Writing attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2)
Published
Last updated 14 May 2019 - see all updates
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School results for 10 to 11 year olds.
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1. Main facts and figures
- overall, in 2016/17, 76% of pupils met the expected standard in writing by the end of key stage 2 (when they are usually aged 10 or 11 years), and 18% met the higher standard
- pupils from the Chinese ethnic group were most likely out of all ethnic groups to meet both the expected standard (jointly with pupils from the Indian ethnic group) and the higher standard
- Gypsy/Roma pupils were least likely out of all ethnic groups to meet both the expected standard, and the higher standard (jointly with Irish Traveller pupils)
- pupils from the Chinese ethnic group made the most progress in writing between key stage 1 and key stage 2, while Irish Traveller pupils made the least progress
- within every ethnic group, girls were more likely than boys to meet both the expected and the higher standards in writing
- the local authorities with the highest percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard were the City of London (where 92% did so) and Kensington and Chelsea (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 599,061 pupils in key stage 2 at state-funded schools in England in year 6 (the final year of key stage 2), and ethnicity was known for 593,776 (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 writing 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 writing are divided into 2 categories:
- expected standard – to meet this, pupils must have been assessed as ‘working at the expected standard’ or ‘working at a greater depth within the expected standard’
- higher standard – to meet this, pupils must have been assessed as ‘working at a greater depth within the expected standard’
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. By ethnicity
Ethnicity | Expected standard | Higher standard | Progress score |
---|---|---|---|
All | 76 | 18 | 0.0 |
Asian | 80 | 19 | 1.0 |
Bangladeshi | 81 | 20 | 1.6 |
Indian | 85 | 26 | 1.2 |
Pakistani | 75 | 13 | 0.7 |
Asian other | 81 | 23 | 1.1 |
Black | 77 | 16 | 0.8 |
Black African | 79 | 18 | 1.2 |
Black Caribbean | 72 | 12 | -0.2 |
Black other | 75 | 15 | 0.7 |
Chinese | 85 | 34 | 1.9 |
Mixed | 78 | 19 | 0.2 |
Mixed White/Asian | 82 | 25 | 0.5 |
Mixed White/Black African | 77 | 18 | 0.4 |
Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 73 | 14 | -0.5 |
Mixed other | 79 | 21 | 0.6 |
White | 76 | 18 | -0.3 |
White British | 77 | 18 | -0.4 |
White Irish | 80 | 23 | 0.2 |
White Irish Traveller | 36 | 2 | -0.8 |
White Gypsy/Roma | 31 | 2 | -0.4 |
White other | 70 | 16 | 1.6 |
Other | 72 | 15 | 1.4 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Writing attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) By ethnicity Summary
The data shows that:
- overall, in 2016/17, 76% of pupils met the expected standard in writing by the end of key stage 2 (when they are usually aged 10 to 11 years), and 18% met the higher standard
- 85% of pupils from the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups met the expected standard in writing, and 34% of pupils from the Chinese ethnic group met the higher standard (the highest percentages of any ethnic group)
- 31% of Gypsy/Roma pupils met the expected standard in writing and 2% of both Gypsy/Roma and Irish Traveller pupils met the higher standard (the lowest percentages of any ethnic group)
- between key stage 1 and key stage 2, pupils from the Chinese ethnic group made the most progress in writing, with a progress score of 1.9 points; Irish Traveller pupils made the least progress, with a progress score of -0.8 points
3. By ethnicity and area
Local authority | All | Asian | Black | Chinese | Mixed | White |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
% | % | % | % | % | % | |
Barking and Dagenham | 76 | 84 | 80 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 74 | 71 |
Barnet | 79 | 84 | 73 | 91 | 79 | 81 |
Barnsley | 76 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 57 | N/A* | 86 | 76 |
Bath and North East Somerset | 76 | 79 | 54 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 74 | 76 |
Bedford | 71 | 72 | 69 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 72 | 71 |
Bexley | 80 | 88 | 83 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 79 | 78 |
Birmingham | 73 | 75 | 72 | 80 | 73 | 71 |
Blackburn with Darwen | 76 | 79 | 64 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 76 | 75 |
Blackpool | 77 | 76 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 86 | 77 |
Bolton | 77 | 81 | 67 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 82 | 76 |
Bournemouth | 80 | 93 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 100 | 80 | 79 |
