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

Published 24 August 2018

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• overall, in 2016/17, 72% of pupils met the expected standard in reading by the end of key stage 2 (when they are usually aged 10 or 11 years), and 25% met the higher standard
• pupils from the Chinese ethnic group were most likely to meet both the expected standard and the higher standard, out of all ethnic groups
• pupils from the Irish and Chinese ethnic groups had the joint highest average scaled score; Irish pupils made the most progress in reading between key stage 1 and key stage 2 (between the ages of 7 and 11 years)
• Gypsy/Roma children were least likely to meet both the expected and higher standards; they also had the lowest average scaled score, and 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; they also had a higher average scale score and made more progress between key stage 1 and key stage 2 than boys
• the local authorities with the highest percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard were the City of London (where 88% did so) and Richmond upon Thames (86%); 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 599,737 pupils in state-funded schools in England in year 6 (the final year of key stage 2), and ethnicity was known for 594,424 (99%) of them.

Of those whose ethnicity was known, 75% of pupils were White, 11% were Asian, 6% were Black, 6% had Mixed ethnicity, 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 reading 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 reading 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 reading 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. Reading attainment for children aged 10 to 11 by ethnicity

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

Percentage of pupils meeting the expected and higher standards in reading, and average scaled score and progress score, by ethnicity

Ethnicity	Expected standard	Higher standard	Average scaled score	Progress score
All	72	25	104	0.0
Asian	69	21	103	-0.2
Bangladeshi	71	20	104	0.2
Indian	76	29	105	0.1
Pakistani	63	16	102	-0.7
Asian other	73	26	104	0.2
Black	69	19	103	0.1
Black African	71	20	104	0.2
Black Caribbean	66	17	103	-0.4
Black other	67	18	103	0.0
Chinese	80	40	107	1.5
Mixed	74	27	105	0.4
Mixed White/Asian	78	33	106	0.8
Mixed White/Black African	73	25	104	0.4
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	69	20	103	-0.3
Mixed other	74	28	105	0.7
White	72	25	104	0.0
White British	73	26	104	-0.1
White Irish	79	38	107	1.8
White Irish Traveller	35	5	97	0.0
White Gypsy/Roma	26	4	95	-1.2
White other	63	21	103	1.3
Other	63	18	103	0.5

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) Reading attainment for children aged 10 to 11 by ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• overall in 2016/17, 72% of pupils met the expected standard in reading by the end of key stage 2 (when they are usually aged 10 to 11 years), and 25% met the higher standard
• 80% of pupils from the Chinese ethnic group met the expected standard in reading and 40% met the higher standard (the highest percentages of any ethnic group)
• 26% of Gypsy/Roma pupils met the expected standard in reading and 4% met the higher standard (the lowest percentages of any ethnic group)
• pupils from the Irish and Chinese ethnic groups had the highest average scaled score (both at 107), and Gypsy/Roma children had the lowest average scaled score (95); the national average was 104
• between key stage 1 and key stage 2, children from the Irish ethnic group made the most progress, with a progress score of 1.8; children from a Gypsy/Roma background made the least progress, with a progress score of -1.2

3. Reading attainment for children aged 10 to 11 by ethnicity and area

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

Percentage of children meeting the expected standard in reading by ethnicity and area

