Reading, writing and maths attainments for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2)

Published 10 October 2017

Last updated 5 March 2018 - see all updates

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• in 2015/16, there were 585,565 pupils in key stage 2 at state-funded mainstream schools in England, and ethnicity was known for 580,718 (99%) of them

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

• over half (53%) of pupils in key stage 2 reached the expected standard for reading, writing and maths, and 5% met the higher standard

• Chinese children were most likely to meet both the expected and the higher standard

• Gypsy/Roma children were least likely to meet the expected standard

• across all ethnic groups, girls were more likely than boys to meet both the expected and higher standard

• across all ethnic groups, pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) did less well than other children

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) (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 test 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 reading, writing and maths 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, allowing a clearer comparison between years.)

The standards for this measure, which combines reading, writing and maths, are divided in 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 and maths tests. They must also have been assessed by a teacher as 'working at the expected standard' or 'working at a greater depth within the expected standard' in their writing.

To reach the higher standard, pupils must have achieved a scaled score of 110 or more in their key stage 2 reading and maths tests. They must also have been assessed by a teacher as 'working at a greater depth within the expected standard' in their writing.

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 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, writing and maths attainment 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, writing and maths by ethnicity

Ethnicity	Expected standard	Higher standard
All	53	5
Asian	55	6
Bangladeshi	56	5
Indian	65	10
Pakistani	47	3
Asian other	61	9
Black	51	4
Black African	54	5
Black Caribbean	43	2
Black other	48	3
Chinese	71	18
Mixed	56	7
Mixed White/Asian	63	10
Mixed White/Black African	54	5
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	48	3
Mixed other	57	8
White	53	5
White British	54	5
White Irish	62	10
White Irish Traveller	19
White Gypsy/Roma	13
White other	48	5
Other	50	5

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading, writing and maths attainments for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2) Reading, writing and maths attainment for children aged 7 to 11 by ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• across all ethnic groups, 53% of pupils met the expected standard and 5% met the higher standard

• of White British children, 54% met the expected standard and 5% the higher standard

• the best performing group were Chinese children – 71% met the expected standard and 18% met the higher standard

• 13% of Gypsy/Roma children met the expected standard, making them the group least likely to do so

• the percentage of Gypsy/Roma boys and girls and Traveller of Irish Heritage boys and girls meeting the higher standard has been excluded from the results to protect the identity of individual pupils

3. Reading, writing and maths attainment for children aged 7 to 11 by ethnicity and eligibility for free school meals (FSM)

• Location: England
• Time period: 2015/16
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2016 (revised)

Percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by ethnicity and free school meals

Ethnicity	FSM	Non-FSM
	%	%
All	35	57
Asian	44	57
Bangladeshi	52	58
Indian	47	66
Pakistani	39	49
Asian other	49	63
Black	42	54
Black African	46	57
Black Caribbean	35	46
Black other	40	51
Chinese	67	71
Mixed	39	60
Mixed White/Asian	42	68
Mixed White/Black African	42	58
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	34	53
Mixed other	41	61
White	32	57
White British	32	58
White Irish	37	66
White Irish Traveller	17	24
White Gypsy/Roma	12	13
White other	38	49
Other	42	52

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading, writing and maths attainments for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2) Reading, writing and maths attainment for children aged 7 to 11 by ethnicity and eligibility for free school meals (FSM) Summary

Eligibility for free school meals (FSM) is used as an indicator of deprivation by the Department for Education. For more about who qualifies for FSM, see the Methodology section.

This data shows that:

• 16% of pupils were known to be eligible for free school meals (FSM)

• overall, 35% of pupils eligible for FSM met the expected standard, compared with 57% of pupils not eligible for FSM

• in every ethnic group, pupils eligible for FSM did less well than pupils not eligible for FSM

• Chinese pupils were most likely to meet the standard; 67% of pupils eligible for FSM and 71% of pupils not eligible for FSM met the expected standard

• Gypsy/Roma pupils and pupils from a Traveller of Irish Heritage background were least likely to meet the expected standard; this was the case for both pupils who were eligible for FSM (12% and 17% respectively) and those who were not (13% and 24% respectively)

• data for pupils eligible for FSM who met the higher standard in reading, writing and maths is not available

4. Reading, writing and maths attainment 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 pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by ethnicity and area

