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 2 April 2026

Last updated 2 April 2026

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.

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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 2025
• Number of rows: 1,401
• Geographic levels: National
• Indicators:
  • Average Attainment 8 score of all pupils
  • Average EBacc APS score per pupil
  • Average Progress 8 score of all pupils
• Filters:
  • Ethnicity
  • Length of period of care
  • Placement
• Time period: 2018/19 to 2024/25

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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	social_care_group	sen_provision	ethnicity_major	placement	period_of_care_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
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	All pupils comparison	All pupils	All pupils	All pupils	All pupils	Revised	625650	28811081.3	46	284270	45.4	405650	64.8	253470	40.5	116920	18.7	161270	25.8	2555883.44	4.09	x	x	x	x	x
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	All pupils comparison	All pupils	Asian / Asian British	All pupils	All pupils	Revised	80860	4272169.44	52.8	46210	57.1	59900	74.1	43130	53.3	22230	27.5	28800	35.6	388158.71	4.8	x	x	x	x	x
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	All pupils comparison	All pupils	Black / African / Caribbean / Black British	All pupils	All pupils	Revised	43470	2006479.28	46.2	18810	43.3	27890	64.2	19280	44.4	7250	16.7	10810	24.9	178020.94	4.09	x	x	x	x	x
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	All pupils comparison	All pupils	Mixed / Multiple ethnic groups	All pupils	All pupils	Revised	40420	1903622.54	47.1	18840	46.6	26380	65.3	17820	44.1	8590	21.3	11550	28.6	170218.43	4.21	x	x	x	x	x
202425	Academic year	National	E92000001	England	All pupils comparison	All pupils	Other ethnic group	All pupils	All pupils	Revised	15120	693832.5	45.9	6770	44.8	9370	62	7780	51.5	3330	22	4590	30.3	64014.32	4.23	x	x	x	x	x

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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

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Footnotes

1. Special educational needs (SEN) provision is taken from both the school census and the alternative provision census. The Key Stage 4 data includes pupils for whom SEN provision 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. Within this release comparisons are made with 2024 and with 2019. We will compare to 2024 due to it being last year’s data, and to 2019 because it was the last year that summer exams were taken before the Covid-19 pandemic. 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).

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about National - Key Stage 4 (KS4) statistics and data:

Children Looked After Data Team

Email: CLA.STATS@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Bree Waine

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