29% of our pupils aged 15 are from migrant families

MORE than one in four 15- year- olds in the UK now have an immigrant background, compared with an EU average of one in five.

A study has found 29 per cent of the GCSE-age pupils were foreign-born, or had at least one parent from overseas.

Just over a decade ago the figure was only 20 per cent.

The data confirms that Britain has become one of the top European destinations for migrant families to bring up children.

It follows years of high immigration levels, and comes as secondary schools warn they are strug- gling to provide enough places for pupils.

The proportion of immigrant children in Britain is well above the EU average of just 21.49 per cent, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelIt is also much higher than in many other European countries such as Greece, with a figure of 22 per cent, and France, with 26 per cent. Both nations have high numbers of transient migrants as many are passing through en route to the UK.

Only five EU members had a higher proportion than the UK: Luxembourg, Ireland, Belgium, Sweden and Austria.

Germany had slightly less, at 28 per cent, although the figures did not include the hundreds of thousands of refugees welcomed into the country in 2015 by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The lowest figure was for Poland, with an immigrant pupil population of 1.9 per cent.

The study was based on the OECD’s 2015 PISA tests which are taken by 15-year-olds across 72 nations and economies.

Compared with tests taken in 2003, the percentage of immiopment. grant students in the UK rose by nine percentage points. This compares with an average EU rise of seven percentage points.

Of the teenagers with immigrant backgrounds in the UK in 2015, just under a third were foreign-born and had foreignborn parents. Another third were UK-born to foreign-born parents and a similar proportion were UK-born with one UK and one foreign-born parent. A tiny proportion were born abroad to UK parents.

Among the OECD’s findings was that immigrant children who arrive in the UK aged 12 or older are less likely to do well at school and feel they belong.

The findings come amid a fresh Government push to encourage social integration in schools and communities.

But Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, added: ‘Britain is the best place in the world for immigrant children. Support and resources are devoted to them. Alarm bells should be ringing, however, for the plight of white working-class Brits.’

Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of Migration Watch UK, added: ‘Immigration on this scale not only makes integration more difficult but, with resources being spread ever more thinly, it means that all children lose out, including British children from a poor background.’

‘Alarm bells should be ringing’