Reading, writing and maths results for 10 to 11 year olds

Published 13 May 2020

Last updated 5 March 2021 - see all updates

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• 65% of 10 to 11 year olds met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths in the school year 2018 to 2019
• 11% of pupils met the higher standard
• pupils from the Chinese ethnic group were most likely to meet both the expected and higher standards
• White Gypsy and Roma pupils were least likely to meet both the expected and higher standards
• in every ethnic group except White Irish Traveller, girls were more likely than boys to meet the expected and higher standards
• in every ethnic group, pupils eligible for free school meals were less likely to meet the expected standard than other pupils

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data measures the percentage of pupils at state-funded schools in England who met the expected and higher standards in reading, writing and maths by the end of year 6, when they are usually 10 or 11 years old.

Teachers assess each pupil against the following standards:

• expected standard – pupils must have a scaled score of 100 or more in reading and maths, and be 'working at the expected standard' or 'working at a greater depth within the expected standard' in writing
• higher standard – pupils must have a scaled score of 110 or more in reading and maths, and be 'working at a greater depth within the expected standard' in writing

Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.

The ethnic groups used in the data

Data is shown for the 16 ethnic groups used in the 2001 Census, with 2 exceptions:

• there are separate categories for White Irish Traveller and White Gypsy and Roma pupils
• pupils in the Chinese ethnic group are in a separate category from Asian pupils

Local authority data is shown for 6 aggregated ethnic groups:

• Asian
• Black
• Chinese
• Mixed
• White
• Other

This means estimates are shown for these groups as a whole. This is to make sure group sizes are big enough to make reliable generalisations.

Ethnicity was known for 99% of pupils.

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document (PDF opens in a new window or tab) for the data on this page.

These results are not directly comparable to results from earlier years. This is because the teacher assessment frameworks for writing were changed in 2018.

3. By ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: 2018 to 2019 school year
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2019 (revised)

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

Ethnicity	Expected standard	Higher standard
All	65	11
Asian	69	13
Bangladeshi	70	13
Indian	77	19
Pakistani	62	9
Asian other	71	15
Black	64	9
Black African	67	10
Black Caribbean	56	6
Black other	60	7
Chinese	80	28
Mixed	66	12
Mixed White/Asian	73	17
Mixed White/Black African	67	11
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	59	7
Mixed other	68	14
White	64	10
White British	65	10
White Irish	73	16
Gypsy/Roma	19	1
Irish Traveller	26	1
White other	63	11
Other	61	10
Unknown	49	8

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading, writing and maths results for 10 to 11 year olds By ethnicity Summary

The data shows that in the 2018 to 2019 school year:

• 65% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths in year 6 (when they were 10 or 11 years old)
• 11% met the higher standard
• 80% of pupils from the Chinese ethnic group met the expected standard and 28% met the higher standard, the highest percentages out of all ethnic groups
• 19% of Gypsy and Roma pupils met the expected standard, the lowest percentage out of all ethnic groups
• 1% of Gypsy and Roma pupils and White Irish Traveller pupils met the higher standard, the lowest percentage out of all ethnic groups

4. By ethnicity and gender

• Location: England
• Time period: 2018 to 2019 school year
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2019 (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	60	9	70	13
Asian	65	11	74	16
Bangladeshi	66	11	75	15
Indian	72	16	81	23
Pakistani	58	7	67	10
Asian other	67	13	76	18
Black	58	7	70	11
Black African	61	8	73	13
Black Caribbean	49	4	64	7
Black other	54	5	67	9
Chinese	77	23	83	33
Mixed	61	10	72	15
Mixed White/Asian	69	14	77	20
Mixed White/Black African	60	8	73	14
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	53	5	65	8
Mixed other	63	11	73	16
White	60	8	69	12
White British	60	8	70	12
White Irish	70	13	75	18
Gypsy/Roma	15	0	24	1
Irish Traveller	20	2	31	0
White other	58	8	68	13
Other	57	8	66	12

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading, writing and maths results for 10 to 11 year olds By ethnicity and gender Summary

Data for the 2018 to 2019 school year shows that:

