Academic year 2024/25

Phonics screening check attainment

Data guidance

Published 9 October 2025

Description

These data files contain statistics covering attainment in the phonics screening check.

The publication methodology, linked to at the bottom of the publication, should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality, as well as explaining methodology used in producing the data. 

Coverage

Data is for England only.

File formats and conventions

This dataset has been rounded to 0 decimal places. 

Data files

All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.

Phonics screening check attainment by school characteristics

• Filename: phonics_national_school_characteristics_2012_to_2025_provisional.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2011/12 to 2024/25
• Content:
  This file contains data on the attainment of pupils in the phonics screening check in year 1 and by the end of year 2 in England, broken down by school characteristics.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
absent_pupil_count	Number of pupils absent
absent_pupil_percent	Percentage of pupils absent
disapplied_pupil_count	Number of pupils disapplied
disapplied_pupil_percent	Percentage of pupils disapplied
education_phase	Education phase
eligible_pupil_count	Number of eligible pupils
establishment_count	Number of schools
establishment_type_group	Type of establishment
expected_standard_pupil_count	Number of pupils meeting the expected standard
expected_standard_pupil_percent	Percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard
school_religious_character	School religious character
sex	Sex
working_towards_pupil_count	Number of pupils working towards the expected standard
working_towards_pupil_percent	Percentage of pupils working towards the expected standard
year_group	Year group

Footnotes

1. Percentages have been rounded to nearest whole number, so may not sum to 100.
2. Data is not available for 2020 and 2021 as assessments were cancelled in these years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. The number of eligible pupils by the end of year 2 includes pupils with a valid year 2 phonics result or pupils with both valid year 1 phonics and; in the school spring census in year 2 (2024 data) or a valid KS1 result (previous years data).
4. Other Christian Faith includes schools of mixed denomination or other Christian beliefs (e.g. Greek Orthodox).
5. Mainstream LA maintained schools includes community schools, voluntary aided schools, voluntary controlled schools and foundation schools.
6. State-funded special schools includes community special schools, foundation special schools, special sponsor-led academies, special converter academies and special free schools.
7. Alternative Provision includes pupil referral units, academy alternative provision and free school alternative provision.
8. State funded mainstream schools includes mainstream maintained schools, mainstream academies and mainstream free schools. Excludes special schools and alternative provision.
9. Where schools have changed type or phase during the 2024/25 academic year, they are shown here under their type or phase as of 12 September 2024.
10. Includes all pupils who participated in the phonics screening check, those disapplied, those absent for the entire period of which the check could be administered and those with maladministration. Pupils with missing, or invalid results are not included in the calculations.
11. Includes any pupils who are disapplied from the national curriculum or whose performance cannot be established, for example because they recently arrived from a different education system, they had a lengthy period of absence or due to maladministration.

Phonics screening check attainment by pupil characteristics

• Filename: phonics_national_pupil_characteristics_2012_to_2025_provisional.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2011/12 to 2024/25
• Content:
  This file contains data on the attainment of pupils in the phonics screening check in year 1 and by the end of year 2 in England, broken down by pupil characteristics.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
absent_pupil_count	Number of pupils absent
absent_pupil_percent	Percentage of pupils absent
disadvantage_status	Disadvantage status
disapplied_pupil_count	Number of pupils disapplied
disapplied_pupil_percent	Percentage of pupils disapplied
eligible_pupil_count	Number of eligible pupils
establishment_count	Number of schools
ethnicity_minor	Minor ethnic group
expected_standard_pupil_count	Number of pupils meeting the expected standard
expected_standard_pupil_percent	Percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard
first_language	First language status
fsm_status	Free school meal status
month_of_birth	Month of birth
sen_primary_need	Special education primary need
sen_provision	Special education needs provision
sex	Sex
working_towards_pupil_count	Number of pupils working towards the expected standard
working_towards_pupil_percent	Percentage of pupils working towards the expected standard
year_group	Year group

Footnotes

1. Percentages have been rounded to nearest whole number, so may not sum to 100.
2. Data is not available for 2020 and 2021 as assessments were cancelled in these years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. The number of eligible pupils by the end of year 2 includes pupils with a valid year 2 phonics result or pupils with both valid year 1 phonics and; in the school spring census in year 2 (2024 data) or a valid KS1 result (previous years data).
4. Disadvantaged pupils are those known to be eligible for FSM prior to the assessment in year 1 or year 2 (i.e. not including nursery or reception), have been in the care of the local authority for 1 day or more in the last year or have left local authority care in England and Wales through adoption, a special guardianship order, a residence order or a child arrangements order.
5. Includes pupils for whom ethnicity or first language was not obtained, refused or could not be determined.
6. Includes all pupils who participated in the phonics screening check, those disapplied, those absent for the entire period of which the check could be administered and those with maladministration. Pupils with missing, or invalid results are not included in the calculations.
7. SEN unclassified includes pupils for whom SEN provision could not be determined.
8. Includes any pupils who are disapplied from the national curriculum or whose performance cannot be established, for example because they recently arrived from a different education system, they had a lengthy period of absence or due to maladministration.

Phonics screening check attainment by region and local authority

• Filename: phonics_regional_and_local_authority_2012_to_2025_provisional.csv
• Geographic levels: Local authority; National; Regional
• Time period: 2011/12 to 2024/25
• Content:
  This file contains data on the attainment of pupils in the phonics screening check in year 1 and by the end of year 2 in England, broken down by region, local authority and pupil characteristics.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
absent_pupil_count	Number of pupils absent
absent_pupil_percent	Percentage of pupils absent
disadvantage_status	Disadvantage status
disapplied_pupil_count	Number of pupils disapplied
disapplied_pupil_percent	Percentage of pupils disapplied
eligible_pupil_count	Number of eligible pupils
establishment_count	Number of schools
ethnicity_minor	Minor ethnic group
expected_standard_pupil_count	Number of pupils meeting the expected standard
expected_standard_pupil_percent	Percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard
first_language	First language status
fsm_status	Free school meal status
sen_provision	Special education needs provision
sex	Sex
working_towards_pupil_count	Number of pupils working towards the expected standard
working_towards_pupil_percent	Percentage of pupils working towards the expected standard
year_group	Year group

Footnotes

1. Percentages have been rounded to nearest whole number, so may not sum to 100.
2. Data is not available for 2020 and 2021 as assessments were cancelled in these years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. Regional totals have been rounded to the nearest 10. There may be discrepancies between the sum of constituent items and totals.

Phonics screening check mark distribution

• Filename: phonics_y1_national_marks_distribution_2022_to_2025_provisional.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
• Content:
  This file contains data on the year 1 mark distributions in the phonics screening check.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
average_mean_phonics_mark	Average mean phonics mark
cumulative_percentage	Cumulative percentage of year 1 pupils achieving each phonic mark
expected_standard_pupil_count	Number of year 1 pupils achieving each phonic mark
phonics_mark	Phonic marks
sex	Sex

Footnotes

1. Data is not available for 2020 and 2021 as assessments were cancelled in these years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Does not include pupils who were absent or disapplied for the check.
3. The phonics mark can be between 0 and 40. If a pupil’s mark is at or above the threshold mark they are considered to have reached the expected standard. The threshold mark was 32 in 2025.