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

Department:
Department for Education
Published:
Last updated:
24 August 2018, see all updates
Source:
Key stage 2 statistics
Area covered:
England
Time period:
2016/17

The main facts and figures show 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 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).

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

Ethnic groups and how data on ethnicity is collected

Reading, writing and maths attainment for children aged 10 to 11 by ethnicity

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

Download chart (PNG)

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

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

Reading, writing and maths attainment for children aged 10 to 11 by ethnicity and eligibility for free school meals (FSM)

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

Download chart (PNG)

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

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)

Reading, writing and maths attainment for children aged 10 to 11 by ethnicity and area

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

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

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)

Reading, writing and maths attainment for children aged 10 to 11 by ethnicity and gender

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

Download chart (PNG)

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

Boys Girls
Ethnicity Expected standard Higher standard Expected standard 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

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

Methodology

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).

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

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.

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

full page history
  1. Updated to include new data (for 2016/17)

From: Department for Education

Previous edition:
  1. 5 March 2018

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