Attainment at age 11
Published:
18 December 2025
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Data on the percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by the age of 11 years, by socio-economic background.
Summary main findings
Disadvantaged children are less likely than non-disadvantaged children to reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by the end of key stage 2, when they are usually 11 years old.
The ‘disadvantage gap’ is wider now than before the COVID-19 pandemic. It went down in the 9 school years to July 2019. It then went up in the 2021 to 2022 school year to the highest level since 2012, and has since fallen slightly.
In the 2023 to 2024 school year:
- 61% of pupils met the expected standard – up from the previous school year (60%), but below the 2018 to 2019 school year (65%)
- 46% of disadvantaged pupils and 67% of non-disadvantaged pupils met the expected standard
- girls were more likely than boys to reach the expected standard, but the gap between pupils from disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged backgrounds was the same for girls and boys (22 percentage points)
- there were large variations between pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) in different ethnic groups – for example, 73% of FSM-eligible children in the Chinese ethnic group met the expected standard, compared with 14% of Gypsy or Roma children
- FSM-eligible pupils in parts of London and the West Midlands were the most likely out of all areas to achieve a good level of development – pupils in North Yorkshire, Cumbria and South West were the least likely
By disadvantage status over time
Visualisation
Percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by the end of key stage 2, by disadvantage status over time (England, 9 school years to July 2024)
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Data
| School year | Disadvantaged (%) | Not known to be disadvantaged (%) | All pupils (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023/24 | 46 | 67 | 61 |
| 2022/23 | 44 | 66 | 60 |
| 2021/22 | 43 | 66 | 59 |
| 2020/21 | No data | No data | No data |
| 2019/20 | No data | No data | No data |
| 2018/19 | 51 | 71 | 65 |
| 2017/18 | 51 | 70 | 64 |
| 2016/17 | 47 | 67 | 61 |
| 2015/16 | 39 | 60 | 53 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By year
Visualisation
Disadvantage attainment gap index over time (England, 14 school years to July 2024)
Data
| School year | Disadvantage attainment gap index |
|---|---|
| 2023/24 | 3.13 |
| 2022/23 | 3.21 |
| 2021/22 | 3.23 |
| 2020/21 | No data |
| 2019/20 | No data |
| 2018/19 | 2.91 |
| 2017/18 | 2.90 |
| 2016/17 | 3.00 |
| 2015/16 | 3.02 |
| 2014/15 | 3.10 |
| 2013/14 | 3.15 |
| 2012/13 | 3.16 |
| 2011/12 | 3.23 |
| 2010/11 | 3.34 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By sex
Visualisation
Percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by the end of key stage 2, by disadvantage status and sex (England, school year 2023 to 2024)
Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility
Data
| Disadvantage status | Boys (%) | Girls (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Disadvantaged | 42 | 49 |
| Not known to be disadvantaged | 64 | 71 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By ethnicity
Visualisation
Percentage of FSM-eligible pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by the end of key stage 2, by ethnicity (England, school year 2023 to 2024)
Data
| Ethnicity | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|
| Any other ethnic group | 47 |
| Asian - Any other Asian | 56 |
| Asian - Bangladeshi | 66 |
| Asian - Chinese | 73 |
| Asian - Indian | 64 |
| Asian - Pakistani | 55 |
| Black - Any other Black background | 54 |
| Black - Black African | 61 |
| Black - Black Caribbean | 48 |
| Mixed - Any other Mixed background | 53 |
| Mixed - White and Asian | 53 |
| Mixed - White and Black African | 52 |
| Mixed - White and Black Caribbean | 43 |
| White - Any other White background | 47 |
| White - Gypsy or Roma | 14 |
| White - Irish | 35 |
| White - Traveller of Irish heritage | 16 |
| White - White British | 41 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By area
Visualisation
Percentage of students meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by the end of key stage 2, by region and eligibility for free school meals (FSM) (England, school year 2023 to 2024)
41 regions in the UK are ranked from the lowest to highest values. They are then divided into 5 equally-sized groups (‘quintiles’), from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).
