Academic year 2022/23

Key stage 2 attainment

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Introduction

This publication provides provisional statistics on attainment in key stage 2 national curriculum assessments in England. These statistics cover attainment in assessments taken by pupils at the end of year 6, when most are age 11. 

This data extends the interim publication published on 11 July 2023. It includes results for pupils in schools in England:

  • at national, regional, local authority level, local authority district and constituency level
  • by pupil characteristics such as gender, disadvantage and special educational needs 
  • by school characteristics such as school type, phase and religious character

All gaps and percentage point differences are calculated from unrounded figures. 

These statistics are provisional and will be updated with revised data in December.

Headline facts and figures - 2022/23

These statistics cover the attainment of year 6 pupils who took assessments in summer 2023. These pupils experienced disruption to their learning during the pandemic, particularly at the end of year 3 and in year 4.

In individual subjects, attainment increased in maths, writing and science compared to 2022. Attainment remained the same in GPS and fell in reading.

In reading, 73% of pupils met the expected standard, down from 75% in 2022.

In maths, 73% of pupils met the expected standard, up from 71% in 2022.

In writing teacher assessment, 71% of pupils met the expected standard, up from 69% in 2022.

In grammar, punctuation and spelling, 72% of pupils met the expected standard, unchanged from 2022.

In science teacher assessment, 80% of pupils met the expected standard, up from 79% in 2022.

In all of reading, writing and maths, 59% of pupils met the expected standard, unchanged from 2022. At the higher standard, 8% of pupils met the standard, up from 7% in 2022. 

The disadvantaged gap index is down from 3.23 in 2022 to 3.20 in 2023. This figure is expected to slightly increase in the revised publication. Please see the pupil characteristics section for more detail. 

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Attainment in reading, writing and maths (combined)

The Department for Education considers meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths to be key for success in secondary school and beyond. Therefore, we report on the proportion of pupils who meet the expected standard in all three of these subjects.

In 2023, 59% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (combined), unchanged from 2022. This is below 2019 attainment, where 65% of pupils met the standard.  For the higher standard in reading, writing and maths (combined) 8% of pupils met the standard, up from 7% in 2022. Before the pandemic, this figure had risen from 5% to 11% between 2016 and 2019. 

Attainment in all of reading, writing and maths is not directly comparable to some earlier years (2016 and 2017) because of changes to writing teacher assessment frameworks in 2018.

Last year, the Department announced a Levelling Up mission for 90% of pupils to meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of key stage 2 by 2030. 

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Attainment in individual subjects

In reading, 73% of pupils met the expected standard in 2023, down from 75% in 2022. This figure has fluctuated between 72% and 75% since 2017. 

In writing teacher assessment, 71% of pupils met the expected standard in 2023, up from 69% in 2022. Before the pandemic, in both 2018 and 2019, this figure was 78%.  Attainment in writing is not directly comparable to some earlier years (2016 and 2017) because of changes to writing teacher assessment frameworks in 2018. 

In maths, 73% of pupils met the expected standard, up from 71% in 2022. Before the pandemic, this figure increased from 70% to 79% between 2016 and 2019. 

Attainment amongst reading, writing and maths was lowest in writing, as in 2022. Before the pandemic, with the exception of 2018 where it was the same as maths, attainment amongst these three subjects was lowest in reading. 

In grammar, punctuation and spelling, 72% of pupils met the expected standard in 2023. This remains the same as 2022, where it was the lowest figure since new assessments were introduced in 2016. 

In science teacher assessment, 80% of pupils met the expected standard in 2023, up from 79% in 2022. Before the pandemic in 2019, this figure was 83%.  Attainment in science is not directly comparable to some earlier years (2016, 2017 and 2018) because of changes to science teacher assessment frameworks in 2019. 

Attainment at the higher standard

In reading, 29% of pupils met the higher standard, up from 28% in 2022. This is the highest this figure has been since the first assessments using the new national curriculum in 2016. 

In writing teacher assessment, 13% of pupils met the higher standard, unchanged from 2022. Before the pandemic, in both 2018 and 2019, this figure was 20%. Attainment in writing is not directly comparable to some earlier years (2016 and 2017) because of changes to writing teacher assessment frameworks in 2018. 

In maths, 24% of pupils met the higher standard, up from 23% in 2022. Before the pandemic, this figure had risen from 17% to 27% between 2016 and 2019. 

