Primary school results explained: key stage 2 (Year 6)
What the Year 6 measures mean — the expected and higher standards in reading, writing and maths, and average scaled scores — and why there are no progress scores for 2024/25.
Checked 18 October 2026 against the official sources listed at the end.
At the end of primary school (Year 6, key stage 2) pupils take tests in reading, maths, and grammar, punctuation and spelling. Teachers assess writing and science. The Department for Education (DfE) publishes each school’s results in its performance tables. ABC Edu shows the 2024/25 results, the latest published.
Expected standard in reading, writing and maths
The percentage of pupils who:
- scored 100 or more in the reading test, and
- scored 100 or more in the maths test, and
- were assessed by their teachers as “working at the expected standard” or “working at greater depth” in writing.
This combined figure is the headline measure for primary schools.
Higher standard
The percentage of pupils with a “high scaled score” of 110 or more in reading and maths and “working at greater depth” in writing. The DfE set the high score “solely with reference to the distribution of pupils’ test results”.
Average scaled scores
Test results are given as scaled scores from 80 to 120; 100 or more means the pupil met the expected standard. The school’s average scaled score in reading and maths is “the mean scaled score of all pupils awarded a scaled score”. Pupils who didn’t sit every paper are left out.
Grammar, punctuation and spelling, and science results are also published, and ABC Edu shows them under “Each subject separately”.
Why there are no progress scores
Progress scores compare pupils’ results with those of pupils nationally who had similar results at the end of key stage 1. They were not calculated for 2023/24 or 2024/25, because “there was no relevant KS1 data available due to COVID-19 disruption”.
They return for 2025/26; school results for that year are due in December 2026. When they are available, zero means pupils did about as well as similar pupils nationally. “A negative progress score does not mean pupils made no progress, or the school has failed.”
Things to keep in mind
- Results describe one group of Year 6 pupils in one year. In a small school, a few pupils can change the percentages a lot.
- Figures are hidden (“Not shown”) when very few pupils are involved — usually 5 or fewer — to protect their privacy. We never show these as zero.
- Local authority and England figures, where shown, are the DfE’s own for the same year.
- The DfE says: “Conclusions should not be drawn on a single piece of data alone.”