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The proportion of Year 6 pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths has risen slightly in this year’s key stage 2 Sats.

Schools have received their results today - more than a week late, after 91���� revealed there would be a delay due to “technical issues”. Dame Christine Gilbert will lead a Department for Education review of the reasons for the delay.

Nationally, attainment has improved or stayed stable across all subjects in this year’s KS2 Sats results.

However, on the whole, attainment has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, and fewer pupils reached the higher standard in reading than last year.

Slight uptick for combined score

Some 63 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, up from 62 per cent last year, national reveals.

In the last full academic year before the pandemic, the figure was 65 per cent.

Reading and science are stable

The share of pupils achieving the expected standard in reading remained stable from last year, at 75 per cent.

Some 82 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in science - unchanged from last year.

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Writing lags far behind pre-Covid

The proportion of pupils meeting the target in writing rose from 72 per cent to 73 per cent, but still lagged behind the pre-pandemic level of 78 per cent.

Maths and GPS see small rise

In maths, 75 per cent of pupils met the expected standard, up from 74 per cent in 2025.

Some 74 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling, up from 73 per cent last year. Before the pandemic, levels consistently sat above 75 per cent.

Higher attainment

In reading, the proportion meeting the higher standard fell three percentage points from 34 per cent in 2025 to 31 per cent this year.

Some 30 per cent of pupils met the higher standard in GPS, unchanged from last year but down six percentage points from 2018-19.

In maths, 27 per cent attained the higher standard - up by 1 percentage point from last year and back to pre-Covid levels.

For the fifth year in a row, the share of pupils writing at greater depth remained at 13 per cent. This figure sat at 20 per cent for the two years before the pandemic.

The proportion reaching the higher standard in reading, writing and maths was 9 per cent - up 1 percentage point from last year but down from 11 per cent in 2018-19.

Scaled scores

The average scaled score was unchanged in GPS (105), maths (105) and reading (106).

The Department for Education has said it will launch a review into the failings with KS2 Sats this year, which 91���� revealed will be led by former Ofsted inspector Dame Christine.

This is the first year the assessments have been overseen by after it won a contract previously held by Capita.

On the opening day of Sats tests, primary schools reported experiencing difficulties in submitting attendance registers through the new , despite raising “significant concerns” before its introduction.

Following the initial delay with results, primary schools’ deadline to call for a review of marking has been extended from 24 July to 7 September.

Responding to today’s results, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said children, teachers and school leaders deserved “huge credit” for their achievements.

But he added: “Sats tell teachers nothing they don’t already know from working with pupils every day, and are instead unfairly used to judge and compare school performance.”

The delay meant that leaders and staff “have been landed with the unenviable task of processing results right at the end of term - after the end of term in some areas,” he said.

In her response to today’s results, education secretary Bridget Phillipson said pupils, teachers and families should be “enormously proud” of them.

She said: “I know the delay in results - which Pearson rightly apologised for - has caused frustration, but the real and sustained progress we are now seeing in pupils’ achievements deserves to be celebrated.

“That is testament to the dedication of teachers, leaders and support staff.”

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