Bracknell Forest | 72 | 85 | 84 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 78 | 71 |
Bradford | 74 | 78 | 69 | 67 | 70 | 72 |
Brent | 75 | 78 | 73 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 73 | 77 |
Brighton and Hove | 78 | 71 | 83 | 80 | 79 | 79 |
Bristol, City of | 77 | 79 | 71 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 73 | 77 |
Bromley | 84 | 90 | 83 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 87 | 84 |
Buckinghamshire | 76 | 77 | 72 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 72 | 76 |
Bury | 77 | 74 | 73 | 100 | 72 | 78 |
Calderdale | 70 | 65 | 57 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 72 | 71 |
Cambridgeshire | 73 | 72 | 62 | 93 | 75 | 73 |
Camden | 78 | 78 | 75 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 78 | 78 |
Central Bedfordshire | 74 | 81 | 81 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 74 | 74 |
Cheshire East | 76 | 86 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 80 | 75 |
Cheshire West and Chester | 74 | 82 | 63 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 78 | 74 |
City of London | 92 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | N/A* | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality |
Cornwall | 76 | 78 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 84 | 76 |
County Durham | 79 | 85 | 70 | 100 | 82 | 79 |
Coventry | 77 | 84 | 78 | 100 | 75 | 75 |
Croydon | 78 | 83 | 76 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 79 | 77 |
Cumbria | 77 | 87 | 57 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 86 | 77 |
Darlington | 76 | 90 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 89 | 75 |
Derby | 73 | 77 | 78 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 76 | 71 |
Derbyshire | 76 | 80 | 79 | 76 | 77 | 76 |
Devon | 76 | 93 | 57 | 70 | 76 | 76 |
Doncaster | 74 | 80 | 72 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 79 | 73 |
Dorset | 72 | 72 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 77 | 77 | 72 |
Dudley | 74 | 75 | 64 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 73 | 74 |
Ealing | 78 | 80 | 73 | 100 | 76 | 81 |
East Riding of Yorkshire | 78 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 82 | 78 |
East Sussex | 75 | 77 | 67 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 81 | 75 |
Enfield | 78 | 88 | 78 | 100 | 82 | 76 |
Essex | 78 | 89 | 81 | 83 | 80 | 78 |
Gateshead | 82 | 80 | 83 | 100 | 90 | 82 |
Gloucestershire | 74 | 78 | 62 | 78 | 72 | 74 |
Greenwich | 83 | 91 | 85 | 100 | 82 | 79 |
Hackney | 85 | 89 | 83 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 87 | 85 |
Halton | 72 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 82 | 72 |
Hammersmith and Fulham | 81 | 78 | 81 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 84 | 79 |
Hampshire | 81 | 91 | 83 | 87 | 83 | 80 |
Haringey | 81 | 89 | 78 | 79 | 83 | 81 |
Harrow | 83 | 88 | 75 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 84 | 79 |
Hartlepool | 81 | 82 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 81 |
Havering | 85 | 88 | 91 | 82 | 84 | 84 |
Herefordshire, County of | 76 | 100 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 79 | 76 |
Hertfordshire | 79 | 85 | 80 | 86 | 80 | 79 |
Hillingdon | 78 | 85 | 73 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 80 | 75 |
Hounslow | 82 | 86 | 77 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 85 | 78 |
Isle of Wight | 72 | 77 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 78 | 72 |
Isles of Scilly | 41 | N/A* | N/A* | N/A* | N/A* | 41 |
Islington | 80 | 87 | 76 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 82 | 80 |
Kensington and Chelsea | 86 | 81 | 81 | 100 | 87 | 86 |
Kent | 81 | 92 | 84 | 87 | 85 | 80 |
Kingston upon Hull, City of | 77 | 84 | 62 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 90 | 77 |
Kingston upon Thames | 77 | 76 | 70 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 80 | 78 |
Kirklees | 74 | 76 | 62 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 66 | 75 |
Knowsley | 71 | 86 | withheld to protect confidentiality | N/A* | 78 | 71 |
Lambeth | 83 | 87 | 81 | 83 | 84 | 83 |
Lancashire | 77 | 79 | 71 | 86 | 78 | 77 |
Leeds | 70 | 72 | 67 | 88 | 67 | 71 |
Leicester | 75 | 82 | 79 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 74 | 66 |
Leicestershire | 77 | 84 | 78 | 86 | 79 | 77 |
Lewisham | 78 | 86 | 77 | 89 | 81 | 76 |
Lincolnshire | 73 | 95 | 86 | 84 | 85 | 73 |
Liverpool | 71 | 78 | 72 | 88 | 75 | 71 |
Luton | 72 | 71 | 74 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 78 | 72 |
Manchester | 75 | 77 | 78 | 76 | 75 | 73 |
Medway | 76 | 89 | 86 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 74 | 75 |
Merton | 76 | 83 | 75 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 76 | 72 |
