Key stage 4 destination measures
Pupils sustaining an education, apprenticeship or employment destination after GCSEs in England. Includes disadvantage, ethnicity and other breakdowns.
Quick links
- Published
Headline facts and figures
Sustained education, employment & apprenticeships
91.3%
0.4 percentage point decrease since last year
What is a sustained destination?
A sustained destination means at least six months recorded activity in the year following the end of key stage 4 (year 11)
Sustained education destination
86.2%
0.3 percentage point increase since last year
What is a sustained education destination?
Pupils who sustained an education destination for 6 months. This includes school sixth forms, sixth-form colleges, FE colleges, and other education settings.
Sustained apprenticeships
3.0%
0.3 percentage point decrease since last year
What is a sustained apprenticeship destination?
Pupils who sustained an apprenticeship destination for 6 months.
Sustained employment destination
2.1%
0.5 percentage point decrease since last year
What is a sustained employment destination?
Pupils who sustained an employment destination for 6 months.
This publication is about the destinations for pupils from state funded mainstream schools who left key stage 4 in 2023/24 and follows their destinations in 2024/25.
- 91.3% of pupils were in a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination, a 0.4 percentage point decrease compared to last year.
- 86.2% of pupils were in sustained education, this shows a 0.3 percentage point increase since last year.
- 5.4% of pupils did not have a recorded sustained destination in the year after key stage 4, a 0.2 percentage point decrease since last year, and 3.3% of pupils had an unknown destination
School level data
Compare school and college performance (CSCP) (opens in new tab) will close soon. From autumn 2026, you will be able to use a new service. Data on CSCP will not be updated past the 2024/25 academic year.
However, you can also view the latest data in this release via the table tool by following these steps:
- At the top of the release, select Explore and download data
- Scroll down to "Data sets: download or create tables" and click "Create table" under "Key stage 4 institution level destination measures".
- Use the search box to find a school by name or unique reference number (URN). Select the required schools using the tick boxes. You can select multiple schools. Click "Next step".
- Select the required time period and click "Next step".
- Under "Choose your filters", select the measures you wish to view. the headline destination measure is “Sustained education, employment & apprenticeships". You can also select pupil characteristics at this stage.
- Click "Create table" to view the data.
You can also download the complete datasets via the same link above.
What are destination measures?
What are destination measures?
Destination measures provide information on the success of schools and colleges in helping young people continue in education, apprenticeships or employment.
Key stage 4 destination measures follow pupils who were at the end of key stage 4 study (GCSE and equivalent qualifications) in 2023/24, and reports their destinations in the following academic year (2024/25).
These official statistics show the percentage of pupils going to an education, apprenticeship or employment destination. To be counted in a destination, young people must have sustained participation for a 6 month period in the destination year. Full details are provided in the methodology document that accompanies this release.
The headline statistics refer to pupils leaving state-funded mainstream schools in England.
Some pupils do not sustain their destination for at least two terms, these students are recorded as “Not recorded as a sustained destination”.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic disruption
Destination outcomes in 2020/21 and 2021/22 academic years were affected by the disruption to the economy and educational settings caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 2020, 2021 and 2022 leavers (with destination outcomes 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23) were also impacted by changes to grading approaches during these years as well as the ongoing uneven impacts of the pandemic on different schools, colleges and pupils.
Change over time
In the 2023/24 academic year, 91.3% of pupils had a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination in the year after completing key stage 4. This continues a downward trend compared to previous years.
Education destinations have increased by 0.3 percentage points this year, following a steady decrease since 2019/20. The proportion of pupils having sustained employment destinations has decreased this year by 0.5 percentage points, the same as last year. The proportion sustaining an apprenticeship fell by 0.3 percentage points following an increase of 0.1 percentage points last year.
Many of the pupils who did not have a sustained destination (5.4% in 2023/24) will have had some participation in the year after finishing key stage 4 but did not sustain the destination throughout the required 6 month period.
5.4% of 2023/24 pupils had some participation in the year after finishing key stage 4 but did not sustain the destination throughout the required 6 month period.
