SATs 2024: How England's regions compare when it comes to children's reading, writing and maths skills

• The government has published a more in-depth breakdown of how primary school children across England performed in their SATs this year.
• These exams, sat by Year 6 pupils in May, measure their basic skills in subjects like reading, writing, and maths.
• But attainment isn’t equal across different regions, with the highest scoring area about nine percentage points ahead of the lowest.

A persistent attainment gap between children from different parts of England has lingered on for another year.

The SATs - or Standard Assessment Tests - are a series of exams sat by all English primary school students towards the end of Year 6. They measure how students are performing across basic academic skills like reading, punctuation and spelling, and maths, while teachers also give scores for writing and science skills. The results are used to measure whether a child is working at the expected level for their age, to identify children who need help before secondary school.

Initial results for the 2024 SAT exams were released back in July, but the government published new, more in-depth performance data last week. It has revealed than 61% percent of England’s state-funded primary school students who sat their SATs this year met the expected level in reading, writing, and maths - a metric commonly used to rate primary schools.

This represents a small improvement on last year’s results, although a number of inequalities continue to make themselves known. The attainment gap between pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers has narrowed a little on last year - its highest level since 2012 - but remains stubbornly higher than it was before the pandemic. Much lower numbers of students from some ethnic backgrounds, namely Roma and Irish Traveller families, were also meeting government targets compared to other children.

Different regions also tend to have sometimes stark differences, a trend that has also been noted in GCSE and A Level exams, and SATs are no exception. So how did the different regions stack up this year when it comes to young people and their basic education skills? Here’s what you need to know:

East Midlands

Some 59% of the East Midlands’ end of primary school pupils also reached the expected standard for reading, writing, and maths in 2024 - a slight improvement on the last two years, but still lower than pre-Covid figures.

When it comes to regional authorities, the comparatively small county of Rutland dominated - with 69% of its pupils hitting the target. In the larger settlements, Leicester had 59% of its pupils meet the standard, while Nottingham had 58%. Lincolnshire was a little worse off at 56%, while Derby came in at just 55%.

London

As in previous years, London was the highest performing region in 2024, with 67% of its state school pupils achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Particularly high-performing boroughs were dotted around the city, with stand-outs including Richmond upon Thames with three-quarters (75%) of its pupils meeting the expected target, and 17% excelling - what appears to be the highest scoring local authority nationwide.

Hammersmith and Fulham, Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, Camden, Newham, Redbridge, Sutton, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest all also had over 70% of their pupils hit the mark. The most populous borough, Croydon, had 64% of its pupils meet the expected level. Others on the lower end include Havering at 63%, Hillingdon at 63%, Lewisham at 62%, and Brent at 61%.

North East

The wider North East had 61% of its state school-educated pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths in 2024, landing it in second place overall. This is roughly the same as last year, and equal to this year’s national average.

Local authority areas of particular note include Hartlepool and Sunderland, both of which had an incredible 65% of their students meet the expected standard. This represented a notable jump upwards for Sunderland on 2023. North Tyneside and Newcastle also both saw above average numbers of students meet these basic requirements, but had some high achievers as well - with 9% of students from each region found to be performing at a higher level.

At the other end of the scale were the likes of Darlington, which had only 57% of its students meet the standard, and Northumberland at 56% - down two percentage points on last year.

South East

The South East had 60% of its end-of-primary pupils meet the expected standard this year, ranking it third overall.

Standouts include Slough, with 67% of its pupils meeting the expected standard, and Surrey and Wokingham, both with 65%. Buckinghamshire has 63% hit the target, while Kent had 61%, Oxford 60%, and Milton Keynes 59%.

Unfortunately, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight both had considerable lower levels of students achieving at the government’s expected level across the three basic skills, at 51% each - seemingly the lowest scoring parts of England this year.

East of England

In the East of England, the overall number of pupils found to be working at the expected level was 59% across the three basic skills. The region has seen its figure creep slowly upwards over the past two years, although they still lag behind pre-Covid numbers.

The borough of Thurrock stood out with a 66% ‘pass rate’, while the wider Essex region had 62% of its pupils meet the target level. In Hertfordshire this was 63%, while in Luton, 60.

On the lower end were Peterborough and Bedford, both with 55% of pupils working at the expected level - although for Bedford, this was a three percentage point increase on last year. Central Bedfordshire had just over half of its pupils (52%) working at the level expected - still a modest improvement for the region - as did Norfolk.

North West

In the North West, 59% of its pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths in 2024. The region’s figures remain notably lower than they did pre-Covid, which saw a regional ‘pass rate’ of 65%.

The Trafford area did exceptionally well, with 70% of its students meeting the expected levels and a whopping 14% exceeding them. Warrington had 67% of its pupils meet the standard, while Wigan and Stockport had 64%, and Cheshire East and Bury both had 63% - an upwards leap of 5 percentage points for Bury.

The region’s larger cities, Liverpool and Manchester, had 57% and 54% respectively. Blackpool and Cumberland, meanwhile, had just 53% of their pupils meet the target levels, both small drops on last year.

West Midlands

The West Midlands too had 59% of its pupils meet the expected level in reading, writing, and maths.

Solihull had a particularly high rate, with 64% of its young students meeting the expected standards, and 10% excelling beyond it. The larger city of Birmingham, to compare, had 60% of pupils meet the target.

Shropshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Dudley, and Worcestershire were on the lower end at 57% apiece, while Coventry had just 55% of its pupils meet the expected standards.

Yorkshire

Across Yorkshire and the Humber, once again 59% of pupils who sat their SATs this year met the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths.

Most of Yorkshire’s local authority areas sat fairly close to the regional average, with North East Lincolnshire and Hull both standing out at 63%. In York, 62% of its pupils met the expected standard, while 10% were found to be working at a higher level.

Leeds sits at 59%. In Sheffield, however, only 55% of state school-educated pupils met the government’s target level for the three basic skills, down two percentage points on last year.

South West

The South West had the lowest proportion of its state school-educated children meeting the expected standard, at just 58%. The gap between it and the highest performer, London, in 2024 was nine percentage points according to a government statement - pretty much on par with the 2023 results.

Areas with particularly alarming results include Bristol, which had just 55% of its pupils meet the expected standard (down one percentage point on last year); and Dorset, which also hit 55% - although in this instance, the score was a slight improvement on last year.

How did your region fare , and why do you think this might be? Have your say and make your voice heard by leaving a comment below.