Local authority	All	Asian	Black	Chinese	Mixed	White
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Barking and Dagenham	72	76	75		70	69
Barnet	78	79	71	91	79	82
Barnsley	68	79	43	N/A*	73	68
Bath and North East Somerset	78	82	38		77	78
Bedford	66	62	56		69	68
Bexley	75	81	77		76	73
Birmingham	66	65	65	75	69	69
Blackburn with Darwen	68	67	68		71	69
Blackpool	72	72			76	72
Bolton	69	69	57		79	70
Bournemouth	71	79	71		76	71
Bracknell Forest	71	79	78		81	70
Bradford	66	65	61		67	66
Brent	69	67	68	100	74	74
Brighton and Hove	77	63	74	65	77	79
Bristol, City of	72	69	56		72	74
Bromley	84	89	84	88	86	83
Buckinghamshire	77	70	68		68	79
Bury	72	65	69	100	68	74
Calderdale	71	61	71		75	73
Cambridgeshire	73	68	59	89	74	73
Camden	76	74	70		77	80
Central Bedfordshire	72	78	72		71	72
Cheshire East	76	78	79		82	76
Cheshire West and Chester	74	80	50		70	74
City of London	88			N/A*
Cornwall	72	65		63	81	71
County Durham	73	78	60	75	79	73
Coventry	68	71	62	100	68	68
Croydon	73	77	69	88	74	75
Cumbria	74	77		67	81	74
Darlington	72	74			79	71
Derby	65	62	64		69	65
Derbyshire	71	74	63	71	74	71
Devon	75	73	64	70	77	75
Doncaster	63	57	50		70	64
Dorset	73	68	57	77	73	73
Dudley	66	62	59		68	67
Ealing	73	70	69		77	80
East Riding of Yorkshire	73	75			80	73
East Sussex	71	73	58		77	71
Enfield	67	77	66		75	65
Essex	74	82	74	80	75	73
Gateshead	77	66	66	100	82	77
Gloucestershire	75	80	64	78	71	75
Greenwich	78	82	79	88	80	75
Hackney	78	81	75		81	81
Halton	69				76	69
Hammersmith and Fulham	82	79	81		86	83
Hampshire	76	82	80	87	78	76
Haringey	72	78	66	76	77	75
Harrow	77	80	72		79	76
Hartlepool	72	77			60	72
Havering	80	80	81		77	80
Herefordshire, County of	73	100			74	73
Hertfordshire	76	74	72	80	78	76
Hillingdon	72	76	68		75	71
Hounslow	73	76	70	100	78	72
Isle of Wight	72				76	71
Isles of Scilly	82	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	82
Islington	74	81	67		77	77
Kensington and Chelsea	84	84	84	100	81	86
Kent	75	81	80	73	78	74
Kingston upon Hull, City of	71	79	60		85	71
Kingston upon Thames	77	74	80		80	77
Kirklees	67	62	57	71	63	71
Knowsley	69	79	67	N/A*	69	69
Lambeth	79	80	76	72	80	83
Lancashire	71	61	71	82	71	73
Leeds	68	60	59	79	66	70
Leicester	66	69	67		69	62
Leicestershire	73	74	74	82	70	73
Lewisham	72	76	66	84	78	75
Lincolnshire	69	88	76	84	78	69
Liverpool	69	70	70	83	69	69
Luton	65	61	67		70	67
Manchester	69	65	70	76	71	72
Medway	68	74	75		68	68
Merton	77	79	74	100	77	76
Middlesbrough	70	65	50	N/A*	64	72
Milton Keynes	74	80	72	75	73	74
Newcastle upon Tyne	72	70	70	70	70	74
Newham	76	75	79	100	81	71
Norfolk	69	78	56	85	69	69
North East Lincolnshire	67				83	66
North Lincolnshire	67	75	54		69	66
North Somerset	71	28	42	100	77	71
North Tyneside	76	81			80	76
North Yorkshire	71	81	48	82	78	71
Northamptonshire	68	62	62	74	64	69
Northumberland	72	83			69	72
Nottingham	68	69	70	61	68	68
Nottinghamshire	72	70	58	85	71	72
Oldham	67	60	69		72	71
Oxfordshire	74	66	63		76	75
Peterborough	63	64	65		64	62
Plymouth	70	100	53	67	73	70
Poole	69	79			75	68
Portsmouth	67	72	68		77	67
Reading	70	68	71		68	71
Redbridge	76	77	69	78	79	75
Redcar and Cleveland	77	60	N/A*			77
Richmond upon Thames	86	79	73	71	89	87
Rochdale	66	61	64		73	68
Rotherham	69	68	64		77	69
Rutland	76					76
Salford	71	79	73		70	72
Sandwell	66	70	60		67	65
Sefton	74	71		63	74	74
Sheffield	69	69	67	87	66	71
Shropshire	75	65	50		76	75
Slough	70	74	69		69	64
Solihull	75	77	73		66	75
Somerset	73	75	60		75	73
South Gloucestershire	74	86	73		69	74
South Tyneside	73	72	64		79	73
Southampton	74	72	82		78	74
Southend-on-Sea	75	82	80		78	73
Southwark	73	76	71	71	77	77
St. Helens	69	86			72	68
Staffordshire	74	67	75	78	77	74
Stockport	76	73	66	75	78	76
Stockton-on-Tees	72	63	77		85	73
Stoke-on-Trent	65	61	59	62	70	66
Suffolk	70	74	71	57	70	70
Sunderland	76	68		100	71	76
Surrey	79	78	72	84	82	79
Sutton	81	87	86	88	84	78
Swindon	73	74	79	57	71	73
Tameside	70	67	52	60	75	71
Telford and Wrekin	73	66	70	100	75	73
Thurrock	71	80	80	69	69	68
Torbay	72	75			72	72
Tower Hamlets	75	76	74	83	74	73
Trafford	81	80	77	86	81	81
Wakefield	66	54	59	55	65	67
Walsall	65	65	63	77	66	65
Waltham Forest	74	74	73	86	75	75
Wandsworth	76	71	69		74	84
Warrington	78	78	80		77	77
Warwickshire	73	82	65	83	72	73
West Berkshire	74	84	82		77	74
West Sussex	71	67	61	76	74	71
Westminster	77	78	77	100	75	83
Wigan	75	79	70		80	75
Wiltshire	72	85	39		71	73
Windsor and Maidenhead	78	76	58		77	80
Wirral	70	69		67	78	70
Wokingham	82	87	81		84	81
Wolverhampton	70	71	74		71	68
Worcestershire	70	63	74		72	70
York	73	73	75		77	73

