Changing face of England ...how white pupils are in a minority at many schools
THE changing face of England was revealed for the first time yesterday in a study that shows black and Asian children now outnumber white pupils in many secondary schools.
Immigration has driven the number of ethnic secondary school pupils up by 57 per cent in a decade.
Across the country, almost one in five secondary pupils is now black or Asian, according to the most definitive study of its kind.
In many areas children from ethnic backgrounds outnumber white pupils for the first time, research from King’s College London shows.
The study by Chris Hamnett looked at the changing demographics of schools between 1999 and 2009.
It reveals a “very substantial” shift in the population, which Professor Hamnett says represents an “irrevocable” change.
Labour’s open-door to immigration is being blamed for the striking increase. In inner London, 67 per cent of secondary pupils are from ethnic minorities, the report says.
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch UK, blamed Tony Blair and Gordon Brown
The 57 per cent increase in ethnic minority pupils contrasts with an overall secondary school population rise of 4.7 per cent – and a slight decline in white pupils, a figure that includes those from eastern Europe.
Across the country, the proportion of ethnic minority pupils has risen in a decade from 11.5 per cent to 17 per cent and Professor Hamnett forecasts it is set to rise again to 20 per cent.
He found a pattern of an increasing proportion of ethnic minority pupils in big cities, particularly London. Professor Hamnett says: “London as a whole now has an ethnic minority dominated secondary school system, akin to that of many large US cities, and the figure reaches 67 per cent in inner London.
“This is also true of a small number of other towns and cities with large ethnic minorities, notably Slough (64 per cent), Leicester (58 per cent), Birmingham (52 per cent) and Luton (51 per cent). Manchester and Bradford are not far behind with 43 per cent.”
Professor Hamnett says that this is not about recently arrived children but children born in England.
And patterns of birth rates indicate that the proportion of ethnic minority pupils will increase in the next few decades. Such changes have become a lasting feature of the ethnic make-up of England’s population, he says.
It also shows a picture of ethnic minority families moving out to towns and suburbs across England.
“We’re not looking at minorities being trapped or ghettoised in small areas. There’s a process of suburbanisation,” he adds.
Among the biggest increases were areas including the London boroughs of Merton, Croydon and Enfield. There are also wide differences in the ethnic breakdowns of schools in different parts of the country. In places such as Knowsley in Merseyside, Cumbria and Durham, fewer than two per cent of pupils are from ethnic minorities. But in Brent, Tower Hamlets and Newham in London, the figure is above 80 per cent.
Such changes will also eventually mean “revisiting” the language of minorities and majorities, Professor Hamnett says. Earlier this year the Daily Express revealed that almost one million pupils do not speak English as their first language.
Official figures showed that a record one in six pupils in primary schools and one in eight in secondary education speak another language at home, a massive increase in the past five years. The figures triggered warnings that schools are being put under increasing strain as they battle to accommodate the wide range of languages spoken by pupils.
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch UK, blamed Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and their open-door immigration policy.
He said: “This is the inevitable consequence of the mass immigration of over three million permitted by Labour.”
The figures revealed about 150,000 more youngsters than in 2007 do not use English as their mother tongue.
Overall, the data showed that 957,490 pupils in primary, secondary and special schools, as well as pupil referral units, have a first language that is known or believed to be other than English. In 2007 this figure was just under 800,000 but this did not include referral units.
The figures are higher in primaries than in secondaries, with around one in six (16.8 per cent) of primary pupils speaking another language at home – 547,030 in total.
In secondary schools, that figure is around one in eight (12.3 per cent), some 399,550 children.