Among reading, writing and maths, attainment at the higher standard is highest in reading. From 2016 to 2018, reading was also highest. In 2019, reading and maths were highest at 27%. Attainment of the higher standard in these three subjects remains lowest in writing. 

In grammar, punctuation and spelling, 30% of pupils met the higher standard, up from 28% in 2022. Before the pandemic, this figure had risen from 23% to 36% between 2016 and 2019. 

There is no higher standard for science.

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Average scaled scores in reading, maths and grammar, punctuation and spelling

We use scaled scores to report the results of tests so we can make accurate comparisons of performance over time. Scaled scores range from 80 to 120. The total number of marks a pupil achieves in each test subject (raw score) is converted into a scaled score to ensure accurate comparisons can be made over time, even if the difficulty of the test itself varies. 

The average scaled scores in reading, maths and grammar, punctuation and spelling tests have remained the same as 2022. 

In reading, the average scaled score is 105, unchanged from 2022. 

In maths, the average scaled score is 104, unchanged from 2022.

In grammar, punctuation and spelling, the average scaled score is 105, unchanged from 2022.

The average scaled score is the mean scaled score of all pupils awarded a scaled score. It only includes pupils who took the test and achieved a scaled score. It gives us a measure of the typical performance of a pupil taking the tests. It is affected by the performance of pupils at all points in the range of scores. By contrast, the percentage of pupils achieving the expected standard focuses on the proportion of pupils above or below one particular score (100). As a consequence, changes in one measure may not be matched by changes in the other measure of the same size and direction.

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Attainment by phonics prior attainment

This section looks at key stage 2 attainment in reading and writing by prior attainment in the phonics screening check. Pupils with an eligible KS2 reading test result and either a valid year 1 or year 2 phonics record are included in the key stage 2 reading by prior attainment. Pupils with an eligible writing teacher assessment result and either a valid year 1 or year 2 phonics record are included in the key stage 2 writing by prior attainment. 

94% of pupils with an eligible KS2 result successfully matched to either a valid year 1 or year 2 phonics record.

Key stage 2 reading attainment by prior attainment in the phonics screening check

Pupils who performed well in the phonics screening check went on to do well in the key stage 2 reading test.  In 2023, 83% of pupils who met the phonics standard in year 1 in 2018 met the expected standard in reading at the end of key stage 2, down from 85% in 2022. Of those pupils who met the expected standard in phonics by the end of year 2 in 2019, but not in year 1, 49% went on to meet the expected standard in reading at the end of key stage 2. This was down from 51% in 2022. Of those pupils who did not meet the phonics standard by the end of year 2 in 2023, 18% met the expected standard in reading at the end of key stage 2, which is unchanged from 2022.

Key stage 2 writing attainment by prior attainment in the phonics screening check.

Similar to last year, pupils who performed well in the phonics screening check went on to do well in the key stage 2 writing teacher assessment. In 2023, 83% of pupils who met the phonics standard in year 1 in 2018 met the expected standard in writing at the end of KS2, up from 81% in 2022. Of those pupils who met the expected standard in phonics by the end of year 2 in 2019, but not in year 1, 41% went on to meet the expected standard in writing at the end of KS2. This was up from 38% in 2022. Of those pupils who did not meet the phonics standard by the end of year 2 in 2023, 12% went on to meet the expected standard in writing at the end of KS2. This was up from 11% in 2022. 

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Attainment by pupil characteristics

This section looks at key stage 2 attainment by gender, disadvantage, special educational need (SEN) status, first language and ethnicity.

Note that the statistics on disadvantage in this publication are provisional and do not include pupils in the care of the local authority for a day or more in the last year unless they were eligible for free school meals during the last 6 years, or they have ceased to be looked after in the last year. See the section on Disadvantaged Pupils below for further information. 

Attainment by gender

Attainment at the expected standard 

Girls continue to outperform boys at the expected standard in all subjects in 2023, except for maths where boys performed slightly better (1 percentage point difference). In reading, 76% of girls met the expected standard down from 80% in 2022, whilst 70% of boys met the expected standard, unchanged from 2022. 

The biggest attainment gap between boys and girls remains in the writing teacher assessment at 13 percentage points. 

