Reading, writing and maths attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2)

Published 24 August 2018

Last updated 14 May 2019 - see all updates

This page has been archived.
It has been replaced by School results for 10 to 11 year olds.

There is a new version of this page. View the latest version.

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• overall, in 2016/17, 61% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by the end of key stage 2 (when they are usually aged 10 or 11 years), and 9% met the higher standard
• pupils from the Chinese ethnic group were most likely to meet both the expected and higher standards out of all ethnic groups
• Gypsy/Roma children were least likely to meet the expected and higher standards
• across all ethnic groups, girls were more likely than boys to meet both the expected and higher standards
• across all ethnic groups, a lower percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) met the expected standard
• the local authority where the highest percentage of pupils met the expected standard was the City of London, where 88% did so; however, 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 598,997 pupils in key stage 2 at state-funded schools in England, and ethnicity was known for 593,712 (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 percentage of pupils who met standards in reading, writing and maths at the end of key stage 2 (year 6), when children are aged 10 to 11 years.

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

The standards are divided in 2 categories:

• expected standard – to meet this, pupils must have achieved a ‘scaled score’ of 100 or more in reading and maths, and have been assessed in writing as 'working at the expected standard' or 'working at a greater depth within the expected standard'
• higher standard – to meet this, pupils must have achieved a ‘scaled score’ of 110 or more in reading and maths, and have been assessed in writing as 'working at a greater depth within the expected standard'

A pupil’s scaled score can range from 80 to 120. A scaled score allows for variations in test difficulty year on year by standardising each pupil’s test results. This allows a clearer comparison between years. You can read more about scaled scores at key stage 2.

The ethnic categories used in this data

This data uses categories from the Department for Education’s school census, which is broadly based on the 2001 national Census, with 3 exceptions:

• Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma children have been separated into 2 categories
• Sri Lankan has been added to the Asian/Asian British group but is not reported separately
• Chinese pupils have been assigned a separate category

These changes were made after consultations with local authorities and lobby groups.

The categories in the school census are as follows:

Asian/Asian British:

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

Black/African/Caribbean/Black British:

• Black African
• Black Caribbean
• Other Black background

Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups:

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

White:

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

Chinese

Other ethnic group

Information is provided for both detailed and broad ethnic groups where possible and when the data is available.

The 6 broad categories used are as follows:

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

However, local authority data is only provided for 5 broad ethnic groups. Information about the specific ethnic categories is excluded to preserve confidentiality and ensure individuals cannot be identified. Information about the Other ethnic group is not given because DfE does not publish data for this group at the local authority level.

The 5 broad categories are as follows:

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

2. By ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: 2016/17
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2016 (revised)

Percentage of pupils meeting the expected and higher standards in reading, writing and maths by ethnicity

Ethnicity	Expected standard	Higher standard
All	61	9
Asian	63	10
Bangladeshi	65	9
Indian	71	15
Pakistani	56	6
Asian other	68	12
Black	60	7
Black African	62	8
Black Caribbean	54	4
Black other	57	6
Chinese	77	24
Mixed	63	10
Mixed White/Asian	70	14
Mixed White/Black African	62	8
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	55	5
Mixed other	64	11
White	61	9
White British	62	9
White Irish	69	13
White Irish Traveller	20
White Gypsy/Roma	16	0
White other	56	8
Other	57	7

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading, writing and maths attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) By ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• overall, in 2016/17, 61% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by the end of key stage 2 (when they are usually aged 10 to 11 years), and 9% met the higher standard
• 77% of pupils from the Chinese ethnic group met the expected standard and 24% met the higher standard (the highest percentages of any ethnic group)
• 16% of Gypsy/Roma pupils met the expected standard and 0% met the higher standard (the lowest percentages of any ethnic group for which there is data)
• 62% of White British pupils met the expected standard and 9% met the higher standard

3. By ethnicity and eligibility for free school meals

• Location: England
• Time period: 2016/17
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2016 (revised)

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

Ethnicity	FSM	Non-FSM
	%	%
All	43	64
Asian	53	65
Bangladeshi	59	66
Indian	58	72
Pakistani	49	57
Asian other	51	70
Black	52	62
Black African	54	65
Black Caribbean	46	57
Black other	50	60
Chinese	66	77
Mixed	47	67
Mixed White/Asian	48	74
Mixed White/Black African	50	66
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	44	60
Mixed other	48	68
White	39	65
White British	39	65
White Irish	43	74
White Irish Traveller	17	28
White Gypsy/Roma	15	17
White other	45	57
Other	50	60

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading, writing and maths attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) By ethnicity and eligibility for free school meals 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.