• 70% of girls and 60% of boys met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths
• 13% of girls and 9% of boys met the higher standard
• in every ethnic group except White Irish Traveller, girls were more likely than boys to meet the expected and higher standards
• girls from the Chinese ethnic group were the most likely to meet the expected standard (83%) and the higher standard (33%)
• White Gypsy and Roma boys were the least likely to meet the expected standard (15%)
• they were also least likely to meet the higher standard, along with White Irish Traveller girls (0%)
• the smallest gap between girls and boys at the expected standard was found in the White Irish Traveller ethnic group, where 75% of girls and 70% of boys met the standard
• the biggest gap between girls and boys at the expected standard was found among the Black Caribbean ethnic group, where 64% of girls and 49% of boys met the standard
• the smallest gap between girls and boys at the higher standard was found among White Gypsy and Roma pupils, where 0% of boys and 1% of girls met the standard
• the biggest gap between girls and boys at the higher standard was found in the Chinese ethnic group, where 33% of girls and 23% of boys met the standard

5. By ethnicity and area

• Location: England
• Time period: 2018 to 2019 school year
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2019 (revised)

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

	All		Asian		Black		Chinese		Mixed		White		Other
Local authority	All %	All Pupils	Asian %	Asian Pupils	Black %	Black Pupils	Chinese %	Chinese Pupils	Mixed %	Mixed Pupils	White %	White Pupils	Other %	Other Pupils
Barking and Dagenham	66	2,296	75	574	69	754	90	9	59	183	58	740	52	25
Barnet	73	3,070	79	371	66	329	84	46	75	320	75	1,664	66	305
Barnsley	66	1,869	92	23	73	16	100	2	58	41	67	1,771	80	8
Bath and North East Somerset	67	1,220	86	24	64	7	60	3	66	62	67	1,109	56	5
Bedford	54	1,162	51	169	54	67	67	4	46	116	56	790	39	11
Bexley	70	2,341	83	225	75	454	96	54	71	167	66	1,388	68	39
Birmingham	62	10,080	65	3,940	60	1,266	72	63	61	855	60	3,315	62	523
Blackburn with Darwen	66	1,452	68	668	76	25	60	3	69	50	64	685	90	19
Blackpool	67	1,120	71	25	20	1	50	2	62	37	67	1,050	50	4
Bolton	65	2,549	65	630	52	130	100	6	67	105	66	1,624	55	41
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	67	2,567	82	108	75	12	86	12	71	160	66	2,228	58	23
Bracknell Forest	65	921	78	61	63	30	80	8	71	72	63	739	86	6
Bradford	63	4,949	66	2,215	67	88	71	5	61	247	60	2,311	61	62
Brent	68	2,486	73	803	65	568	78	7	72	205	69	635	59	252
Brighton and Hove	67	1,802	74	63	62	36	74	14	73	205	66	1,420	55	31
Bristol, City of	65	3,141	63	243	56	305	78	18	59	262	67	2,268	59	29
Bromley	75	2,785	85	181	71	259	96	27	76	311	74	1,917	69	47
Buckinghamshire	66	4,163	67	707	57	94	84	21	67	327	67	2,955	67	28
Bury	65	1,539	61	222	43	25	83	10	60	70	67	1,192	52	16
Calderdale	65	1,789	67	320	44	11	89	8	66	73	65	1,363	67	10
Cambridgeshire	63	4,400	70	207	63	54	87	41	66	247	62	3,759	69	42
Camden	73	1,123	74	253	69	200	88	15	74	126	76	461	64	52
Central Bedfordshire	61	2,129	72	53	66	59	100	4	61	159	61	1,824	72	13
Cheshire East	66	2,804	70	60	56	9	50	7	70	123	66	2,585	58	11
Cheshire West and Chester	64	2,560	75	45	47	9	71	12	62	66	64	2,405	81	17
City of London	82	23	64	7	100	2	N/A*	N/A*	100	4	100	9	50	1
Cornwall	61	3,589	60	9	33	1	78	7	62	89	61	3,436	59	13
County Durham	65	3,737	79	27	78	7	67	12	74	74	65	3,595	68	13
Coventry	62	2,738	65	627	63	334	67	14	63	184	61	1,522	56	40
Croydon	67	3,092	76	556	63	833	81	26	62	454	67	1,141	68	47
Cumbria	66	3,441	66	29	56	5	63	5	66	51	66	3,300	63	12
