Literacy news
Department for Education releases Key Stage 2 and 3 results
2 Aug 2011
The Department for Education has released the provisional results for both 11 and 14-year-olds in schools in England. The results show a small rise in the number of pupils in both age groups reaching the expected levels.
The percentage of children reaching level 4 in English by the end of primary school rose from 80% to 81%, largely based on a 4% rise in writing scores. The results represent the second year in a row that writing standards have risen significantly. In 2011 75% of 11-year-olds reached level 4 in writing, up from 71% in 2010, and 67% in 2009.
Teacher assessed results at Key Stage 3 also showed a rise in English as 82% of children reached level 5 in English, up from 79% in 2010.
Focusing on the Key Stage 2 results, Minister of State for Schools, Nick Gibb MP, welcomed the improvements, but stressed that the Government aims to do more to improve literacy in the UK.
Thousands of children are doing very well, testament to their hard work and the professional skill of their teachers. The fact that more children are reaching the expected level in every subject is very welcome as is the significant increase in the proportion of children achieving well in writing.
But a third of children are still struggling in the three Rs. There has been a decline in the proportion of children – both boys and girls – who can read and write beyond the expected level. And the results of our weakest readers and writers also remain a real concern.
An overview of school results and literacy in the UK can be found in Literacy: State of the Nation
Read more on this story at the BBC website
Explore the results in more detail at the Department for Education website
