Less than half of grammar school pupils are white British, new figures show.
In just a decade, the proportion of white British students has fallen from 66 per cent to 44 per cent, data from the annual school spring census revealed.
Chris Evans, head of Reading School in Berkshire, reasoned that white British parents were put off grammar schools for fear their children would be ‘hot-housed’ if they got in.
‘Hot-housing’ is pushing young children to advanced teaching before they are naturally ready.
Mr Evans’s school fell in line with the national decline of the white British student population in grammar schools. He reported that such applications had ‘fallen spectacularly’ from 49 per cent to only 13 per cent this year.
Other grammar schools said that rising aspirations among second-generation immigrant families caused the major population shift. They also reported that certain ethnicities were more willing to move for a school or accept long commutes.
The sharpest drop-off in white British attendance at grammar schools was seen in Kent, Greater Manchester, Essex, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire and West Yorkshire.
Chris Evans, head of Reading School in Berkshire, revealed that parents fear their children will be ‘hot-housed’ if they get in and so are dissuaded from applying
r Evans reported that applications from white Brits to his school had ‘fallen spectacularly’ from 49 per cent to only 13 per cent this year
Pate’s Grammar School in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire – ranked among the best state secondaries in the country by the Sunday Times – saw a staggering decrease from 75 per cent to 34 per cent over the decade.
Meanwhile, the Indian pupil attendance grew from eight per cent to 30 per cent, and the Chinese presence went up more than 16 times from 0.3 per cent to 5 per cent.
James Richardson, the head teacher, told The Times his school has ‘a very large language department including Mandarin, and strong co-curricular music which I think is very popular with certain ethnicities.’
He went on to say that word of mouth played a part, adding: ‘Our Indian community is incredibly strong – we have the largest Diwali celebration in the southwest at Pate’s every November – and when the families talk to each other, they share their successes and perceptions of the school and its reputation grows.’
More and more pupils from the largest ten groups of ethnic minorities have filtered into grammar schools over the last decade – including Indian, Pakistani, African and Chinese people, Department for Education figures show.
Indian pupils present the biggest rise, from eight per cent to 15 per cent of pupils.
In Dartford Grammar School for Girls in Kent, the white student population fell from 52 per cent to just seven per cent.
Meanwhile, the African pupil population rose from 14 per cent to 37 per cent alongside the Indian (seven per cent to 16 per cent) and Chinese population (one per cent to four per cent).
Head teacher Sharon Pritchard said it was ‘difficult to know precisely’ why such a shift had happened, even in the context that the make-up of the local population had changed ‘to some degree’.
The school’s rising fortunes in academia appeared to be attracting applications from elsewhere, she said, as the school recorded that nearly 80 per cent of its GCSE grades this year were 7 to 9 (A/A*).
But Reading School has made efforts to regain the white British population lost at the school through outreach programmes with neighbouring establishments.
The programme’s aim is to resolve misconceptions that grammar schools do not prioritise sports or the arts, which Mr Evans thinks is deterring white British families from considering grammar school education.
He also pointed to the ‘high-stakes’ prospect of the grammar school entrance test, with white British parents being put off by the expensive prospect of having to pay for ‘years of maths and English tutoring’.
Head teacher of Pate’s Grammar School in Cheltenham James Richardson his school has ‘a very large language department including Mandarin, and strong co-curricular music which I think is very popular with certain ethnicities’
Mr Richardson said: ‘We have the largest Diwali celebration in the southwest at Pate’s every November’. Here, last year’s celebrations were shown on the school’s social media
Mr Evans’s scheme appears to have made an impact, as this year 15 per cent of applicants were white British, compared with 7 per cent in 2024.
Reading has named several local feeder schools and altered the 11-plus test to a less predictable ‘tutor-proof’ model, where the subject will change every year so no one can get a tutor for the exam, and the students’ aptitude will be tested unaided.
Mr Evans did say that he did not think the ethnic makeup of schools mattered but added that what does matter is ‘whether the grammar school reaches its local community and indeed whether all schools serve their local community.’
Lucinda Platt, professor of social policy and sociology at the London School of Economics, said foreign born students are more likely to be degree holders now, which has meant new arrivals are more keen on getting their child a better education.
Private 11-plus exam tutoring – costing £37.50 an hour on average, according to the Tutorful website – has long been cited as a barrier to white working-class children getting into grammar schools. Some private tutors charge up to £100 an hour.