In 2016/17, 15% of pupils in year 6 (the final year of key stage 2) were known to be eligible for free school meals.

This data shows that:

• overall, 43% of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, compared with 64% of pupils not eligible for FSM
• in every ethnic group, a lower percentage of pupils eligible for FSM met the expected standard than pupils not eligible for FSM
• out of all ethnic groups, pupils from the Chinese group were most likely to meet the expected standard, both for pupils eligible for FSM (where 66% did so) and those not eligible for FSM (where 77% did so)
• pupils from the Gypsy/Roma ethnic group were least likely to meet the expected standard, both for pupils eligible for FSM (where 15% did so) and those not eligible for FSM (where 17% did so)

4. By ethnicity and area

• Location: England
• Time period: 2016/17
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2016 (revised)

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

Local authority	All	Asian	Black	Chinese	Mixed	White
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Barking and Dagenham	63	70	66		60	58
Barnet	69	73	61	89	69	71
Barnsley	59	79	43	N/A*	64	59
Bath and North East Somerset	63	75	23		59	64
Bedford	53	52	47		54	54
Bexley	65	79	68	86	66	62
Birmingham	57	57	55	70	55	58
Blackburn with Darwen	60	61	50		55	59
Blackpool	62	66			67	62
Bolton	61	64	54	77	64	60
Bournemouth	63	77	71		68	62
Bracknell Forest	57	76	65	100	65	56
Bradford	57	59	49	67	54	55
Brent	61	63	56		61	64
Brighton and Hove	64	55	55	65	65	65
Bristol, City of	61	62	46		57	64
Bromley	76	86	75	88	77	75
Buckinghamshire	64	62	56		57	65
Bury	63	58	55	100	58	65
Calderdale	58	53	50		62	59
Cambridgeshire	59	59	44	81	61	59
Camden	67	66	59		66	70
Central Bedfordshire	58	68	61	67	55	58
Cheshire East	64	74	57		62	64
Cheshire West and Chester	59	74	50		58	59
City of London	88			N/A*
Cornwall	59	52		63	66	58
County Durham	65	74	40	75	73	65
Coventry	58	65	54	100	57	57
Croydon	64	73	58	85	65	65
Cumbria	61	77	57	67	71	61
Darlington	61	72			68	60
Derby	55	55	53		57	55
Derbyshire	60	68	58	71	61	60
Devon	62	69	57	60	60	62
Doncaster	54	51	43		60	54
Dorset	57	56	57	77	62	57
Dudley	55	56	46		58	56
Ealing	65	64	60		64	71
East Riding of Yorkshire	61	75		100	68	61
East Sussex	57	65	53		62	57
Enfield	61	74	58		68	58
Essex	63	79	65	76	66	63
Gateshead	68	66	57	100	74	68
Gloucestershire	62	72	54	72	60	62
Greenwich	71	80	73	85	71	67
Hackney	72	75	67	80	74	75
Halton	56				68	56
Hammersmith and Fulham	74	72	72		76	74
Hampshire	66	78	69	82	68	65
Haringey	65	72	57	76	67	68
Harrow	70	76	61		71	67
Hartlepool	65	68			60	65
Havering	72	77	76	76	72	71
Herefordshire, County of	60			100	66	60
Hertfordshire	65	70	61	79	65	65
Hillingdon	64	71	58	100	66	60
Hounslow	66	72	61		68	62