Pupil characteristics
Disadvantage status and pupil premium
Pupils were considered disadvantaged in year 11 and were eligible for pupil premium funding if they had been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years, had been looked after by the local authority, or had been adopted from care. Pupils eligible for free school meals are a subset of the wider disadvantaged group. See methodology for details.
Disadvantage status
Disadvantaged pupils are less likely to have a sustained destination
Disadvantaged pupils (those eligible for pupil premium (opens in new tab) funding) were less likely to have a sustained destination (83.2%) than all other pupils (94.1%). This is a gap of 10.9 percentage points.
The most common education destination for disadvantaged pupils was further education (47.3% of total destinations), compared to a school sixth form destination (39.0% of total destinations) for non-disadvantaged pupils.
Disadvantaged pupils were more likely to enter an employment destination and less likely to go into a sustained apprenticeship than all other pupils. Disadvantaged pupils were also more likely not to sustain a destination (10.7%) compared to all other pupils (3.5%).
The gap between sustained destinations for disadvantage and non-disadvantage students has increased in recent years
The gap between disadvantage and non-disadvantage pupils is 10.9 percentage points for the latest cohort of KS4 leavers. This gap has decreased slightly from 11.3 percentage points last year, driven by a fall for non-disadvantage students, but remains higher than the 8.2 percentage points gap in 2019/20.
Sex
Female pupils were more likely to have a sustained destination than male pupils
Female pupils 3.9 percentage points more likely to have a sustained education destination. Male pupils were more likely to have a sustained apprenticeship or employment destination. The overall gap in sustained destinations has remained broadly similar over the years.
Ethnicity
Pupils from Chinese and Indian backgrounds were most likely to have a sustained destination
This was driven by these students being most likely to have a sustained education destination. Pupils from Gypsy Roma backgrounds were least likely to have a sustained education destination.
English / Welsh / Scottish / Northern Irish / British students were the most likely to sustain an apprenticeship destination (4.3%).
Pupils from Gypsy Roma and English / Welsh / Scottish / Northern Irish / British backgrounds were most likely to have a sustained employment destination. Pupils from African, Bangladeshi, Indian, Any Other Asian and Chinese backgrounds were least likely to have a sustained employment destination.
SEN support and Education, health and care plans
SEN support is given in school. It can include, for example, a special learning programme, extra help from a teacher or assistant, to work in a small group, observation in class or at break, help taking part in class activities etc.
Education, health and care plans (EHC) are for young people, aged up to 25, who need more support than is available through special educational needs support. EHC plans identify educational, health and social needs and set out the additional support to meet those needs.
Special Educational Needs
Pupils with no identified special educational need (SEN) were most likely to have sustained any destination; those pupils with an educational healthcare plan (EHCP) were least likely to have sustained any destination.
87.5% of pupils with no identified SEN sustained an education destination, compared to 78.6% for SEN support students and 81.4% for students with an EHCP plan.
For students with an identified special educational need, SEN support and students with an education and health care plan had similar overall sustained destination rates. Those students with an EHCP were more likely to continue in education whereas SEN support students were more likely to continue in an apprenticeship or employment after KS4.
Geographical location
Pupils from London were most likely to have an overall sustained destination, with pupils from North East being least likely.
The gap in overall sustained destinations between London and the North East is 3.6 percentage points, narrowing the gap slightly between the two regions and reversing the widening trend seen in recent years.
91.7% of pupils from Outer London sustained an education destination, closely followed by Inner London with 91.2% of pupils. These values are 5.5 and 5.0 percentage points greater than the national average.
Pupils from the South West were most likely to have a sustained apprenticeship destination, whereas Inner London had the lowest proportion of pupils sustaining an apprenticeship destination.
The highest employment destination rate is for the South West where 2.9% of pupils sustained an employment destination, while pupils from Inner London were least likely to sustain an employment destination.
Prior attainment
Prior attainment
Attainment for this cohort of students is available for two sets of assessments - the end of key stage 2 (KS2), when children take national tests in English reading, maths, and grammar, punctuation and spelling (age 11); and at the end of key stage 4 (KS4), when most pupils take GCSEs or other equivalent qualifications (age 16).