In reading, writing and maths (combined) in 2023, 63% of girls met the expected standard compared to 56% of boys, a gap of 7 percentage points, down from 9 percentage points in 2022. This slight narrowing of the gender gap is due to an increase in attainment in reading, writing maths (combined) for boys, and a slight decrease in attainment in this combined measure for girls. 

Attainment at the higher standard 

Among individual subjects at the higher standard, the gender gap has fallen in reading from 10 percentage points in 2022 to 5 percentage points in 2023. This is due to boys attainment increasing by 4 percentage points, whilst girls attainment fell by 2 percentage points. In maths, the gender gap increased from 5 percentage points in 2022 to 6 percentage points in 2023. This is due to boys attainment in maths at the higher standard increasing by 2 percentage points, whilst girls attainment at the higher standard remained stable. 

In 2023, 9% of girls achieved the higher standard in reading, writing and maths (combined), unchanged 2022 but down from 13% in 2019. Among boys, 7% achieved the higher standard, up from 6% in 2022 but down from 9% in 2019. This means in 2023, there is a gender gap of 2 percentage points at the higher standard, down from 3 percentage points in 2022. 

Disadvantage gap index 

The disadvantage gap index summarises the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and all other pupils.

The gap index is more resilient to changes to assessment than attainment threshold measures and therefore offers greater comparability between years. The index ranks all pupils in the country. A disadvantage gap of zero would indicate that there is no difference between the average performance of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils. We measure whether the disadvantage gap is getting larger or smaller over time. See the methodology for further information. 

The disadvantage gap index has reduced from 3.23 in 2022 to 3.20 in 2023. However, the statistics about disadvantage in this publication are provisional and do not yet include pupils in the care of a local authority unless they were eligible for free school meals during the last 6 years or ceased to be looked-after in the last year. These pupils will be included in revised disadvantage statistics in December. We expect this to have a small impact on the disadvantage gap index (an increase of around 0.02 between provisional and revised in the gap index in recent years).

Before the pandemic, the disadvantage gap index had reduced between 2011 and 2018 - indicating that the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers was becoming smaller - before remaining at a similar level between 2018 and 2019. The index increased in 2022 to the highest level since 2012, suggesting that disruption to learning during the COVID-19 pandemic had a greater impact on disadvantaged pupils. 

Attainment by disadvantage status

In 2023, 30% of pupils at the end of key stage 2 were considered disadvantaged.

Attainment at the expected standard 

Attainment in reading has fallen compared to 2022 for both disadvantaged pupils and other pupils. Attainment at the expected standard fell from 62% in 2022 to 60% in 2023 for disadvantaged pupils and from 80% to 78% for other pupils. Attainment had increased from 2019 to 2022 for other pupils, whilst it has now decreased back to 2019 levels. For the disadvantaged group, attainment had remained the same between 2019 and 2022, and has fallen in 2023. 

Attainment in writing and maths has increased for both groups since 2022. In writing, attainment rose from 55% to 58% for disadvantaged pupils and from 75% to 77% for other pupils. In maths, attainment rose from 56% to 59% for disadvantaged pupils and from 78% to 79% for other pupils. 

The disadvantage gap in 2023 is similar across subjects, ranging from 18 percentage points in reading and science to 20 percentage points in maths. 

In reading, writing and maths (combined), 44% of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standard in 2023 compared to 66% of other pupils, a difference of 22 percentage points. This is a decrease from 23 percentage points in 2022. 

Attainment at the higher standard 

In 2023, 3% of disadvantaged pupils achieved the higher standard in reading, writing and maths (combined), unchanged from 2022 and down from 5% in 2019.  Among other pupils, 10% achieved the higher standard, up from 9% in 2022 and down from 13% in 2019. This means that the attainment gap at the higher standard has slightly increased, from 6 percentage points in 2022 to 7 percentage points in 2023. 

Definition of disadvantage

Disadvantaged pupils are ordinarily defined as: those who were registered as eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years, children looked after by a local authority or have left local authority care in England and Wales through adoption, a special guardianship order, a residence order or a child arrangements order. 

As noted above, the statistics about disadvantage in this publication are provisional and do not include pupils in the care of a local authority unless they were also eligible for free school meals during the last 6 years or ceased to be looked-after in the last year. These pupils will be included in revised disadvantage statistics in December. We expect this to have only a marginal impact on the statistics, which are expected to change by less than half a percentage point.