Darlington	66	851	68	21	71	5	0	0	70	21	66	791	64	7
Derby	61	2,010	64	402	60	78	100	10	61	152	60	1,309	53	39
Derbyshire	64	5,569	71	75	67	16	85	28	65	170	64	5,223	73	16
Devon	64	5,021	73	45	73	8	74	17	64	125	63	4,758	55	29
Doncaster	61	2,274	66	72	65	36	81	17	58	64	60	2,066	59	13
Dorset	61	2,384	70	19	42	5	67	8	60	73	61	2,267	67	2
Dudley	59	2,285	64	262	47	44	71	10	53	138	59	1,779	51	42
Ealing	71	3,085	73	912	65	445	94	17	75	270	73	962	68	448
East Riding of Yorkshire	65	2,360	82	14	57	4	50	1	67	52	64	2,261	67	12
East Sussex	63	3,450	70	81	61	25	79	11	67	215	62	3,070	44	14
Enfield	67	3,099	78	300	65	758	79	23	71	344	64	1,449	70	174
Essex	66	11,023	83	373	75	390	93	50	71	644	65	9,354	73	96
Gateshead	68	1,431	74	34	68	25	89	8	76	29	68	1,304	67	22
Gloucestershire	65	4,471	76	156	59	65	76	13	70	236	65	3,943	50	11
Greenwich	73	2,454	80	227	75	916	81	39	76	262	68	946	69	56
Hackney	66	1,711	70	219	62	585	82	9	71	190	65	586	73	111
Halton	60	959	71	5	100	1	N/A*	N/A*	48	16	60	932	0	0
Hammersmith and Fulham	73	968	76	61	66	247	100	3	65	120	79	404	76	113
Hampshire	68	10,057	78	370	71	131	77	41	73	427	67	8,980	75	72
Haringey	66	2,021	74	140	60	478	77	23	68	233	69	1,030	56	104
Harrow	74	2,164	77	1,080	67	188	100	8	70	179	73	599	68	83
Hartlepool	68	799	63	15	33	1	89	8	80	12	68	758	40	2
Havering	72	2,159	80	197	73	268	67	6	72	152	70	1,495	70	14
Herefordshire, County of	69	1,305	90	9	71	5	67	2	73	44	69	1,237	71	5
Hertfordshire	67	9,567	71	871	62	403	76	52	68	690	67	7,383	63	107
Hillingdon	69	2,678	75	811	64	282	100	6	69	320	66	1,010	66	211
Hounslow	70	2,302	78	840	60	239	89	16	67	195	65	722	70	263
Isle of Wight	59	758	70	7	67	2	80	4	64	32	59	710	100	1
Isles of Scilly	47	9	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	44	8	N/A*	N/A*
Islington	70	1,327	70	106	64	312	100	10	71	218	72	599	69	68
Kensington and Chelsea	77	731	71	30	75	138	67	2	81	152	80	276	71	116
Kent	68	12,189	82	596	77	403	94	48	70	687	67	10,247	68	108
Kingston upon Hull, City of	68	2,183	87	46	63	41	100	5	71	83	68	1,953	66	49
Kingston upon Thames	70	1,325	76	252	69	25	73	22	72	155	67	765	69	91
Kirklees	62	3,452	62	939	51	53	75	12	63	230	63	2,177	38	19
Knowsley	63	1,150	87	33	67	8	50	1	56	22	63	1,074	67	6
Lambeth	71	2,153	82	128	67	896	82	14	74	311	74	684	69	105
Lancashire	64	9,007	61	983	65	37	83	34	67	320	64	7,559	58	37
Leeds	62	5,764	60	665	55	424	77	40	60	376	63	4,135	49	90
Leicester	63	2,977	68	1,375	68	325	71	12	61	203	56	970	65	70
Leicestershire	67	5,115	76	439	71	65	79	22	69	261	66	4,278	63	19
Lewisham	68	2,351	77	158	63	859	79	37	70	389	72	809	62	69
Lincolnshire	61	5,015	86	75	67	28	76	19	67	166	60	4,658	69	25
Liverpool	62	3,236	70	165	61	152	80	63	60	178	62	2,562	51	108
Luton	61	1,986	61	939	59	204	89	8	65	180	60	604	67	34
Manchester	61	4,140	61	932	65	787	80	51	62	355	60	1,699	58	286
Medway	64	2,153	75	140	73	179	71	5	62	141	62	1,648	79	27
Merton	69	1,594	76	372	60	207	93	14	63	146	70	790	76	55
Middlesbrough	64	1,184	67	132	72	13	N/A*	N/A*	60	67	64	936	68	32
Milton Keynes	66	2,478	78	377	63	337	88	23	68	213	64	1,454	80	24
Newcastle upon Tyne	66	1,962	72	294	65	124	81	29	64	87	65	1,371	61	49
Newham	76	3,605	79	1,707	74	823	90	18	77	239	71	588	72	203
Norfolk	60	5,497	78	111	56	46	71	27	61	196	59	5,026	59	47
North East Lincolnshire	65	1,254	67	12	43	3	100	1	74	43	65	1,172	76	16
North Lincolnshire	66	1,286	63	48	58	7	100	3	62	21	66	1,186	71	10
North Somerset	65	1,559	76	25	67	8	88	7	73	67	64	1,443	75	3
North Tyneside	67	1,633	71	41	58	11	88	15	75	57	66	1,498	75	6
North Yorkshire	63	4,018	70	59	39	12	90	9	63	109	63	3,785	64	16
Northamptonshire	61	5,782	72	322	61	325	85	28	57	298	61	4,730	59	41
Northumberland	66	2,367	81	46	40	2	100	7	70	46	66	2,254	58	7
