School results for 5 to 7 year olds

Published 24 June 2024

Contents

1. Navigate toMain facts and figures section
2. Navigate toThings you need to know section
3. Navigate to By ethnicity (phonics) section
4. Navigate to By ethnicity (reading) section
5. Navigate to By ethnicity (writing) section
6. Navigate to By ethnicity (maths) section
7. Navigate to By ethnicity (science) section
8. Navigate toData sources section
9. Navigate toDownload the data section

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)

Location:: England
Time period:: 2022 to 2023 school year
Source:: Key stage 1 and phonics screening check attainment

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)

Location:: England
Time period:: 2022 to 2023 school year
Source:: Key stage 1 and phonics screening check attainment

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)

Location:: England
Time period:: 2022 to 2023 school year
Source:: Key stage 1 and phonics screening check attainment

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)

Location:: England
Time period:: 2022 to 2023 school year
Source:: Key stage 1 and phonics screening check attainment

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)

Location:: England
Time period:: 2022 to 2023 school year
Source:: Key stage 1 and phonics screening check attainment

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

Key stage 1 and phonics screening check attainment

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