Isle of Wight	55	69			59	55
Isles of Scilly	35	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	35
Islington	66	77	58		65	68
Kensington and Chelsea	76	71	74	100	73	78
Kent	65	79	71	73	68	64
Kingston upon Hull, City of	63	70	57	100	77	62
Kingston upon Thames	65	62	57		69	65
Kirklees	57	55	46	71	47	60
Knowsley	58	79	56	N/A*	53	58
Lambeth	70	73	67	67	72	74
Lancashire	61	56	62	68	61	62
Leeds	56	53	49	79	53	57
Leicester	58	64	60		59	50
Leicestershire	62	66	62	77	59	61
Lewisham	62	70	56	80	66	66
Lincolnshire	57	81	66	84	68	56
Liverpool	58	65	57	83	58	57
Luton	55	54	55	100	59	56
Manchester	60	59	61	71	61	62
Medway	58	70	72	75	62	56
Merton	66	73	62		65	63
Middlesbrough	61	58	50	N/A*	55	63
Milton Keynes	63	75	60	75	61	61
Newcastle upon Tyne	63	65	61	70	66	64
Newham	70	70	72	100	72	65
Norfolk	57	70	37	85	57	57
North East Lincolnshire	59	73	100		72	59
North Lincolnshire	59	69	38		67	59
North Somerset	59	28	33	100	64	59
North Tyneside	66	75	73	79	74	65
North Yorkshire	59	73	38	82	61	59
Northamptonshire	57	55	51	69	51	57
Northumberland	61	79			59	61
Nottingham	59	61	59	56	60	58
Nottinghamshire	62	62	53	85	61	62
Oldham	57	53	59		60	60
Oxfordshire	61	56	49	69	64	62
Peterborough	52	53	53	50	53	51
Plymouth	60	100	47	58	64	60
Poole	59	74			66	58
Portsmouth	57	67	60		65	56
Reading	59	63	57		54	60
Redbridge	67	70	55	78	68	65
Redcar and Cleveland	69	60	N/A*		79	69
Richmond upon Thames	76	70	57	67	75	78
Rochdale	56	54	50		66	56
Rotherham	61	62	57	67	71	60
Rutland	67				69	66
Salford	61	76	63		56	62
Sandwell	58	64	51	100	57	55
Sefton	64	68	69	63	61	65
Sheffield	60	64	57	87	55	61
Shropshire	62	65	38		71	62
Slough	63	68	60	100	61	55
Solihull	65	72	64		57	64
Somerset	59	69	53		61	59
South Gloucestershire	60	78	51		56	60
South Tyneside	65	66	57		74	65
Southampton	62	67	69		66	61
Southend-on-Sea	66	80	76		73	64
Southwark	64	69	60	65	65	68
St. Helens	58	86			59	58
Staffordshire	63	61	64	70	66	63
Stockport	64	63	53	69	69	64
Stockton-on-Tees	64	61	65		79	64
Stoke-on-Trent	56	54	53	62	59	56
Suffolk	57	70	62	57	59	57
Sunderland	68	64		100	64	68
Surrey	67	73	62	76	71	67
Sutton	72	86	75	85	75	67
Swindon	62	68	62	57	60	62
Tameside	60	60	44	60	62	61
Telford and Wrekin	61	60	59		61	61
Thurrock	62	73	73	54	56	59
Torbay	60	69			60	59
Tower Hamlets	68	70	63	72	63	62
Trafford	72	76	63	86	72	71
Wakefield	57	48	51	45	57	57
Walsall	53	58	55	77	53	52
Waltham Forest	68	69	63	86	66	69
Wandsworth	69	66	60		64	77
Warrington	70	78	80		69	69
Warwickshire	62	75	54	83	64	61
West Berkshire	62	73	77		62	61
West Sussex	55	60	49	76	61	55
Westminster	68	70	67	100	65	73
Wigan	66	72	58		72	66
Wiltshire	59	81	33	79	61	59
Windsor and Maidenhead	66	69	58		64	67
Wirral	57	61		67	71	57
Wokingham	70	82	69		73	68
Wolverhampton	60	66	65		58	58
Worcestershire	57	55	68		61	57
York	61	60	50	73	64	61

