Data set from Key stage 4 destination measures

Key stage 4 leavers national level destinations

Latest data

Published 27 February 2025

Last updated 27 February 2025

Key stage 4 study leavers national level destinations data by student characteristics, provider type and qualification level

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Data set details

• Theme: Destination of pupils and students
• Publication: Key stage 4 destination measures
• Release: Academic year 2022/23
• Geographic levels: National
• Indicators:
  • Number of institutions
  • Number of pupils completing key stage 4
  • Sustained education, employment & apprenticeships
• Filters:
  • Data type
  • Institution group
  • Student characteristics
• Time period: 2010/11 to 2022/23

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Data set preview

Table showing first 5 rows, from underlying data

time_period	time_identifier	geographic_level	country_code	country_name	institution_group	institution_type	breakdown_topic	breakdown	data_type	version	inst_count	cohort	overall	education	fe	ssf	sfc	other_edu	ind	appru	special	spi	edu_combo	he	appren	appl3	appl2	all_work	all_notsust	notsust	notsust_beneet	only_beneet	all_unknown	unknown_id	unknown
202223	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	State-funded mainstream & special schools	Total	Ethnicity Minor	Gypsy Roma	Number of pupils	Revised	z	1432	906	731	552	112	43	24	1	1	20	2	0	0	21	7	14	154	402	160	108	134	124	114	10
202223	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	State-funded mainstream schools	Total	Prior Attainment	Prior Attainment KS4 E&M 9-4 not achieved	Number of pupils	Revised	z	170981	142494	121369	95512	15374	8939	1544	192	497	321	212	304	18	6950	1960	4990	14175	24531	12309	7076	5146	3956	3588	368
202223	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	State-funded mainstream schools	Total	Prior Attainment	Prior Attainment KS4 E&M 9-4 achieved	Number of pupils	Revised	z	404074	393510	372995	108266	195313	65864	3552	2528	117	26	16	798	67	11541	6835	4706	8974	8757	6385	1855	517	1807	1566	241
202223	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	State-funded mainstream & special schools	Total	Prior Attainment	Prior Attainment KS2 Mid prior	Number of pupils	Revised	z	287429	270293	247223	99689	105915	39347	2272	985	269	269	91	620	38	10947	5655	5292	12123	15052	8935	3973	2144	2084	2004	80
202223	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	State-funded mainstream & special schools	Total	Disadvantage Status and Prior Attainment	Not Disadvantaged Prior Attainment KS4 E&M 9-4 achieved	Number of pupils	Revised	z	329369	322621	306164	83182	165270	54586	3126	2297	82	c	c	615	c	9826	5966	3860	6631	5376	4017	1054	305	1372	1151	221

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Variables in this data set

Table showing first 5 of 28 variables

Variable name	Variable description
all_notsust	Not recorded as a sustained destination
all_unknown	Activity not captured
all_work	Sustained employment destination
appl2	Intermediate apprenticeships (level 2)
appl3	Advanced and Higher apprenticeships (level 3 and above)

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Footnotes

1. Disadvantaged pupils include pupils known to be eligible for free school meals (FSM) in any spring, autumn, summer, alternative provision or pupil referral unit census from year 6 to year 11, or that are looked after children for at least one day, or are adopted from care.
2. Non-selective school in highly selective area includes all non-selective schools in local authorities with a high level of selection (where 25% or more of state-funded secondary places are in state-funded selective schools). These local authorities are Bexley, Buckinghamshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Medway, Slough, Southend-on-Sea, Sutton, Torbay, Trafford and Wirral. See the Quality and methodology information document for more details.
3. Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) was added as a new type of need in 2014/15; the previous type of need Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties has been removed although it is not expected that SEMH will be a direct replacement.
4. Includes state-funded mainstream schools, state-funded and non-maintained special schools, and alternative provision.
5. At the end of key stage 4 pupils are expected to achieve 'good passes' at grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSEs or selected equivalents. The figures for student achievement of grade 4 or above in both English and maths are shown alongside this measure for transparency and comparability. This measure is chosen because passes in English and maths will continue to be assessed in future years and because passes in these subjects tie closely to conditions for post-16 funding and accountability. Prior to the introduction of the reformed 9 to 1 GCSEs in English and maths in 2016/17, a 'good pass' was classed as an A*-C grade.
6. Other education destinations include independent schools, specialist post-16 institutions, special schools and education combination destination.
7. Other non-selective school includes all non-selective schools that are not in highly selective areas, including those in areas with some selection.
8. Local authority maintained mainstream schools include community schools, voluntary aided schools, voluntary controlled schools and foundation schools.
9. State place funded alternative provision includes pupil referral units, AP academies, AP free schools and hospital schools.
10. Following special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms in 2014/15, SEN pupils are categorised as 'SEN with a statement or Education, health and care (EHC) plan' and 'SEN support'. SEN support replaces school action and school action plus (grouped as SEN without a statement up to and including 2013/14). It was expected that all transfers to this category take place during the 2014/15 academic year but some legacy categories remain in subsequent cohorts. More detailed information on the reforms can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.
11. Selective schools admit pupils wholly or mainly with reference to ability. These schools are formally designated as grammar schools.
12. The state-funded mainstream & special schools total include local authority maintained schools, academies, free schools, city technology colleges, further education colleges with provision for 14- to 16-year-olds, state-funded special schools and non-maintained special schools.
13. Alternative provision includes state place funded alternative provision (Pupil Referral Units, AP academies, AP free schools, and hospital schools) and other alternative provision (education funded by the local authority outside of state place funded schools, including independent schools, non-maintained special schools, and providers that do not meet the criteria for registration as a school).
14. Unclassified includes pupils for whom ethnicity or first language was not obtained, refused or could not be determined.
15. 'First Language Known or believed to be other than English' includes 'not known but believed to be other than English'. Pupils are included if their main language is any language other than English regardless of fluency in English.
16. Since September 2013, general further education colleges and sixth-form colleges have been able to directly enrol 14- to 16-year-olds. Excludes city technology colleges.
17. Key stage 2 assessments are taken in year 6 at the end of primary school. To be at the expected level pupils must have reached level 4 or above in all three areas and to be considered above the expected standard pupils to have achieved level 5 or 6 in all three areas. Due to a boycott of standardised testing in 2010, a higher proportion of 2015 leavers has no prior attainment recorded.
18. 'State-funded (inc. non-maintained) special schools' includes all state-funded special schools (including community special schools, foundation special schools, special sponsored academies, special converter academies and special free schools) and non-maintained special schools.
19. 'Not recorded as a sustained destination' includes pupils who were captured in the source data and had some participation in the academic year but did not complete the required six months sustained participation.
20. Activity not being captured means the student was not found to have any participation in education, apprenticeship or employment nor recorded as receiving out-of-work benefits at any point in the year. Possible reasons for this could be that the pupil was living, working or studying abroad or was attending a Scottish or Welsh college or school.
21. Other alternative provision includes education funded by the local authority outside of state place funded schools, including independent schools, non-maintained special schools, and providers who do not meet the criteria for registration as a school.
22. State-funded mainstream schools include community schools, voluntary aided schools, voluntary controlled schools, foundation schools, academies, free schools, city technology colleges and further education colleges with provision for 14- to 16-year-olds.
23. The calculation for the prior attainment categories changed in 2020/21 as a consequence of the introduction of Key Stage 2 scaled scores in 2016. The introduction of KS2 scaled scores has had an impact on the distribution of pupils by prior attainment. In summary, the impact has been to reduce the number of pupils in the high prior attainment group and increase the number of pupils in the low and middle prior attainment groups. This means that caution is required when comparing the results over time.

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