Nottingham	63	2,272	71	413	65	287	67	8	67	323	61	1,169	59	62
Nottinghamshire	65	6,034	71	204	58	64	69	18	68	285	65	5,384	56	33
Oldham	63	2,185	61	711	65	85	69	9	65	117	64	1,240	41	11
Oxfordshire	65	4,814	60	280	56	118	75	15	63	327	66	3,952	56	56
Peterborough	56	1,675	55	310	58	78	75	6	57	108	55	1,128	64	23
Plymouth	64	1,899	78	21	71	17	100	10	68	61	64	1,754	53	21
Portsmouth	58	1,288	68	82	61	46	56	5	72	86	56	1,027	63	27
Reading	63	1,194	71	268	59	113	82	9	63	135	62	636	67	16
Redbridge	73	2,987	77	1,679	66	308	100	21	72	222	69	684	76	41
Redcar and Cleveland	70	1,154	70	7	80	4	100	1	72	36	71	1,097	14	1
Richmond upon Thames	81	1,874	78	163	50	29	71	17	77	176	83	1,426	78	42
Rochdale	60	1,803	60	472	54	68	83	10	57	66	61	1,160	57	21
Rotherham	59	2,007	51	134	65	43	75	9	51	56	60	1,735	82	23
Rutland	67	266	80	4	33	2	N/A*	N/A*	83	10	67	246	50	2
Salford	65	1,948	75	77	71	122	100	1	68	162	65	1,517	54	53
Sandwell	62	2,955	67	939	59	288	75	18	60	266	60	1,358	62	71
Sefton	63	1,864	63	19	64	9	71	5	70	54	63	1,762	46	6
Sheffield	64	4,036	65	506	61	233	87	41	62	300	64	2,794	64	141
Shropshire	65	2,010	75	18	29	2	75	3	65	60	66	1,913	75	3
Slough	69	1,630	79	892	65	137	67	2	67	142	55	378	75	69
Solihull	69	1,806	76	260	72	41	97	29	63	139	67	1,291	78	25
Somerset	61	3,593	71	57	69	11	85	11	62	110	61	3,371	39	7
South Gloucestershire	67	2,203	75	78	64	29	82	9	74	125	66	1,932	69	18
South Tyneside	66	1,106	72	41	80	8	67	2	67	29	66	1,019	56	5
Southampton	64	1,788	66	244	73	66	75	12	66	116	62	1,310	71	36
Southend-on-Sea	68	1,502	84	118	70	45	83	19	67	98	67	1,195	75	12
Southwark	68	2,268	72	129	65	979	77	23	69	259	72	664	68	173
St. Helens	66	1,450	85	17	50	6	70	7	60	26	66	1,388	50	4
Staffordshire	65	6,360	63	280	52	40	76	28	60	212	65	5,737	70	32
Stockport	66	2,274	69	174	64	29	77	17	56	102	67	1,924	56	18
Stockton-on-Tees	71	1,773	74	101	78	21	57	4	79	53	70	1,586	57	4
Stoke-on-Trent	60	1,994	63	316	65	84	83	10	65	104	59	1,450	52	29
Suffolk	62	4,939	71	104	60	52	75	3	64	298	62	4,372	58	43
Sunderland	67	2,170	76	100	82	23	69	9	75	41	66	1,991	33	1
Surrey	70	8,678	75	655	63	146	86	60	72	560	69	7,081	68	90
Sutton	73	1,743	83	353	73	123	88	36	73	173	69	1,013	71	24
Swindon	62	1,814	69	238	63	57	67	10	64	115	61	1,364	52	12
Tameside	63	1,878	68	213	64	54	92	12	62	88	63	1,486	50	12
Telford and Wrekin	65	1,485	66	99	60	52	85	11	75	88	64	1,222	80	4
Thurrock	70	1,702	81	110	79	314	75	12	80	114	67	1,121	65	17
Torbay	66	956	80	20	100	1	75	3	64	27	66	892	64	7
Tower Hamlets	72	2,404	74	1,605	68	227	91	10	69	147	69	317	80	87
Trafford	77	2,328	83	371	68	93	85	53	76	177	77	1,550	78	63
Wakefield	64	2,566	55	91	66	37	77	17	64	79	64	2,325	54	14
Walsall	61	2,325	68	644	58	113	71	10	59	138	59	1,385	45	23
Waltham Forest	72	2,386	74	642	67	429	90	26	75	298	72	887	68	89
Wandsworth	70	1,691	71	315	62	344	90	9	67	200	76	745	67	60
Warrington	73	1,892	74	65	70	16	100	6	86	65	72	1,721	50	10
Warwickshire	66	4,191	77	294	59	47	91	20	70	222	65	3,554	77	23
West Berkshire	64	1,256	69	37	57	13	100	6	65	68	64	1,117	60	6
West Sussex	63	5,789	68	295	62	78	73	16	65	298	62	5,013	65	34
Westminster	70	1,004	69	132	69	176	92	11	72	107	74	278	68	291
Wigan	67	2,542	72	31	54	31	50	3	65	64	67	2,388	58	22
Wiltshire	64	3,441	82	54	58	52	88	14	74	140	64	3,126	63	30
Windsor and Maidenhead	67	1,068	63	160	36	8	100	6	67	93	69	774	62	13
Wirral	60	2,262	79	71	56	10	75	15	67	66	60	2,085	22	2
Wokingham	74	1,582	82	252	87	54	100	14	77	129	71	1,105	72	13
Wolverhampton	64	2,154	69	535	66	259	88	7	61	242	63	1,071	62	29
Worcestershire	63	3,845	63	158	76	22	80	8	61	148	63	3,465	67	16
York	68	1,355	73	30	86	6	100	4	61	37	68	1,260	73	8