Attainment by Special Educational Need (SEN) status

In 2023, 20% of pupils at the end of key stage 2 had a special educational need (SEN). Pupils with SEN either have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or receive SEN support. In 2023, 5% of all pupils had an EHCP and 16% were on SEN support.

In 2023, 20% of pupils with SEN met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (combined), compared with 18% of pupils with SEN in 2022. Of those pupils on SEN support, 24% met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (combined), whilst 8% of those pupils with an Education, Health and Care plan met the standard. 

Attainment by first language 

In 2023, 22% of pupils at the end of key stage 2 had a first language other than English.

Attainment of the expected standard 

Attainment in reading has fallen since 2022 for both pupils with English and a language other than English as their first language at the expected standard. Attainment for pupils with English as their first language fell from 75% in 2022 to 74% in 2023. Before the pandemic in 2019, this figure was also 74%. For pupils with a first language other than English attainment fell from 73% in 2022 to 69% in 2023. This figure was 70% in 2019. The gap in reading attainment between pupils with English as a first language and a first language other than English is now at 6 percentage points. 

Reading attainment at the expected standard increased among boys with English as their first language from 70% in 2022 to 71% in 2023. Reading attainment decreased for boys with a first language other than English, from 68% in 2022 to 67% in 2023. Reading attainment fell for girls in both groups, with 77% of girls with English as a first language meeting the expected standard (81% in 2022) and 72% of girls with a first language other than English meeting the expected standard (78% in 2022). 

In both writing and maths, attainment has increased for both groups since 2022. In writing, attainment increased from 70% to 72% among pupils with English as their first language and from 70% to 71% among pupils with a first language other than English. In maths, attainment increased from 71% to 72% among pupils with a first language other than English and from 75% to 77% among pupils with English as their first language. Attainment for both groups in writing and maths remains below pre-pandemic levels. 

The attainment of pupils with a first language other than English at the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (combined) is greater than that of pupils with a first language of English for the second year in a row. In 2023, 60% of pupils with first language other than English achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (combined), down from 61% in 2022 and from 64% in 2019. Among pupils with English as their first language, 59% achieved the expected standard, up from 58% in 2022 but below 2019 attainment (65%).

Attainment of the higher standard 

In 2023, 9% of pupils with a first language other than English achieved the higher standard in reading, writing and maths (combined), up from 8% in 2022 but down from 11% in 2019.  Among pupils with English as their first language, 8% achieved the higher standard in 2023, up from 7% in 2022 but below 2019 attainment (11%). 

Attainment by ethnicity

Attainment at the end of key stage 2 varies by ethnicity.

As in 2022, Indian pupils are the highest performing group in all of reading, writing and maths (73% of pupils met the expected standard). The second highest performing group is White and Asian pupils (70%), a change from 2022 when this was Chinese pupils, who were the third highest performing group in 2023 (69%). 

Gypsy/Roma pupils are the lowest performing group (18% met the expected standard in all of reading, writing and maths), followed by Traveller of Irish heritage pupils (21%).

Following feedback from users, the Office for National Statistics updated their guidelines on ethnic groups. We have therefore included Chinese pupils in the Asian ethnic group in this publication since 2022. This was a change from previous years when Chinese pupils were reported separately. This change has been backdated to 2016 to allow comparisons over time. Figures for Chinese pupils only are still available via the table tool (within subject 'Key stage 2 attainment by pupil characteristics') and the data file ‘ks2_national_pupil_characteristics_2016_to_2023_provisional.csv.’

Attainment by month of birth

In 2023, as in previous years, pupils born in September were the highest achieving group in all of reading, writing and maths (combined), 66% of this group met the expected standard, unchanged from 2022. Pupils born in August were the lowest achieving group, 52% of this group met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (combined), up from 51% in 2022.

Among the individual subjects of reading, writing and maths, pupils born in September were also the highest achieving, whilst pupils born in August were the lowest achieving. 

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Attainment by school characteristics

Attainment by school type

There were 15,372 state-funded mainstream primary schools with key stage 2 results in 2023. 

Since 2016, there have been substantial changes to the makeup of school types in England. The proportion of LA maintained schools decreased from 82% in 2016 to 59% in 2023. There have been corresponding increases in the proportion of sponsored and converter academies to 11% and 29% respectively. It should be noted that the conversion of schools from one type to another means that the headline figures capture not only change in performance but also change in school type. While the number of free schools has increased to 203, free schools make up a very small proportion of schools. 

