The figures come from the government's annual school census. At primary level, 21.9% of pupils are from ethnic minorities, up from 20.6% last year. In secondary schools, the figure is 17.7%, up from 16.8% in 2006.
Anyone who does not describe themselves as being white British is defined as an ethnic minority in the census.
The government report on the census says that in part the rise may be due to an improvement in schools' data collection.
The data is more complete it says, with a reduction in the number of pupils whose ethnic origin is unclassified.
The number of primary school pupils who do not speak English as their first language increased by about 7% on the 2006 figures to 448,000. Figures for secondary schools show a similar picture, with a 9% increase in the number of pupils not speaking English as their first language to 342,000 in total. When special schools are included, 798,210 pupils in England's state schools do not speak English as their first language.
