaching the expected and higher standard in reading and average scaled score and progress score by ethnicity

Ethnicity	Expected standard	Higher standard	Average scaled score	Progress score
All	66	19	103	0.0
Asian	63	16	102	-0.1
Bangladeshi	64	14	102	0.3
Indian	71	22	104	0.1
Pakistani	56	11	100	-0.6
Asian other	67	20	103	0.4
Black	62	13	102	0.1
Black African	64	14	102	0.3
Black Caribbean	58	10	101	-0.5
Black other	60	12	101	0.1
Chinese	75	33	105	1.4
Mixed	69	21	103	0.4
Mixed White/Asian	74	27	104	0.8
Mixed White/Black African	67	18	103	0.5
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	63	15	102	-0.3
Mixed other	70	23	104	0.8
White	67	19	103	0.0
White British	68	20	103	-0.1
White Irish	77	31	105	2.1
White Irish Traveller	28	5	96	-1.8
White Gypsy/Roma	21	2	94	-1.5
White other	57	16	101	1.3
Other	58	13	101	0.5
Unknown	55	16	102	0.2

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading attainments for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2) Reading attainments for children aged 7 to 11 by ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• Irish children were most likely, and Gypsy/Roma children were least likely, to meet the expected standard in reading, with 77% and 21% doing so respectively

• Chinese children were most likely, and Gypsy/Roma children were least likely, to meet the higher standard in reading, with 33% and 2% doing so respectively

• Irish and Chinese pupils shared the highest average scaled score (105), and Gypsy/Roma children had the lowest average scaled score (94), compared to the national average of 103

• between key stage 1 and key stage 2, Irish children made the most progress (scoring 2.1), and children from a Traveller of Irish Heritage background made the least progress (scoring -1.8) against a national average score of 0

3. Reading attainments 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 children meeting the expected standard in reading by ethnicity and local authority