^* Not applicable Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) Reading attainment for children aged 10 to 11 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, 88% of pupils in the City of London local authority met the expected standard in reading by the end of key stage 2 – this was the highest percentage out of all local authorities, followed by Richmond upon Thames (also in London), where 86% of pupils met the standard
• 100% of Asian pupils met the expected standard in Herefordshire (West Midlands) and Plymouth (South West), while 28% did so in North Somerset – 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 Sutton (London), while 38% did so in Bath and North East Somerset (South West)
• 100% of pupils from the Chinese ethnic group met the expected standard in 12 local authorities (out of the 70 for which data was available), while 55% did so in Wakefield (Yorkshire and The Humber)
• 89% of pupils with Mixed ethnicity met the expected standard in Richmond upon Thames (London), while 60% did so in Hartlepool (North East)
• 87% of White pupils met the expected standard in Richmond Upon Thames (London), while 62% did so in both Peterborough (East of England) and Leicester (East Midlands)

4. Reading attainment for children aged 10 to 11 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 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	68	21	103	-0.3	75	28	105	0.3
Asian	66	19	103	-0.4	72	24	104	0.0
Bangladeshi	67	18	103	0.1	74	23	104	0.4
Indian	73	25	104	-0.3	79	33	106	0.4
Pakistani	60	14	101	-0.9	66	18	103	-0.6
Asian other	70	23	104	0.1	76	29	105	0.4
Black	65	16	102	-0.2	74	23	104	0.4
Black African	67	17	103	0.0	75	24	104	0.5
Black Caribbean	61	13	102	-0.7	72	20	104	0.0
Black other	62	15	102	-0.4	72	21	104	0.4
Chinese	76	36	106	1.1	84	44	108	1.8
Mixed	70	23	104	0.0	78	30	106	0.8
Mixed White/Asian	75	29	105	0.4	83	38	107	1.1
Mixed White/Black African	69	21	104	0.0	78	29	105	0.9
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	64	17	102	-0.7	74	24	104	0.2
Mixed other	71	25	104	0.3	78	32	106	1.0
White	69	22	104	-0.3	76	29	105	0.3
White British	70	23	104	-0.4	77	29	105	0.2
White Irish	77	33	106	1.3	82	42	108	2.3
White Irish Traveller	33	3	97	-0.6	37	7	98	0.6
White Gypsy/Roma	23	4	94	-1.8	30	5	95	-0.6
White other	61	19	102	1.0	66	24	103	1.6
Other	60	16	102	0.3	67	21	103	0.8

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) Reading attainment for children aged 10 to 11 by ethnicity and gender Summary

The data shows that:

• overall, in 2016/17, 75% of girls and 68% of boys met the expected standard in reading by the end of key stage 2 (when they are aged 10 to 11 years), while 28% of girls and 21% of boys met the higher standard; girls were more likely to meet the expected and higher standards than boys in every ethnic group
• 84% of girls from the Chinese ethnic group met the expected standard and 44% met the higher standard, the highest percentages in any ethnic group across boys and girls
• 23% of Gypsy/Roma boys met the expected standard and 3% of Traveller of Irish Heritage boys met the higher standard, the lowest percentages in any ethnic group across boys and girls

The ‘average scaled score’ measures the average attainment of pupils for each ethnic group, with scores ranging from 80 to 120. The average scaled score data shows that:

• overall, the average scaled score was 105 for girls and 103 for boys
• girls from the Irish and Chinese ethnic groups had the highest average scaled score (both at 108), while Gypsy/Roma boys had the lowest average scaled score (at 94)
• overall, girls made above average progress in reading between key stage 1 and key stage 2 (at 0.3 points), while boys made below average progress (at -0.3 points); average progress is expressed as a score of 0.0
• Irish girls made the most progress in reading, with a score of 2.3 points; boys from Gypsy/Roma background made the least progress in reading, with a score of -1.8 points

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. 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

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

Reading attainment for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2)-local authorities - Spreadsheet (csv) 324 KB

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

Reading attainment for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2)-national - Spreadsheet (csv) 112 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.

Publication release date: 24 August 2018

full page history

1. 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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