Why white children are not getting into grammar schools

[deanstreet]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/11/why-white-children-are-not-getting-into-grammar-schools/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_fb_photo_not-getting-into-grammar-schools

It's still not an even playing field though. A white MC person and Black or Asian person on the same class level will not have the same experiences due to racism. There are strong intersections along class and race/ethnicity.

My white British DD is waiting to hear whether she has a place at one of these North London schools with very few white children and the odds are quite favourable for her now. I can't say it hasn't crossed my mind whether we should opt for somewhere more diverse because there must be a cultural factor at play and I wonder if dd will notice being slightly apart from the dominant culture. It really has been very noticeable at the exams, particularly at the second stage. But ultimately I decided that was an odd attitude to have - complaining about a lack of diversity while contributing to a lack of diversity by turning down a place, and frankly you can do a lot worse than mingling in a dominant culture of academic excellence and parental support for education.

In our town there are three grammars - two single sex (boys, girls), and a co-ed.

The single sex girls school is 60-70% South Asian, in an area where South Asians make up approximately 15% of the population. Genuinely, well done to them and their families for helping their children to achieve the grades.

However, a lot of white families are choosing the co-ed, not because of racism, but for something a bit more complicated. Some white families who have sent their children to the girls' school report that a groundswell of the South Asian girls are not allowed to go into town / have sleepovers / mix outside of school, so it becomes cliquey with the South Asian girls seeing each other within their communities, and then limits the white girls to being friends with the maybe 6 other girls in their class - whom of course they may have very little in common with. Additionally when fallings out naturally occur, there are fewer options to hang out with a different crowd instead.

So it becomes self-perpetuating. Interestingly the co-ed more or less represents the town in terms of ethnic make-up.