See the accompanying methodology for details about different types of school. 

Similar to 2022, attainment levels in mainstream academies and free schools as a group in 2023 is broadly like those in local authority maintained mainstream schools. Within the academies group, converter academies had broadly similar proportions of pupils achieving the expected standard than the averages for all state-funded mainstream schools, as in 2022. Sponsored academies as a group however are below the average for state-funded mainstream schools but were typically low performing before their conversion to academy status.

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Regional and local authority attainment

Regional attainment

Attainment at the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (combined) fell in every region from 2019 to 2022. In 2023, attainment has increased in the West Midlands by 1 percentage point. Attainment has decreased by 1 percentage point in London and remains stable in the other regions. 

As in previous years, London was the highest performing region. The South West and the East of England were the lowest performing regions, whilst in 2022 the two lowest performing were the East of England and Yorkshire and the Humber. The gap between the highest (London) and lowest (South West and the East of England) performing regions in 2023 was 8 percentage points. In 2022, the gap between the highest and lowest performing regions was also 8 percentage points.

For attainment of the higher standard in reading, writing and maths, London was also the highest attaining region (12%) with pupils in other regions varying between 7% and 8%.  This is similar to the pattern seen in 2022, where London was the highest region (11%), with other regions achieving 6% or 7%.

As in 2022, London was the best performing region across all individual subjects. Yorkshire and the Humber remained the lowest performing region in reading. The South West and East of England were the lowest performing regions in writing and the South West was the lowest performing region in maths. 

Local authority attainment

The map below shows the percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by local authority. This map reveals a complex picture of attainment across England, with a range of high and low attainment in different regions.

Among the highest performing local authorities for the percentage meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths were Richmond upon Thames (73%) and Kensington and Chelsea (73%). Among the lowest performing local authorities were Portsmouth (49%) and Manchester, Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Norfolk (each attaining 51%). 

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About these statistics

This publication provides provisional attainment statistics for key stage 2 national curriculum assessments. It provides statistics on: 

Reading, writing and maths (combined) attainment

Pupils who meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (combined) are those who meet the expected standard in all three subjects. The expected standard in reading and maths is a scaled score of 100 or above. The expected standard in writing is a teacher assessment of 'working at the expected standard' (EXS) or 'working at greater depth' (GDS).

Pupils who reach the higher standard in reading, writing and maths (combined) are those who achieve a scaled score of 110 or more in reading and maths and are assessed as 'working at greater depth' (GDS) in writing TA.

Reading test attainment

Pupils who meet the expected standard in reading are those who achieve a scaled score of 100 or above. Pupils who meet the higher standard in reading are those who achieve a scaled score of 110 or more. 

Writing teacher assessment attainment

Pupils who meet the expected standard in writing are those who achieve a teacher assessment of 'working at the expected standard' (EXS) or 'working at greater depth' (GDS).

Pupils who reach the higher standard (referred to as greater depth) in writing are those who are assessed as 'working at greater depth' (GDS). 

Maths test attainment

Pupils who meet the expected standard in maths are those who achieve a scaled score of 100 or above. Pupils who meet the higher standard in maths are those who achieve a scaled score of 110 or more. 

Grammar, punctuation and spelling test attainment

Pupils who meet the expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling are those who achieve a scaled score of 100 or above. Pupils who meet the higher standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling are those who achieve a scaled score of 110 or more. 

Science teacher assessment attainment

Pupils who meet the expected standard in science are those who achieve a teacher assessment of 'working at the expected standard' (EXS) or 'working at greater depth' (GDS).

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Further information will be available

Key stage 2 attainment (revised) 

This publication will be updated with revised statistics in December 2023.

The revised statistics will add: 

Regional, local authority and local authority district level data with further pupil characteristics breakdowns. 

Information on progress, including for different pupil groups and for local authorities. 

School level figures

School level data will be published on the Compare School and College Performance data website in December.

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Methodology

Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.

National statistics

These accredited official statistics have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Accreditation signifies their compliance with the authority's Code of Practice for Statistics which broadly means these statistics are:

  • managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
  • meet identified user needs
  • produced according to sound methods
  • well explained and readily accessible

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Key stage 2 attainment statistics and data:

Primary Attainment Statistics

Email: Primary.Attainment@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Lilian Williams

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