Key stage 4 attainment shows whether pupils achieved a grade of either 4 or above in English and maths GCSEs.
Prior Attainment at key stage 2 (age 11)
Pupils who had high prior attainment at key stage 2 (KS2) were more likely to have a sustained destination than pupils who had middle or low attainment.
Pupils who had high prior attainment at KS2 were more likely to have an overall sustained destination than those pupils who had middle or low prior attainment. Pupils who had high prior attainment at KS2 were more likely to have a sustained education destination, but least likely to sustain an apprenticeship or employment destination.
Pupils who had low prior attainment at KS2 were most likely to have a sustained employment destination out of all prior attainment at KS2 groups, however they were least likely to have a sustained education destination (77.4%).
Prior Attainment at key stage 4 (age 16)
Pupils who achieved grades 9 to 4 in English and maths at key stage 4 (KS4) were more likely to have an overall sustained destination (education, apprenticeship or employment) than those who didn't.
There was a considerable gap (19.6 percentage points) in the proportion of pupils who had a sustained education destination between those who achieved at least grade 4 English and maths and those who didn't. Pupils not achieving at least grade 4 in English and maths were much more likely to attend FE destinations (60.0%), whereas those that did were more likely to attend school sixth forms (48.2%).
The students who did not achieve at least grade 4 in English and maths at KS4 were more likely to have a sustained apprenticeship (3.7%) or employment destination (3.7%) than students who did achieve at least grade 4.
Mainstream institution type
Pupils from converter academies were more likely to have a sustained destination than pupils from any other establishment type
Pupils from converter academies were most likely to have a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination, whereas pupils from FE colleges with 14 to 16 provision were least likely to have sustained any destination. This was driven by education destinations: 87.6% of all pupils from converter academies and 69.4% from FE colleges with 14 to 16 provision sustained an education destination.
Pupils from University Technical Colleges were most likely to have a sustained apprenticeship destination, followed by studio schools. Free schools had the lowest proportion of pupils sustaining an apprenticeship destination.
FE colleges with 14 to 16 provision had the highest proportion of pupils sustaining an employment destination, 2.0 percentage points higher than the national average. Pupils from free schools had the lowest proportion of pupils sustaining an employment destination.
Other institution types
The commentary in this release focuses on pupil destinations after leaving state funded mainstream schools, in this section we discuss pupil destinations from other types of institution.
Special schools
A number of pupils go to schools specifically for pupils with special educational needs – ‘special schools’. These pupils may either go to state-funded special schools, or non-maintained special schools where state-funding follows the learner. The different types of special school are not shown separately.
Of pupils in special schools, 87.8% had an overall sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination compared to 91.3% for pupils in state-funded mainstream schools.
Over half of pupils from special schools (52.8%) stayed in the special school sector, 27.4% sustained a further education destination, whilst only 0.3% sustained an employment destination and 0.3% sustained an apprenticeship destination.
Alternative provision (AP)
State place funded AP includes pupil referral units, academy and free school alternative provision and hospital schools.
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.
Less than 2% of pupils who completed key stage 4 were mainly attending state place funded AP or other types of alternative provision. 60.0% of pupils from AP went to a sustained destination, compared with 91.3% from state-funded mainstream schools.
For 2024 leavers, 55.3% of pupils from AP sustained an education destination, a 0.9 percentage point increase compared to the 2023 leavers (54.4%). The majority of these pupils sustained further education destinations (28.9% for 2024 leavers).
Around a fifth (20.8%) of pupils in any AP provision did not sustain a destination for the required 6-month period, this compares to 5.4% of students from state funded mainstream schools. A larger proportion of AP pupils had no activity captured compared to mainstream pupils (19.1% compared to 3.3%).
AP pupils were more likely to go on to employment (3.3% compared to 2.1% in mainstream schools).
Contact us
If you have a specific enquiry about Key stage 4 destination measures statistics and data:
Destination measures
Email: Destination.MEASURES@education.gov.ukContact name: Daniel Brown
Press office
If you have a media enquiry:
Telephone: 020 7783 8300
Public enquiries
If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:
Phone: 0370 000 2288
Opening times
Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5.30pm (closed on bank holidays)