The regional estimates have a large margin of error – do not rank or compare specific regions. See the composite indices for more precise estimates and to understand overall regional patterns.
Data
| Region | FSM eligible (%) | Not FSM eligible (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 40.5 | 65.9 |
| Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire | 39.5 | 67.2 |
| Cheshire | 43.6 | 68.6 |
| Cornwall and Isles of Scilly | 42.3 | 65.2 |
| Cumbria | 38.8 | 60.9 |
| Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | 43.9 | 66.6 |
| Devon | 41.1 | 64.8 |
| Dorset and Somerset | 38.5 | 64.0 |
| East Anglia | 39.3 | 62.1 |
| East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire | 49.5 | 67.6 |
| Essex | 44.1 | 68.2 |
| Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol area | 36.4 | 64.6 |
| Greater Manchester | 48.1 | 67.7 |
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 40.1 | 64.9 |
| Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire | 40.1 | 65.1 |
| Inner London - East | 60.5 | 74.9 |
| Inner London - West | 61.0 | 77.9 |
| Kent | 43.4 | 68.8 |
| Lancashire | 43.2 | 65.9 |
| Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire | 44.7 | 66.3 |
| Lincolnshire | 41.3 | 63.3 |
| Merseyside | 43.6 | 66.0 |
| North Yorkshire | 35.3 | 65.4 |
| Northumberland, and Tyne and Wear | 47.9 | 69.6 |
| Outer London - East and North East | 54.5 | 73.3 |
| Outer London - South | 50.3 | 73.9 |
| Outer London - West and North West | 54.3 | 74.0 |
| Shropshire and Staffordshire | 45.6 | 66.3 |
| South Yorkshire | 43.3 | 66.4 |
| Surrey, East and West Sussex | 38.5 | 66.7 |
| Tees Valley and Durham | 47.4 | 70.7 |
| West Midlands | 50.2 | 66.9 |
| West Yorkshire | 44.3 | 66.9 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
About the data
Data source
Department for Education (DfE). National curriculum assessments at key stage 2 in England, 2024.
Time period
- 9 school years to July 2024 (By disadvantage status over time)
- 14 school years to July 2024 (By year)
- 2023 to 2024 school year (By area, sex and ethnicity)
Geographic area
England
What the data measures
The data shows the percentage of pupils who met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of key stage 2, when pupils are usually 11 years old.
Disadvantaged pupils are those who:
- were registered as eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years
- are looked after by a local authority in England and Wales, or who left local authority care through adoption, a special guardianship order, a residence order or a child arrangements order
Eligibility for free school meals (FSM) is used as an indicator of deprivation by the Department for Education. Children are eligible for FSM if their parents receive certain benefits.
The ‘disadvantage gap index’ summarises the relative attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and all other pupils. It is based on their reading and maths assessments at the end of key stage 2.
Scores range from -10 to 10. A disadvantage gap score of 0 means there was no difference in achievement. A score greater than 0 means non-disadvantaged pupils did better than disadvantaged pupils. A score of 10 means that every non-disadvantaged pupil did better than every disadvantaged pupil.
Things you need to know
Attainment for the most recent 2 years is not directly comparable with the 2 school years ending in July 2017. This is because of changes to teacher assessment frameworks in 2018. Data was not collected during the 2 school years ending in July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Type of data
Administrative data
Full report
Read more in State of the Nation 2025 on GOV.UK.
Download the data
Download full dataset (CSV, 22KB)
This file contains the following variables:
- Measure code
- Measure title
- Chart type
- Area code
- Area type
- Area name
- Primary split type
- Primary split value
- Secondary split type
- Secondary split value
- Tertiary split type
- Tertiary split value
- Time period
- Value
- Sample size
- Unit
- Value note
Page history
Publication release date:
18 December 2025