Middlesbrough | 76 | 75 | 75 | N/A* | 67 | 76 |
Milton Keynes | 78 | 87 | 78 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 80 | 75 |
Newcastle upon Tyne | 78 | 80 | 87 | 83 | 82 | 77 |
Newham | 84 | 86 | 85 | 100 | 84 | 76 |
Norfolk | 75 | 90 | 68 | 88 | 76 | 74 |
North East Lincolnshire | 79 | 80 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 92 | 79 |
North Lincolnshire | 78 | 90 | 54 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 86 | 78 |
North Somerset | 76 | 88 | 75 | 100 | 78 | 76 |
North Tyneside | 80 | 90 | 86 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 89 | 80 |
North Yorkshire | 75 | 79 | 81 | 82 | 81 | 75 |
Northamptonshire | 75 | 79 | 74 | 86 | 75 | 75 |
Northumberland | 77 | 87 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 78 | 77 |
Nottingham | 74 | 77 | 76 | 78 | 76 | 72 |
Nottinghamshire | 78 | 79 | 68 | 91 | 76 | 78 |
Oldham | 74 | 72 | 81 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 73 | 75 |
Oxfordshire | 74 | 77 | 69 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 78 | 74 |
Peterborough | 68 | 73 | 67 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 74 | 67 |
Plymouth | 75 | 100 | 58 | 75 | 85 | 75 |
Poole | 76 | 91 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 80 | 76 |
Portsmouth | 74 | 83 | 85 | 33 | 77 | 73 |
Reading | 76 | 81 | 78 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 71 | 76 |
Redbridge | 81 | 84 | 76 | 78 | 82 | 79 |
Redcar and Cleveland | 81 | withheld to protect confidentiality | N/A* | withheld to protect confidentiality | 86 | 80 |
Richmond upon Thames | 84 | 83 | 68 | 75 | 84 | 85 |
Rochdale | 76 | 78 | 69 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 84 | 75 |
Rotherham | 77 | 78 | 79 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 84 | 77 |
Rutland | 80 | 100 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 79 |
Salford | 77 | 94 | 76 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 76 | 77 |
Sandwell | 75 | 82 | 71 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 75 | 72 |
Sefton | 77 | 89 | 77 | 63 | 78 | 77 |
Sheffield | 77 | 82 | 76 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 74 | 77 |
Shropshire | 76 | 82 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 84 | 76 |
Slough | 81 | 86 | 83 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 78 | 72 |
Solihull | 78 | 85 | 73 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 72 | 77 |
Somerset | 75 | 82 | 60 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 76 | 75 |
South Gloucestershire | 78 | 88 | 76 | 100 | 75 | 78 |
South Tyneside | 82 | 87 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 88 | 82 |
Southampton | 78 | 82 | 82 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 78 | 78 |
Southend-on-Sea | 79 | 88 | 90 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 82 | 78 |
Southwark | 78 | 83 | 77 | 82 | 79 | 80 |
St. Helens | 77 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 78 | 76 |
Staffordshire | 78 | 82 | 79 | 83 | 78 | 78 |
Stockport | 77 | 78 | 71 | 81 | 78 | 77 |
Stockton-on-Tees | 80 | 86 | 85 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 89 | 79 |
Stoke-on-Trent | 72 | 73 | 72 | 62 | 78 | 72 |
Suffolk | 74 | 85 | 83 | 57 | 77 | 74 |
Sunderland | 81 | 78 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 100 | 80 | 81 |
Surrey | 79 | 84 | 73 | 84 | 83 | 78 |
Sutton | 83 | 94 | 87 | 85 | 83 | 80 |
Swindon | 77 | 82 | 80 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 76 | 76 |
Tameside | 77 | 77 | 57 | 70 | 79 | 78 |
Telford and Wrekin | 77 | 77 | 76 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 78 | 77 |
Thurrock | 79 | 84 | 87 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 75 | 76 |
Torbay | 75 | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | withheld to protect confidentiality | 77 | 75 |
Tower Hamlets | 82 | 84 | 79 | 78 | 78 | 73 |
Trafford | 83 | 89 | 79 | 92 | 86 | 82 |
Wakefield | 74 | 73 | 73 | 64 | 75 | 74 |
Walsall | 74 | 80 | 72 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 73 | 72 |
Waltham Forest | 82 | 84 | 81 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 81 | 81 |
Wandsworth | 83 | 84 | 78 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 81 | 85 |
Warrington | 82 | 91 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 100 | 82 | 81 |
Warwickshire | 78 | 91 | 75 | 83 | 83 | 77 |
West Berkshire | 75 | 80 | 86 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 79 | 74 |
West Sussex | 69 | 75 | 61 | 81 | 76 | 68 |
Westminster | 80 | 83 | 80 | 100 | 83 | 81 |
Wigan | 79 | 88 | 81 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 80 | 79 |
Wiltshire | 75 | 86 | 61 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 76 | 75 |
Windsor and Maidenhead | 77 | 81 | 71 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 81 | 76 |
