As part of the School Census, schools are now required by the Department for Education to collect the nationality and country of birth of children aged 5 – 19.

This is from the March 2018 guidance from the Migrant Rights Network which aims to help migrants understand their rights and how to assert them in 8 key areas of everyday life.

This guide is to help all migrants living in the UK understand their rights in a situation where immigration rules are changing regularly.

The guidance finds:

Since 30 October 2017, banks and building societies have had to do immigration checks on all customers every 3 months. If they discover that you might be in the UK without permission they must tell the Home Office
Since 2014, the Driving and Vehicle Licence Agency (DVLA) is not allowed to give you a driving licence if you are not ‘lawfully resident’ in the UK. The DVLA does not have to let you know if they cancel your licence. This means you may not find out you are driving illegally until you are stopped by the police
Some schools have been asking to see children’s passports. This is against government guidance. Other schools have only asked for the nationality and country of birth of non-white children. This is discriminatory and therefore illegal.
Read the full guidance (pdf).