Local authority	All	Asian	Black	Chinese	Mixed	White
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Barking and Dagenham	58	68	62		57	51
Barnet	59	64	48	78	58	63
Barnsley	53	55	67		59	53
Bath and North East Somerset	54	67	29		60	54
Bedford	42	37	39		42	45
Bexley	59	71	64	88	64	56
Birmingham	47	48	43	75	49	48
Blackburn with Darwen	51	50	65		50	52
Blackpool	48	70			58	48
Bolton	56	60	43		59	55
Bournemouth	54	59	50		55	54
Bracknell Forest	52	65	41		61	51
Bradford	47	47	46		48	46
Brent	55	60	49		58	58
Brighton and Hove	58	55	32		58	59
Bristol, City of	54	54	38	56	50	57
Bromley	67	86	65	74	67	66
Buckinghamshire	57	54	45	74	54	58
Bury	55	49	40	70	56	56
Calderdale	47	42	32		58	48
Cambridgeshire	53	61	36	55	60	52
Camden	61	60	54	71	61	65
Central Bedfordshire	51	57	44	47	58	51
Cheshire East	52	65		58	53	52
Cheshire West and Chester	53	54	54	70	63	53
City of London	89					100
Cornwall	51	36	43		52	51
County Durham	59	70	50	81	63	59
Coventry	49	55	49	56	47	48
Croydon	55	65	49		57	56
Cumbria	51	73	43	64	59	51
Darlington	56	73			57	56
Derby	48	49	43	55	53	48
Derbyshire	53	54	67	71	55	53
Devon	54	61	33	56	62	54
Doncaster	46	43	60	58	46	46
Dorset	45	49	50		46	45
Dudley	49	51	45	50	45	49
Ealing	54	54	47	79	59	58
East Riding of Yorkshire	53	83			48	53
East Sussex	52	53	42	24	55	52
Enfield	52	68	48	82	55	51
Essex	56	71	57	76	59	55
Gateshead	61	62	76		67	61
Gloucestershire	54	61	42	65	54	54
Greenwich	64	72	67	93	64	57
Hackney	64	64	56		71	70
Halton	47				59	47
Hammersmith and Fulham	61	68	55		58	66
Hampshire	59	66	61	67	60	59
Haringey	56	56	48	52	66	60
Harrow	62	69	45		57	58
Hartlepool	53	62		50	73	53
Havering	63	73	65	76	62	62
Herefordshire, County of	52	57			53	52
Hertfordshire	59	69	54	83	57	59
Hillingdon	57	63	54		59	55
Hounslow	59	67	53	100	61	56
Isle of Wight	49	33			49	49
Isles of Scilly	55					55
Islington	57	57	54		57	61
Kensington and Chelsea	70	69	70		66	75
Kent	59	71	66	90	66	57
Kingston upon Hull, City of	53	71	45		59	53
Kingston upon Thames	60	64	46	78	65	58
Kirklees	49	47	43	70	45	50
Knowsley	48	74	50		70	47
Lambeth	62	70	57	81	64	68
Lancashire	54	49	44	76	56	55
Leeds	48	46	37	53	51	49
Leicester	51	56	49	56	48	46
Leicestershire	53	61	53	69	51	52
Lewisham	56	66	48	71	60	61
Lincolnshire	51	71	50		51	51
Liverpool	46	57	42	69	42	46
Luton	45	43	43		47	47
Manchester	52	50	54	68	52	53
Medway	49	66	65	71	49	46
Merton	57	66	50		50	56
Middlesbrough	49	44	65		54	50
Milton Keynes	56	71	53	71	57	54
Newcastle upon Tyne	57	57	44	53	58	57
Newham	62	67	58	64	54	56
Norfolk	50	67	37	64	56	49
North East Lincolnshire	51	56			63	50
North Lincolnshire	48	44	45		48	48
North Somerset	57	67			56	57
North Tyneside	56	58	43	100	62	56
North Yorkshire	51	59	45	69	71	51
Northamptonshire	49	51	44	53	49	50
Northumberland	56	53			47	56
Nottingham	50	53	53	71	48	49
Nottinghamshire	54	56	47	68	55	54
Oldham	47	41	43		50	50
Oxfordshire	52	43	36	80	51	53
Peterborough	43	47	36	57	39	43
Plymouth	54	46	60		60	54
Poole	54	68			51	54
Portsmouth	48	64	45		45	48
Reading	56	63	45		52	55
Redbridge	58	63	46		61	53
Redcar and Cleveland	60	56			79	59
Richmond upon Thames	67	69	45		69	67
Rochdale	51	48	42		47	53
Rotherham	54	52	49	43	57	54
Rutland	53				58	53
Salford	57	67	46		60	57
Sandwell	51	56	44		49	50
Sefton	56	54	44		63	56
Sheffield	52	48	45	76	49	54
Shropshire	51	55			58	51
Slough	55	62	48		57	45
Solihull	58	64	56		56	58
Somerset	52	63	50		63	52
South Gloucestershire	53	73	50	57	53	53
South Tyneside	57	68	57		67	57
Southampton	54	54	71	67	61	53
Southend-on-Sea	56	66	49	73	57	55
Southwark	58	67	54	67	54	63
St. Helens	53	45		43	69	52
Staffordshire	53	54	45	63	51	53
Stockport	58	56	23	63	65	58
Stockton-on-Tees	54	49	71		60	54
Stoke-on-Trent	45	45	42		44	46
Suffolk	49	56	57		52	49
Sunderland	61	61	77	43	44	61
Surrey	60	62	53	75	64	59
Sutton	65	80	63	100	69	60
Swindon	46	48	43		44	46
Tameside	55	55	42	57	63	54
Telford and Wrekin	56	52	45		51	56
Thurrock	51	55	62		47	48
Torbay	51	42			63	50
Tower Hamlets	62	63	55		60	60
Trafford	66	65	69	79	66	66
Wakefield	50	42	43	57	52	50
Walsall	50	53	48		49	48
Waltham Forest	57	57	53	71	60	58
Wandsworth	61	60	49	64	57	70
Warrington	61	68	45		76	60
Warwickshire	57	67	50	69	61	57
West Berkshire	56	70	58		58	55
West Sussex	45	52	36	42	50	45
Westminster	58	64	55		65	61
Wigan	57	56	44		52	58
Wiltshire	54	50	39	67	55	54
Windsor and Maidenhead	59	55	47		65	60
Wirral	49	61		61	49	49
Wokingham	61	71	67	78	56	60
Wolverhampton	53	59	50	63	52	52
Worcestershire	48	52	42		56	48
York	52	76		67	62	51

