Families are submitting grammar school applications from thousands of miles away amid fierce competition seeing over 30 candidates competing for individual places at certain selective institutions.
Tutoring commences at ages six or seven in some regions, with certain children receiving instruction from multiple tutors, while tutor agencies report increased British grammar school interest from international families planning relocations upon acceptance.
One north London school processing nearly 3,000 applications for 104 places admitted just one white British child in 2024-25, while another north London grammar receiving nearly 3,300 applications for 192 places accepted two white British pupils.
Experts have privately acknowledged that certain cultures demonstrate stronger tutoring focus and entrance exam preparation commitment.
A Freedom of Information Act request sent to over 50 of England's 163 state grammar schools, sought data on pupils joining from private schools plus applicant ethnicity and home address distances for those commencing academic years 2019-20 and 2024-25.
Sir Thomas Rich's School in Gloucester received a Shanghai application in 2024, with Stroud High School in the same county similarly reporting a Chinese application that year.
A child applied from Italy to Ripon Grammar School in North Yorkshire in 2019.
Within the UK, families can apply from hundreds of miles distant and relocate following success.
Applications included a Manchester candidate for Colchester County High School for Girls in Essex, a Leeds applicant to Colyton Grammar School in Devon, and a Wiltshire candidate for Ripon.
St Olave's, a boys' grammar in Orpington, southeast London, stated: "In any given year, we typically receive applications from throughout the UK and from applicants living abroad, sometimes from other continents."
Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at Exeter University, said: "When families are travelling hundreds of miles … to sit an entrance test, it's a sign that a system originally designed to serve local academic talent is now operating as a national and global race for elite opportunity.
"If you can't plan, pay and prepare years in advance, the race is often over before it has even begun. This is no longer just a test of academic potential — it's a test of who can dedicate significant resources for the preparation."
At 20 of 22 schools providing comparable data, white British pupil numbers declined from 2019-20 to 2024-25.
At 14 of 20 schools supplying data for children from Indian families, numbers increased, with the same pattern true for 14 of 18 schools providing comparable Chinese pupil figures.
Black pupil numbers remained approximately stable.
Queen Elizabeth's, a boys' grammar in Barnet, north London, saw white British year 7 pupils decline from nine to two in a 192-student intake, while Indian heritage students increased from 103 to 120.
The school opens a private Indian institution in August with plans for another within several years.
Henrietta Barnett, a neighbouring girls' grammar, admitted one white British pupil in 2024 alongside 62 from Indian backgrounds.
Pate's Grammar School in Cheltenham witnessed white British intake decline from 63 to 28 while Indian-heritage intake rose from 45 to 72.
Sir Thomas Rich's recorded white British starters falling from 102 to 53 with Indian family students doubling from 22 to 45.
Wallington High School for Girls in Sutton, south London, experienced white British intake reduction from 26 to 15 while Indian heritage students increased from 46 to 67.
Elliot Major cautioned: "We need to be very cautious about comparing ethnic groups as if they are like-for-like, or treating 'white British' pupils as a single group, when they account for a vast and variable population of pupils.
"These differences could be due to white British pupils being more likely to come from lower-income households and to live in areas where education has not consistently translated into opportunity."
Professor Peter Edwards, a St Catherine's College, Oxford fellow who grew up in a working-class Liverpool family, stated: "White children from poorer backgrounds are simply being left behind.
"The plight of white working-class boys, the largest group of disadvantaged young people in this country, has always been the least fashionable.
"Attempts at drawing attention to this problem have been lazily targeted as so-called 'far-right' political thinking.
"I have heard comments that the cause of this complex problem is this particular class of young people's 'sense of themselves'. This is simplistic and bigoted.
"If this country is serious about social mobility, we must target where the attainment gaps are largest."