Local Authority	All	Asian	Black	Chinese	Mixed	White
	%	%	%	%	%	%
County Durham	70	80		81	72	70
Darlington	69	73			76	68
Gateshead	72	65	80		73	72
Hartlepool	66	62		50	73	66
Middlesbrough	62	56	71		66	63
Newcastle upon Tyne	68	65	53	60	71	69
North Tyneside	70	64	57	100	64	70
Northumberland	67	61			63	67
Redcar and Cleveland	72	72			82	72
South Tyneside	68	71			70	68
Stockton-on-Tees	66	57	78	100	76	65
Sunderland	71	63	77	43	63	71
Blackburn with Darwen	62	60	70		68	64
Blackpool	61	73			70	60
Bolton	65	66	56		70	65
Bury	66	56	49	70	66	68
Cheshire East	71	81		58	69	71
Cheshire West and Chester	69	59	69		76	69
Cumbria	68	76	57	71	76	68
Halton	63				66	64
Knowsley	62	74	50		74	61
Lancashire	65	57	54	82	69	66
Liverpool	61	64	57	73	61	62
Manchester	63	59	64	72	68	64
Oldham	59	50	51		66	65
Rochdale	62	55	55		55	65
Salford	66	73	56		71	67
Sefton	70	65	67		74	70
St. Helens	65	50		43	74	65
Stockport	69	62	37	79	73	70
Tameside	68	63	61		78	68
Trafford	77	73	79	88	78	77
Warrington	71	72			80	71
Wigan	69	62	62		68	70
Wirral	64	67		72	67	64
Barnsley	62	73	80		66	62
Bradford	57	54	57		62	59
Calderdale	65	59	58		75	66
Doncaster	56	49	63	58	60	56
East Riding of Yorkshire	66	83			58	66
Kingston upon Hull, City of	64	80	59		67	64
Kirklees	62	55	52	70	61	65
Leeds	61	56	50	58	64	63
North East Lincolnshire	59	63			69	59
North Lincolnshire	57	58	45		50	58
North Yorkshire	65	70	64	69	76	65
Rotherham	64	61	67	57	68	64
Sheffield	62	56	54	76	61	64
Wakefield	61	49	49	57	60	61
York	66	79		67	76	65
Derby	61	59	58	64	70	60
Derbyshire	66	61	79	71	68	66
Leicester	59	63	58	56	60	56
Leicestershire	65	68	66	76	66	65
Lincolnshire	64	72	58	100	65	64
Northamptonshire	63	58	56	63	61	64
Nottingham	61	62	63	76	60	62
Nottinghamshire	65	66	54	73	65	65
Rutland	71				75	71
Birmingham	59	58	55	81	62	61
Coventry	61	62	58	56	61	62
Dudley	62	61	57	50	64	62
Herefordshire, County of	68				68	68
Sandwell	61	63	55		62	61
Shropshire	68	70			76	68
Solihull	70	73	60		69	70
Staffordshire	67	61	53	63	64	67
Stoke-on-Trent	59	57	57		53	59
Telford and Wrekin	70	64	59		66	71
Walsall	61	61	61		64	60
Warwickshire	69	73	63	81	69	69
Wolverhampton	65	65	68	63	66	65
Worcestershire	64	62	58		69	64
Bedford	59	48	61		61	61
Cambridgeshire	66	72	53	58	74	66
Central Bedfordshire	65	66	59	47	72	65
Essex	67	76	66	78	69	67
Hertfordshire	72	76	69	83	73	72
Luton	56	52	55		63	60
Norfolk	64	75	53	64	67	64
Peterborough	55	54	56	57	55	55
Southend-on-Sea	67	68	58		67	67
Suffolk	63	59	69		64	63
Thurrock	63	63	73		61	60
Camden	72	70	64		71	78
City of London			100			100
Hackney	71	68	66		80	77
Hammersmith and Fulham	74	77	70		77	77
Haringey	64	61	56	57	74	69
Islington	68	66	63		67	72
Kensington and Chelsea	79	81	82		74	83
Lambeth	73	80	69	81	77	76
Lewisham	67	71	61	76	70	73
Newham	69	73	67	64	63	64
Southwark	67	72	65	76	66	73
Tower Hamlets	72	71	68		77	73
Wandsworth	70	68	60	64	71	78
Westminster	66	70	64		71	73
Barking and Dagenham	65	73	68		62	60
Barnet	73	74	65	84	73	76
Bexley	70	75	73	88	71	69
Brent	64	66	61		71	68
Bromley	79	90	77	87	80	78
Croydon	66	71	61		69	67
Ealing	65	62	61		72	71
Enfield	61	73	56		71	60
Greenwich	73	77	76	93	72	70
Harrow	72	75	61		72	73
Havering	73	76	73	82	71	73
Hillingdon	70	69	66		74	70
Hounslow	67	73	63	100	70	66
Kingston upon Thames	75	72	62	83	79	76
Merton	70	74	65		62	72
Redbridge	68	71	59		77	62
Richmond upon Thames	81	80	59		85	82
Sutton	74	81	71	100	76	71
Waltham Forest	65	64	61	71	70	66
Bracknell Forest	65	73	49		76	65
Brighton and Hove	75	64	52		74	76
Buckinghamshire	73	66	65	79	71	75
East Sussex	66	64	61	29	67	66
Hampshire	71	72	73	70	70	71
Isle of Wight	64	33			60	64
Kent	70	75	72	90	77	69
Medway	62	69	77	71	58	61
Milton Keynes	69	75	66	82	73	69
Oxfordshire	68	58	52		65	70
Portsmouth	62	71	59		66	62
Reading	67	69	58		66	67
Slough	64	70	59		71	57
Southampton	66	61	76	75	73	66
Surrey	73	72	67	79	76	74
West Berkshire	70	77	68		69	70
West Sussex	65	61	55	63	66	65
Windsor and Maidenhead	72	62	67		75	74
Wokingham	76	78	80	83	76	75
Bath and North East Somerset	71	74	57		76	71
Bournemouth	65	63	64		63	66
Bristol, City of	67	63	52	63	66	70
Cornwall	66	57	57		70	67
Devon	71	73	50	56	77	71
Dorset	67	62			71	67
Gloucestershire	70	69	57	71	73	70
Isles of Scilly	65					65
North Somerset	71	77			67	71
Plymouth	67	50	80		76	67
Poole	67	75			71	66
Somerset	67	74	58		80	67
South Gloucestershire	69	76	69		70	69
Swindon	67	62	75		64	67
Torbay	68	50			77	68
Wiltshire	68	61	43	67	74	68

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading attainments for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2) Reading attainments for children aged 7 to 11 by ethnicity and area Summary

This data shows that:

• overall, pupils from Richmond Upon Thames in London were most likely to meet the expected standard for reading, with 81% doing so, and pupils from Peterborough in the East of England were least likely to, with 55% doing so

• both Black pupils and White pupils were most likely to meet the expected standard in the City of London in the region of London – outside this local authority, which only has one school of 28 pupils, the next best performing area for both Black pupils and White pupils was Kensington and Chelsea in London

• Black pupils were least likely to meet the expected standard in Stockport in the North West

• White pupils were least likely to meet the expected standard in Peterborough in the East of England

• Asian pupils were most likely to meet the expected standard in Bromley in London, and least likely to meet it on the Isle of Wight in the South East

• the top 5 local authorities for Chinese pupils were North Tyneside and Stockton-on-Tees in the North East, Lincolnshire in the East Midlands, Hounslow and Sutton in London; 100% of Chinese pupils met the expected standard in these areas