^* Not applicable Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading, writing and 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, 88% of pupils in the City of London local authority met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by the end of key stage 2 – this was the highest percentage out of all local authorities, followed by Kensington and Chelsea, Bromley, and Richmond upon Thames (all in London), where 76% of pupils met the standard
• the local authorities where the lowest percentage of pupils met the expected standard were the Isles of Scilly in the South West (35%), and Peterborough in the East of England (52%)
• 100% of Asian pupils in Plymouth (South West) met the expected standard, while 28% 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
• 100% of Black pupils met the expected standard in North East Lincolnshire (Yorkshire and the Humber), while 23% did so in Bath and North East Somerset (South West)
• 100% of pupils from the Chinese ethnic group met the expected standard in 16 local authorities (out of the 87 for which data was available), while 45% did so in Wakefield (in Yorkshire and the Humber)
• 79% of pupils with Mixed ethnicity met the expected standard in Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton on Tees (both in the North East), while 47% did so in Kirklees (Yorkshire and the Humber)
• 78% of White pupils met the expected standard in Kensington and Chelsea, and Richmond upon Thames (both in London), while 35% did so in the Isles of Scilly (South West) and 50% did so in Leicester (East Midlands)

5. By ethnicity and gender

• Location: England
• Time period: 2016/17
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2016 (revised)

Percentage of pupils meeting the expected and higher standards 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	57	7	65	10
Asian	60	8	67	12
Bangladeshi	62	7	68	11
Indian	69	12	75	19
Pakistani	53	5	59	7
Asian other	64	11	71	14
Black	55	5	65	8
Black African	58	6	67	10
Black Caribbean	48	3	59	5
Black other	53	4	62	8
Chinese	72	21	82	27
Mixed	59	8	67	11
Mixed White/Asian	66	12	74	17
Mixed White/Black African	58	6	66	9
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	50	4	60	6
Mixed other	61	9	68	12
White	57	7	65	10
White British	58	7	66	10
White Irish	66	12	73	15
White Irish Traveller	18		22
White Gypsy/Roma	13	0	19	0
White other	53	7	59	10
Other	54	6	61	9

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading, writing and maths attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) By ethnicity and gender Summary

The data shows that:

• in every ethnic group, a higher percentage of girls than boys met the expected and higher standards in reading, writing and maths in 2016/17
• overall, 65% of girls met the expected standard compared with 57% of boys, and 10% of girls met the higher standard compared with 7% of boys
• 82% of girls from the Chinese ethnic group met the expected standard and 27% met the higher standard, the highest percentages for any ethnic group across boys and girls
• 13% of Gypsy/Roma boys met the expected standard, the lowest percentage in any ethnic group across boys and girls
• for the expected standard, the biggest gap between girls and boys, at 11 percentage points, was found in the Black Caribbean ethnic group – 59% of girls met the expected standard compared with 48% of boys
• for the higher standard, the biggest gap between girls and boys, at 6 percentage points, was found among in the Indian ethnic group – 19% of girls met the higher standard compared with 12% 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 75% of pupils.

Additional, more complex, routines are then applied to match as many of the remaining pupils as possible, up to around 98%. The coverage of the local authority and regional statistics is state-funded mainstream schools only in England. This includes schools and academies but excludes hospital schools, pupil referral units and alternative provision.

Any pupils who do not have a valid result for a subject are excluded from the calculations for that subject and do not appear in the number of eligible pupils or in the outcome percentages for that subject.

Valid results for the national test figures are:

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

Changes to assessment:

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

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

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

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

Free school meals:

Pupils are included in the figures for free school meals (FSM) if their families have claimed eligibility for FSM at the time of the annual spring school census. This FSM definition includes all who were eligible to receive FSM, not only those who actually received FSM. Pupils not eligible for FSM or unclassified pupils are described as ‘non-FSM’ or ‘pupils not eligible for FSM’.

Parents are able to claim FSM if they receive a qualifying benefit.

FSM is used as an indicator of disadvantage, but when drawing conclusions, it should be remembered that not all eligible parents apply for FSM. Families who don’t quite reach the eligibility threshold for FSM may still be suffering deprivation.

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.

Related publications

Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2017

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

Reading, writing and maths attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) -local authorities - Spreadsheet (csv) 369 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, writing and maths attainments 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, FSM, 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

---

Share this page

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn