Data set from Outcomes for children in need, including children looked after by local authorities in England

National - Key Stage 4 (KS4)

Latest data

Published 18 April 2024

Last updated 18 April 2024

Key Stage 4 attainment and progress by special educational need, ethnicity, placement (children looked after only), period of care length (children looked after only) and social care group.

---

On this page

Data set details

• Theme: Children's social care
• Publication: Outcomes for children in need, including children looked after by local authorities in England
• Release: Reporting year 2023
• Geographic levels: National
• Indicators:
  • Total EBacc APS score of pupils
  • Total number of pupils achieving grades 4 or above in English and mathematics GCSEs
  • Total number of pupils achieving grades 5 or above in English and mathematics GCSEs
• Filters:
  • Ethnicity
  • Length of period of care
  • Placement
• Time period: 2016/17 to 2022/23

---

Data set preview

Table showing first 5 rows, from underlying data

time_period	time_identifier	geographic_level	country_code	country_name	social_care_group	pupil_sen_status	ethnicity_major	placement	poc_length	version	t_pupils	t_att8	avg_att8	t_l2basics_95	pt_l2basics_95	t_l2basics_94	pt_l2basics_94	t_ebacc_e_ptq_ee	pt_ebacc_e_ptq_ee	t_ebacc_95	pt_ebacc_95	t_ebacc_94	pt_ebacc_94	t_ebaccaps	avg_ebaccaps	t_inp8calc	t_p8score	avg_p8score	p8score_CI_low	p8score_CI_upp
202223	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	All pupils comparison	All pupils	All pupils	All pupils	All pupils	Revised	606920	28087774.58	46.3	274820	45.3	395090	65.1	238320	39.3	103070	17	146810	24.2	2460730.69	4.05	568530	-14980.702	-0.03	-0.03	-0.02
202223	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	All pupils comparison	All pupils	Asian/Asian British	All pupils	All pupils	Revised	73360	3897211.26	53.1	42850	58.4	54860	74.8	38770	52.9	19010	25.9	25230	34.4	350425.95	4.78	64450	34387.244	0.53	0.52	0.54
202223	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	All pupils comparison	All pupils	Black/African/Caribbean/Black British	All pupils	All pupils	Revised	37980	1768574.63	46.6	17250	45.4	24700	65	17780	46.8	6240	16.4	9440	24.8	155973.99	4.11	32970	7121.643	0.22	0.2	0.23
202223	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	All pupils comparison	All pupils	Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups	All pupils	All pupils	Revised	36720	1716153.52	46.7	16710	45.5	23830	64.9	15450	42.1	6780	18.5	9500	25.9	151306.27	4.12	33930	-1453.189	-0.04	-0.06	-0.03
202223	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	All pupils comparison	All pupils	Other ethnic group	All pupils	All pupils	Revised	12990	610026	47	6100	47	8340	64.2	6750	52	2810	21.6	4010	30.9	55738.36	4.29	9890	5266.035	0.53	0.5	0.56

---

Variables in this data set

Table showing first 5 of 25 variables

Variable name	Variable description
avg_att8	Average Attainment 8 score of all pupils
avg_ebaccaps	Average EBacc APS score per pupil
avg_p8score	Average Progress 8 score of all pupils
ethnicity_major	Ethnicity - Filter by ethnicity
p8score_CI_low	Progress 8 lower 95% confidence interval

---

Footnotes

1. Special educational needs (SEN) status is taken from both the school census and the alternative provision census. The Key Stage 4 data includes pupils for whom SEN status could not be determined. More detailed information on the SEN data published within this release is available in the accompanying methodology.
2. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the summer examination series was cancelled in both 2020 and 2021, and alternative processes set up to award grades. The method to award grades was different in 2021 to that in 2020. The changes to the way GCSE grades were awarded in these two years means 2019/20 and 2020/21 pupil attainment data should not be directly compared to pupil attainment data from previous or later years for the purposes of measuring year on year changes in pupil performance. More detailed information on the Key Stage 4 data published within this release is available in the accompanying methodology.
3. In 2022/23 there was a return to pre-pandemic standards for GCSEs, with protection built into the grading process to recognise the disruption that students have faced. Throughout this release, comparisons are made with 2022 and with 2019. The more meaningful comparison is with 2019, the last year that summer exams were taken before the pandemic, as 2023 saw a return to pre-pandemic grading, with some protections. In 2022 outcomes broadly reflected a mid-point between 2019 and 2021, to take account of the impact of the pandemic and in line with Ofqual’s approach to grading in 2022. It is expected that performance in 2023 will generally be lower than in 2022. Users need to exercise extreme caution when considering comparisons over time, as they may not reflect changes in pupil performance alone. More detailed information on the Key Stage 4 data published within this release is available in the accompanying methodology.
4. For children looked after (CLA) for at least 12 months, due to definitional differences, there can be a small number where the period of care length at 31 March is less than 12 months (where the period of care start date is 1 April).

---

Using this data

• Download the underlying data as a compressed ZIP file

• View or create your own tables

  View tables that we have built for you, or create your own tables from open data using our table tool

---