• Chinese pupils were least likely to meet the expected standard in East Sussex in the South East

• Pupils from a Mixed ethnic background were most likely to meet the expected standard in Richmond upon Thames in London, and least likely to meet it in North Lincolnshire

4. Reading attainments 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 reading 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	62	16	102	-0.3	70	22	103	0.4
Asian	59	14	101	-0.4	67	18	103	0.2
Bangladeshi	61	12	101	0.1	68	17	103	0.5
Indian	67	19	103	-0.2	75	25	105	0.5
Pakistani	52	9	100	-0.9	60	13	101	-0.3
Asian other	64	18	102	0.2	70	22	104	0.6
Black	58	11	101	-0.2	66	15	102	0.4
Black African	60	12	101	0.0	68	17	103	0.6
Black Caribbean	53	8	100	-0.9	63	13	101	-0.2
Black other	56	9	100	-0.1	64	14	102	0.3
Chinese	71	29	104	0.9	79	36	106	1.8
Mixed	64	17	102	-0.1	73	24	104	0.9
Mixed White/Asian	70	23	104	0.4	78	30	105	1.2
Mixed White/Black African	62	15	102	-0.2	72	21	104	1.2
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	58	11	101	-0.9	70	18	103	0.2
Mixed other	65	19	103	0.3	74	27	105	1.3
White	63	17	102	-0.4	71	22	104	0.3
White British	64	17	102	-0.5	72	23	104	0.2
White Irish	72	27	104	1.7	82	36	107	2.6
White Irish Traveller	26	3	95	-2.4	31	6	97	-1.1
White Gypsy/Roma	19	2	94	-1.7	23	3	95	-1.3
White other	54	14	101	0.8	60	19	102	1.7
Any other	54	11	100	0.1	62	15	102	0.9
Unknown	52	14	101	-0.2	58	19	103	0.7

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading attainments for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2) Reading attainments for children aged 7 to 11 by ethnicity and gender Summary

The data shows that:

• overall, girls outperformed boys; 70% of girls met the expected standard, compared to 62% of boys, and 22% of girls met the higher standard, compared to 16% of boys

• Irish girls were most likely to reach the expected standard (82% did so) and Gypsy/Roma boys least likely to (19% did so)

• Irish girls and Chinese girls were most likely to reach the higher standard (36% of both groups did so) and Gypsy/Roma boys least likely to (2% did so)

• overall, girls also made more progress than boys in reading between key stage 1 and key stage 2, with a score of 0.4 compared to -0.3 for boys

• Irish girls made the most progress in reading, with a score of 2.6 against a national average of 0; boys from a Traveller of Irish Heritage background made the least progress in reading, with a score of -2.4

• overall, the average scaled score for girls was 103, compared to 102 for boys

• Irish girls achieved most highly, with an average scaled score of 107; Gypsy/Roma boys did least well, with an average scaled score of 94

5. Methodology

The key stage 2 datasets are compiled using information matched together from three 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 by the department's contractor.

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 (LA) and regional statistics is state-funded schools only in England.

Confidence intervals for progress results are calculated for a school based on a specific cohort 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, 95% confidence intervals around progress scores are provided as a proxy for the range of scores within which each school’s underlying performance can be confidently said to lie.

School scores should be interpreted alongside their associated confidence intervals. If the lower bound of the school’s 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 bound is below zero, then the school has made less than average progress. Where a confidence interval overlaps zero, this means that the school’s progress score is not significantly different from the national average.

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

For this reason, the previous 'expected progress' measure, based on pupils making at least two levels of progress between key stage 1 and key stage 2, will not appear in the performance tables or Reporting and Analysis for Improvement through school Self-Evaluation (RAISEonline) in 2016.

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.

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 (AS), not achieved the expected standard (NS), special consideration (CA), absent (A), working below the standard of the test (B), or unable to access the test (T).

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 on confidentiality.

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 become 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 LAs by summing the figures for the other LAs in the region.

In the school level data, any figures relating to a cohort of 5 pupils or fewer will be 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)

Rounding

All charts and tables are rounded to the nearest whole number. Progress scores are given to 1 decimal place.

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 reading - Spreadsheet (csv) 172 KB

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

Higher standard in reading - Spreadsheet (csv) 15 KB

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

Average scaled score in reading - Spreadsheet (csv) 14 KB

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

Progress score in reading - Spreadsheet (csv) 11 KB

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

Publication release date: 10 October 2017

Updated: 11 October 2017

full page history

1. 11 October 2017 Technical change: Updated url to match page title.
2. 10 October 2017 First published

From: Department for Education

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