School results for 5 to 7 year olds

Published

1. Main facts and figures

  • in the 2022 to 2023 school year, the Chinese ethnic group had the highest percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading (78%), writing (73%), maths (89%) and science (85%) out of all ethnic groups
  • it also had the highest percentage of pupils meeting the higher standard in reading (30%), writing (18%) and maths (41%)
  • the white Gypsy or Roma ethnic group had the lowest percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading (26%), maths (30%) and science (40%)
  • it also had the lowest percentage of pupils meeting the higher standard in reading (3%), and joint lowest in writing (1%) and maths (2%)
  • the Irish traveller ethnic group had the lowest percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in writing (19%) – they also had the joint lowest percentage of pupils meeting the higher standard in writing (1%) and maths (2%)
  • 88% of pupils in the Chinese ethnic group met the expected standard in phonics in year 1, and 92% of pupils in the Indian and the mixed white and Asian ethnic groups met the expected standard in year 2 – the highest percentages out of all ethnic groups
  • 40% of Irish traveller pupils met the expected standard in phonics in year 1, and 53% in year 2 – the lowest percentages out of all ethnic groups
  • white Gypsy or Roma pupils had the biggest increase in the percentage of pupils achieving the expected standard in phonics between year 1 and year 2 (from 44% to 61%)

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data shows the percentage of pupils at state-funded schools in England who met the expected standard in:

  • phonics
  • science

It also shows the percentage who met the expected and higher standards in:

  • reading
  • writing
  • maths

Pupils are assessed during key stage 1, when they are usually between 5 and 7 years old.

Teachers assess each pupil against the following standards:

  • expected standard – pupils are 'working at the expected standard' or 'working at greater depth’
  • higher standard – pupils are 'working at greater depth'

Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Not included in the data

The data does not include:

  • pupils in independent schools, alternative provision or those who are home schooling
  • local authority figures for the Isles of Scilly and City of London, as they only have one school each – this means there are not enough pupils to be able to make reliable generalisations

The ethnic groups used in the data

Data is shown for the 18 ethnic groups used in the 2011 Census, with 2 exceptions:

  • there are separate categories for white Irish Traveller and white Gypsy and Roma pupils
  • there is no separate category for pupils from the Arab ethnic group

Ethnicity was known for 97% of year 1 pupils and 98% of year 2 pupils.

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.

In the data file

Download the data for data by:

  • local authority
  • gender and free school meals eligibility

Local authority data is shown for 5 aggregated ethnic groups:

  • Asian
  • black
  • mixed
  • white
  • ‘other’

This means percentages are shown for these groups as a whole. This is to make sure group sizes are big enough to make reliable generalisations.

3. By ethnicity (phonics)

Percentage of year 1 and year 2 pupils meeting the expected standard in phonics, by ethnicity
Ethnicity Year 1 Year 2
% %
All 79 89
Asian 82 90
Bangladeshi 81 90
Chinese 88 91
Indian 85 92
Pakistani 80 89
Asian other 80 89
Black 78 87
Black African 79 88
Black Caribbean 74 86
Black other 76 86
Mixed 81 90
Mixed White and Asian 85 92
Mixed White and Black African 80 90
Mixed White and Black Caribbean 75 87
Mixed other 81 89
White 79 89
White British 79 89
Gypsy or Roma 44 61
White Irish 80 87
Irish Traveller 40 53
White other 79 88
Other 75 85
Unknown 57 70

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (phonics)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (phonics)’ (CSV)

4. By ethnicity (reading)

Percentage of pupils meeting the expected and higher standards in reading, by ethnicity
Ethnicity Expected standard Higher standard
All 68 19
Asian 70 19
Bangladeshi 70 19
Chinese 78 30
Indian 75 24
Pakistani 66 14
Asian other 68 19
Black 69 17
Black African 70 17
Black Caribbean 64 14
Black other 67 16
Mixed 71 21
Mixed White and Asian 76 27
Mixed White and Black African 70 19
Mixed White and Black Caribbean 63 15
Mixed other 71 22
White 68 19
White British 69 19
Gypsy or Roma 26 3
White Irish 69 25
Irish Traveller 27 4
White other 65 17
Other 59 13
Unknown 50 12

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (reading)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (reading)’ (CSV)

5. By ethnicity (writing)

Percentage of pupils meeting the expected and higher standards in writing, by ethnicity
Ethnicity Expected standard Higher standard
All 60 8
Asian 64 10
Bangladeshi 65 10
Chinese 73 18
Indian 69 13
Pakistani 59 6
Asian other 63 10
Black 61 8
Black African 63 9
Black Caribbean 55 6
Black other 59 8
Mixed 62 10
Mixed White and Asian 68 13
Mixed White and Black African 62 8
Mixed White and Black Caribbean 54 6
Mixed other 64 11
White 60 8
White British 60 8
Gypsy or Roma 20 1
White Irish 60 11
Irish Traveller 19 1
White other 58 8
Other 53 7
Unknown 43 5

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (writing)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (writing)’ (CSV)

6. By ethnicity (maths)

Percentage of pupils meeting the expected and higher standards in maths, by ethnicity
Ethnicity Expected standard Higher standard
All 70 16
Asian 73 20
Bangladeshi 72 17
Chinese 89 41
Indian 78 24
Pakistani 67 13
Asian other 72 20
Black 68 14
Black African 69 15
Black Caribbean 61 10
Black other 66 12
Mixed 71 18
Mixed White and Asian 77 23
Mixed White and Black African 71 15
Mixed White and Black Caribbean 63 11
Mixed other 72 19
White 71 16
White British 71 16
Gypsy or Roma 30 2
White Irish 71 20
Irish Traveller 32 2
White other 71 16
Other 65 14
Unknown 52 11

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (maths)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (maths)’ (CSV)

7. By ethnicity (science)

Percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in science, by ethnicity
Ethnicity Expected standard
All 79
Asian 77
Bangladeshi 77
Chinese 85
Indian 82
Pakistani 73
Asian other 76
Black 75
Black African 76
Black Caribbean 73
Black other 74
Mixed 80
Mixed White and Asian 83
Mixed White and Black African 80
Mixed White and Black Caribbean 75
Mixed other 80
White 80
White British 81
Gypsy or Roma 40
White Irish 80
Irish Traveller 42
White other 76
Other 69
Unknown 59

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (science)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (science)’ (CSV)

8. Data sources

Source

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Education

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

This publication provides the attainment of pupils in the 2023 phonics screening check and key stage 1 national curriculum teacher assessments.

9. Download the data

KS1 Phonics assessment results National - Spreadsheet (csv) 111 KB

This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, time_type, geography, geography_type, geography_code, gender, age, fsm, value, value_type, denominator, numerator

KS1 National Curriculum assessment results National - Spreadsheet (csv) 576 KB

This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, time_type, geography, geography_type, geography_code, gender, age, fsm, value, value_type, denominator, numerator

KS1 National Curriculum assessment results Local Authority - Spreadsheet (csv) 4 MB

This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, time_type, geography, geography_type, geography_code, gender, age, value, value_type, denominator, numerator

KS1 Phonics assessment results Local Authority - Spreadsheet (csv) 1 MB

This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, time_type, geography, geography_type, geography_code, gender, age, value, value_type, denominator, numerator