The attainment gap between disadvantaged year 6 pupils and their peers has widened sharply this year, as overall figures show slightly more pupils are meeting the expected standard. Girls also continue to outperform boys in all subjects apart from maths, in which boys did better by one percentage point. The Department for Education released provisional key stage 2 attainment data this morning, which breaks down the statistics by pupil and school characteristics, region and council area. It also provides the latest disadvantage gap index, which ranks all pupils in the country and assesses the difference in the average position of disadvantaged pupils and others. Today’s data shows disadvantage gap is now close to the post-pandemic levels. It had been narrowing for two years after the Covid pandemic from 3.23 in 2022 to 3.13 in 2023-24. Last year it began to widen to 3.16 before a sharp rise this year to 3.22. Figures published in July show there was a slight rise in students meeting the expected standard, with 63 per cent meeting the standard. Maths has biggest gap In reading, writing and maths combined, 49 per cent of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standard, compared to 70 per cent of other pupils. And 4 per cent of disadvantaged pupils met the higher standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared to 11 per cent of other pupils. The gap in achievement of the expected standard is highest in maths, at 20 percentage points. For reading, it stands at 18 percentage points, while the gap for writing and for grammar, punctuation and spelling stands at 19 percentage points. The gap for science is slightly narrower at 17 percentage points. In the decade before the pandemic the disadvantage gap index steadily declined, from 3.34 in 2011 to 2.91 in 2019. But it jumped up to 3.23 in 2022, after the pandemic meant that SATs had to be cancelled in the two years prior. Despite the gap dipping to 3.13 in 2024, it has gradually risen since then. A third of KS2 pupils are considered disadvantaged in 2026. They include those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years, and children who are or have been looked after by a local authority. Gender gap remains In reading, writing and maths combined, 67 per cent of girls meet the expected standard, compared to 60 per cent of boys. And 10 per cent of girls met the higher standard, compared to 8 per cent of boys. The writing teacher assessment continues to have the biggest gender attainment gap for the expected standard, at 11 percentage points. But boys performed better in maths, particularly at the higher standard. 32 per cent of boys met the higher standard in maths compared to 22 per cent of girls. Pupils with a first language other than English had slightly higher attainment in reading, writing and maths – with 66 per cent meeting the expected standard – than those with English as a first language, at 63 per cent. London is still the highest performing region with 70 per cent meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. The East Midlands and north west had the lowest performance with 61 per cent meeting the standard. At local authority level, attainment was highest in London boroughs Hammersmith and Fulham and Richmond upon Thames, with 78 per cent meeting the expected standard, and lowest in the Isle of Wight, with 53 per cent meeting the standard. Just over a quarter of pupils with SEN provision (26 per cent) met the expected standard, up from 24 per cent in 2025.