Wirral | 74 | 82 | 100 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 85 | 73 |
Wokingham | 82 | 91 | 86 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 81 | 80 |
Wolverhampton | 78 | 85 | 84 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 75 | 75 |
Worcestershire | 74 | 74 | 81 | 100 | 75 | 74 |
York | 76 | 70 | 75 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 77 | 76 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV)
Summary of Writing 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, 92% of pupils in the City of London local authority met the expected standard in writing by the end of key stage 2 – this was the highest percentage out of all local authorities, followed by Kensington and Chelsea (also in London), where 86% of pupils met the standard
- 100% of Asian pupils met the expected standard in County of Herefordshire (West Midlands), Plymouth (South West) and Rutland (East Midlands), while 65% did so in Calderdale (Yorkshire and the Humber) – 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 Wirral in the North West, while 54% did so in North Lincolnshire (Yorkshire and The Humber) and Bath and North East Somerset (South West)
- 100% of Chinese pupils met the expected standard in 16 local authorities (out of the 63 local authorities for which data was available), while 33% did so in Portsmouth (South East)
- 92% of pupils with Mixed ethnicity met the expected standard in North East Lincolnshire (Yorkshire and The Humber), while 66% did so in Kirklees (also Yorkshire and The Humber)
- 86% of White pupils in Kensington and Chelsea (London) met the expected standard, while 41% did so in the Isles of Scilly (South West)
4. By ethnicity and gender
Boys | Girls | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ethnicity | Boys Expected standard | Boys Higher standard | Boys Progress score | Girls Expected standard | Girls Higher standard | Girls Progress score |
All | 70 | 13 | -0.8 | 82 | 23 | 0.8 |
Asian | 75 | 14 | 0.4 | 85 | 24 | 1.7 |
Bangladeshi | 76 | 14 | 1.0 | 86 | 26 | 2.3 |
Indian | 82 | 20 | 0.6 | 89 | 32 | 1.8 |
Pakistani | 69 | 9 | 0.1 | 81 | 17 | 1.4 |
Asian other | 77 | 18 | 0.6 | 85 | 28 | 1.7 |
Black | 71 | 12 | 0.2 | 83 | 21 | 1.5 |
Black African | 73 | 14 | 0.6 | 84 | 22 | 1.7 |
Black Caribbean | 64 | 8 | -1.0 | 80 | 16 | 0.7 |
Black other | 69 | 10 | -0.1 | 81 | 21 | 1.6 |
Chinese | 80 | 27 | 1.2 | 90 | 40 | 2.6 |
Mixed | 72 | 14 | -0.6 | 84 | 25 | 1.1 |
Mixed White/Asian | 77 | 19 | -0.2 | 87 | 31 | 1.3 |
Mixed White/Black African | 71 | 13 | -0.6 | 83 | 23 | 1.2 |
Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 65 | 9 | -1.5 | 81 | 18 | 0.6 |
Mixed other | 74 | 15 | -0.2 | 85 | 26 | 1.5 |
White | 70 | 13 | -1.1 | 82 | 22 | 0.6 |
White British | 70 | 13 | -1.2 | 83 | 23 | 0.5 |
White Irish | 74 | 18 | -0.7 | 85 | 29 | 1.2 |
White Irish Traveller | 27 | withheld to protect confidentiality | -2.5 | 45 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 0.9 |
White Gypsy/Roma | 24 | 1 | -1.7 | 38 | 2 | 0.7 |
White other | 65 | 12 | 0.9 | 76 | 20 | 2.4 |
Other | 67 | 12 | 0.7 | 78 | 19 | 2.2 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and gender’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and gender’ (CSV)
Summary of Writing attainments for children aged 10 to 11 (key stage 2) By ethnicity and gender Summary
The data shows that:
- overall, in 2016/17, 82% of girls and 70% of boys met the expected standard in writing by the end of key stage 2 (when they are aged 10 to 11 years), while 23% of girls and 13% of boys met the higher standard; girls were more likely to meet the expected and higher standards than boys in every ethnic group
- overall, girls made above average progress in writing between key stage 1 and key stage 2 (with a progress score of 0.8 points), while boys made below average progress (with a progress score of -0.8 points); this pattern was seen in every ethnic group
- 90% of girls from the Chinese ethnic group met the expected standard and 40% met the higher standard, the highest percentages in any ethnic group across boys and girls; Chinese girls also made the most progress between key stage 1 and key stage 2, with a progress score of 2.6 points
- 24% of Gypsy/Roma boys met the expected standard, the lowest percentage in any ethnic group across boys and girls
- Traveller of Irish Heritage boys made the least progress between key stage 1 and key stage 2, with a progress score of -2.5 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
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
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.
This file contains the following variables: Measure, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_Type, Time, Time_Type, Region, Local_Authority, Local_Authority_Code, Value, Value_Type, Denominator.