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

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

This data shows that:

• the highest achieving local authority was the City of London in the London region, where 89% of pupils met the standard – however, because there is only one school of 28 pupils in the City of London, this result should be treated with caution

• the lowest achieving local authority was Bedford in the East of England, where 42% met the standard

• 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

• Black pupils were most likely to meet the expected standard in Sunderland in the North East, and least likely to meet it in Stockport in the North West

• Chinese pupils were most likely to meet the expected standard in North Tyneside in the North East and Hounslow and Sutton in London, and least likely to meet it in East Sussex in the South East

• pupils from a Mixed ethnic group were most likely to meet the expected standard in Redcar and Cleveland in the North East, and least likely to meet it in Peterborough in the East of England

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

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

5. Reading, writing and maths attainment 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 reaching the expected and higher standard in reading, writing and maths by ethnicity and gender

	Boys		Girls
Ethnicity	Boys Expected standard	Boys Higher standard	Girls Expected standard	Girls Higher standard
All	50	5	57	6
Asian	52	5	59	7
Bangladeshi	53	4	60	6
Indian	60	8	69	12
Pakistani	43	3	51	4
Asian other	58	8	64	10
Black	47	3	55	5
Black African	50	4	58	6
Black Caribbean	39	2	47	3
Black other	44	2	52	4
Chinese	66	15	75	21
Mixed	51	5	60	8
Mixed White/Asian	60	8	67	11
Mixed White/Black African	49	4	60	6
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	43	3	53	4
Mixed other	53	6	62	9
White	50	5	57	6
White British	50	5	58	6
White Irish	57	8	67	12
White Irish Traveller	15		24
White Gypsy/Roma	11		14
White other	45	5	51	6
Other	46	4	54	5

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

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

The data shows that:

• in every ethnic group, a higher percentage of girls than boys met both the expected and higher standard in reading, writing and maths

• 57% of girls met the expected standard compared with 50% of boys, and 6% of girls met the higher standard compared with 5% of boys

• Chinese girls were the highest achievers – 75% met the expected standard and 21% met the higher standard

• Gypsy/Roma boys were least likely to meet the expected standard (11% did so)

• the percentage of Gypsy/Roma boys and girls and Traveller of Irish Heritage boys and girls meeting the higher standard has been excluded from the results to protect the identity of individual pupils

• for the expected standard, the biggest gap between girls and boys, at 11 percentage points, was found in the Mixed White and Black African ethnic group; 60% of girls met the expected standard compared with 49% of boys

• for the higher standard, the biggest gap between girls and boys, at 6 percentage points, was found among Chinese pupils; 21% of girls met the higher standard compared with 15% of boys

6. 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 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 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.

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
• not achieved the expected standard
• special consideration
• absent
• working below the standard of the test
• unable to access the test

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).

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 are 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 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

All charts, tables and downloads are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Related publications

Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2016

Quality and methodology information

7. 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.

8. Download the data

Expected standard in reading, writing and maths (Local Authority) - Spreadsheet (csv) 172 KB

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

Expected standard in reading, writing and maths (National) - Spreadsheet (csv) 50 KB

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

Higher standard in reading, writing and maths (National) - Spreadsheet (csv) 15 KB

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

Publication release date: 10 October 2017

Updated: 5 March 2018

full page history

1. 5 March 2018 minor corrections for style
2. 11 October 2017 Technical change: Updated url to match page title.
3. 10 October 2017 First published

From: Department for Education

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