The number of school-age children from the European Economic Area coming to the UK each year rose more than eightfold in a decade, official figures suggest.
Thousands migrated with their parents from eastern Europe after their countries joined the EU and large numbers came from France and Germany.
The figures indicate the pressure put on schools by EU immigration since 2004, when eight eastern European countries, including Poland and three Baltic states, joined the union.
Estimates from the Office for National Statistics show that in 2004 3,000 children aged 5 to 18 migrated to the UK with their families and that by 2014 this figure had risen to 25,000.
John Pullinger, the national statistician, disclosed the figures in a letter to Karl McCartney, a backbench