White British schoolchildren are now a minority in parts of England, and make up just one in ten pupils in some areas, according to new government figures.

The data from the Department for Children, Schools and Families reveals the extraordinary demographic changes that are taking place in 21st-century England and highlight dramatic variations in the ethnic make-up of the school population across England.

They also show that more than one in ten pupils in primary and secondary schools in England do not have English as their mother tongue. This rises to more than half of primary pupils (53 per cent) in Central London.

As the numbers of nonwhite and non-native-speaking pupils are much higher in primary than in secondary schools, the figures also suggest that the full extent of current demographic changes in England’s schools have yet to make themselves felt.

Damian Green, the Conservative immigration spokesman, said that the changes were putting an extra burden on teachers. What was important, he said, was whether or not these children arrived in school able to speak English.

“If they can’t, and they are being taught in overcrowded classrooms, this makes it much harder for teachers to do their job.”

The Conservatives have complained that schools do not always intervene early enough to teach pupils English, often preferring to teach them in their own languages initially.

The latest figures, from January 2007, show that more than a fifth of pupils are now of ethnic minority origin. Nationally, 21.9 per cent of primary school children are from ethnic minority backgrounds, up from 20.6 per cent in 2006. There was a similar rise in secondary schools.

The figures also show that the number of primary school pupils who do not speak English as their first language increased by about 7 per cent on the 2006 figures to 447,000, or 13.5 per cent of the total.

Figures for secondary schools showed a similar rise in the number of pupils not speaking English as their first language, to 342,000 or 10.5 per cent of the total.

The Government has said that English should be the main language of teaching in schools, and children should become fluent as quickly as possible. Research suggests that although pupils who are not native speakers struggle at first, most make up any lost ground by the time they reach secondary school.

Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, said that the Government had put guidance in place to help teachers to support children who have English as an additional language.

He said that a new statutory duty on schools to promote community cohesion had focused the minds of head teachers on these issues.

“Schools are the building blocks of our communities so it’s vital that they promote tolerance, respect and understanding across society,” Mr Knight said.

A class of their own

In Tower Hamlets, East London, just under 15 per cent of primary school children were classed as white British, compared with 63 per cent who were Bangladeshi Asian. In Newham, also in East London, just under 12 per cent of primary pupils were white British but in Bromley, in the south of the city, the figure was 79 per cent. In secondary schools in Brent, northwest London, 7 per cent of pupils were of white British origin – 36 per cent were Asian and 24 per cent black. Outside London, areas with the highest concentrations of ethnic minority pupils included Bradford, where 53 per cent of primary pupils were white British.

In Blackburn and Manchester, fewer than 60 per cent of primary pupils were white British, while in Birmingham the figure was 43 per cent. In Leicester 41 per cent were white British, compared with 38 per cent of primary pupils who were Asian. In Devon 95 per cent of primary pupils were white British. The North East is the region with the highest concentration of white British children in both primary and secondary schools – 92.5 and 93.7 per cent respectively There are also heavy concentrations of white British pupils in the North West. In Sefton the figure is 96.7 per cent in secondary and 96.3 per cent in primary schools.

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