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading, writing and maths results for 10 to 11 year olds By ethnicity and area Summary

Data for the 2018 to 2019 school year shows that:

• out of all local authorities, White pupils were most likely to meet the expected standard in Richmond upon Thames (83%) and least likely to in Peterborough and Slough (55%) – this doesn't include City of London and Isles of Scilly which only have one school each, and whose results need to be treated with caution
• figures for other ethnic groups are based on small numbers of pupils, so reliable generalisations can't be made

6. By ethnicity and eligibility for free school meals

• Location: England
• Time period: 2018 to 2019 school year
• Source: National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2019 (revised)

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

Ethnicity	FSM	Non-FSM
	%	%
All	47	68
Asian	58	71
Bangladeshi	66	71
Indian	62	78
Pakistani	55	64
Asian other	58	74
Black	57	67
Black African	60	69
Black Caribbean	48	60
Black other	54	63
Chinese	75	80
Mixed	51	71
Mixed White/Asian	53	77
Mixed White/Black African	53	71
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	47	64
Mixed other	52	72
White	44	68
White British	44	69
White Irish	47	78
Gypsy/Roma	17	21
Irish Traveller	23	32
White other	49	64
Other	51	65

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Reading, writing and maths results for 10 to 11 year olds By ethnicity and eligibility for free school meals Summary

Eligibility for free school meals (FSM) in England is used as an indicator of deprivation.

The data for FSM-eligible pupils shows that:

• 47% met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, compared with 68% of non-FSM pupils
• pupils from the Chinese ethnic group were most likely out of all ethnic groups to meet the expected standard (at 75%)
• White Gypsy and Roma pupils were least likely out of all ethnic groups to meet the expected standard (at 17%)
• in every ethnic group, they were less likely to meet the expected standard than non-FSM pupils

7. Data sources

Source

National curriculum assessments: key stage 2, 2019 (revised)

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Education

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.

8. Download the data

KS2 reading, writing and maths -- National - Spreadsheet (csv) 97 KB

This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, time_type, geography, geography_type_geography_code, gender, age, FSM, value, value_type, denominator, numerator

KS2 reading, writing and maths -- Local authority - Spreadsheet (csv) 839 KB

This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, time_type, geography, geography_type_geography_code, gender, age, value, value_type, denominator, numerator

Publication release date: 13 May 2020

Updated: 5 March 2021

full page history

1. 5 March 2021 Moved all contextual information to ‘Things you need to know’ and new subsections. Increased visibility by adding it to the table of contents. Removed any duplication and added links to content about understanding our data. Charts, tables and the data file have not been updated.
2. 13 May 2020 Updated with the latest available data (for the 2018 to 2019 school year).

From: Department for Education

Previous editions:

1. 19 September 2019
2. 14 May 2019
3. 5 March 2018

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