Essex 11+ · CSSE · The schools
Seven fully selective schools, 1,251 Year 7 places for 2027 entry, and about 2,900 children a year above the CSSE floor. Which school gives priority to whom, how many places each has, where the pupil premium places are, and the score the last place went to, from each school's own admissions policy and the CSSE's published figures.
Updated 19 September 2026 · How the score works · CSSE dates · CSSE tuition
The short answer
In the September 2025 test, 2,900 children scored 303 or more. The seven grammar schools have 1,251 places. So the question is never "will my child pass"; it is "which school, from which side of its catchment, and what score does that take". Each school's catchment, which its policy calls a priority area, is set out below with the score the last place went to on each side.
Inside a school's area, the last place in 2025 went to a score between 303 and 355 depending on the school. Outside it, the same school's last place went to between 321 and 372. For a Southend family the line is worth around 40 points; for a Chelmsford family, 17. Where you live decides the target before your child has answered a question.
The score itself is explained in the pass mark and scores article; this page is about the schools.
School by school
Places and priority rules are from each school's determined admissions arrangements for September 2027. The scores are the lowest total standardised score offered a place on 1 March 2025, the most recent the CSSE has published; the March 2026 figures come out in mid October 2026.
| School | Places | Priority area | Priority places | Open places | Last score, inside | Last score, outside |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford (boys) | 150 | 12.5 miles | 120 | 30 | 355 | 372 |
| Colchester County High School for Girls | 192 | 25 miles | 154 | 38 | 322 | 333 |
| Colchester Royal Grammar School (boys) | 128 | none | 128 | 343 | ||
| Westcliff High School for Boys | 185 | SS0 to SS9 | 148 | 37 | 309 | 351 |
| Westcliff High School for Girls | 192 | SS0 to SS9 | 154 | 38 | 306 | 345 |
| Southend High School for Boys | 180 | SS0 to SS9 | 150 | 30 | 305 | 342 |
| Southend High School for Girls | 224 | SS0 to SS9 | 179 | 45 | 303 | 321 |
Places are the published admission number for Year 7 in September 2027; children with an EHCP naming the school are admitted first and come out of these totals. "Priority places" and "open places" are the quotas in each policy; the pupil premium places described below sit inside them. The Colchester County High priority area is new for 2025 entry, so its inside figure has one year of history. Sources: the admissions arrangements of KEGS, CCHSG, CRGS, WHSB, WHSG, SHSB and SHSG, and the CSSE historical guidance sheet.
The three areas
One boys' school, 150 places, and the hardest entry in the county. The 12.5-mile circle takes in most of mid Essex; the school publishes a map. A boy inside the circle needed 355 in 2025, roughly the top 10% of everyone who sat; a boy outside needed 372, the top 4%. The 30 open places are the ones every strong boy in the county is competing for, so they go last and highest.
The residence test is strict: continuously at the address from 10 October of Year 6 to the first day of Year 7, and the policy spells out that a temporary move or a second property does not count.
Two schools, two rules. Colchester County High for Girls has 192 places and a 25-mile circle, wide enough to reach Chelmsford, Braintree, Witham, Maldon and the Tendring coast, with 154 places inside it and 38 outside. The circle is new, so 322 inside and 333 outside is one year's evidence.
Colchester Royal Grammar has 128 places and no area at all: after up to 12 pupil premium places, the highest-scoring boys who applied get in, from anywhere, and the last place has gone to 337 to 343 for four years running. Where a family lives makes no difference except as a tie-break for the final place.
Westcliff High for Boys and for Girls and Southend High for Boys and for Girls all use the same catchment: postcodes SS0 to SS9, which is Southend, Westcliff, Leigh, Shoeburyness, Rochford, Hockley, Rayleigh, Benfleet and Canvey. Each reserves about five sixths of its places for those postcodes and offers them in score order down to its own pass mark, which is why the inside cut-offs sit at 303 to 309: a local child who clears the floor is very likely to get a place.
From outside SS0 to SS9, whether Basildon, Chelmsford or Brentwood, the four schools have 150 places between them and the last ones went to 321 to 351.
Shoeburyness High School, St Thomas More (boys) and St Bernard's (girls), all in the Southend area, take a proportion of their intake by CSSE score, catchment residents only, and the rest by ordinary criteria. Their selective places went to 303 to 307 in recent years, and some years St Thomas More made no selective offers at all. They are worth a preference for a local child who clears the floor but not the grammar schools' outside lines.
The places most parents never hear about
Every CSSE grammar school sets aside places for children who are, or have been in the last six years, eligible for free school meals on income grounds, and for looked-after children. They are filled in score order above a lower threshold than the open places need.
| School | Places set aside | Minimum score |
|---|---|---|
| KEGS | up to 8 inside the priority area, up to 2 outside | 330 inside, 350 outside |
| Colchester County High for Girls | up to 20, plus up to 10 for service families | 320 |
| Colchester Royal Grammar | up to 12 | over 320 |
| Westcliff High for Boys | 10% of each quota (about 15 local, 4 outside) | the pass mark |
| Westcliff High for Girls | up to 15 local, 4 outside | the pass mark |
| Southend High for Boys | 15 local, 3 outside | the pass mark |
| Southend High for Girls | up to 17 local, 4 outside | the pass mark |
The catch is the form. Eligibility has to be declared on the CSSE Supplementary Information Form when the child is registered for the test, in May or June of Year 5, and the school checks it with the primary school afterwards. A family that qualifies and does not tick the box is ranked with everyone else. For KEGS that is the difference between needing 330 and needing 355 inside the area, or 350 and 372 outside it.
What to do with this
Check the KEGS map for the 12.5 miles, measure 25 miles to Colchester County High, and read your postcode against SS0 to SS9. Then write down the inside or outside cut-off for each school you might name, from the table above, and add ten for safety, because they move by five to fifteen points a year.
Every application goes through the Local Authority's common form by 31 October of Year 6, with the schools in preference order; the CSSE score is the same whichever schools you name, so there is no cost to naming a stretch school first.
A Southend child inside SS0 to SS9 needs to clear 303 with a margin, which is a year of steady practice. A boy anywhere aiming at KEGS or CRGS needs 345 to 375, the top 5 to 15%, and that is a different programme. The marked mock papers give you the two raw marks and the calculator turns them into a score against every cut-off; the CSSE Maths and CSSE English guides are built to the papers and have free sample chapters.
Questions
You can name any CSSE school on the Local Authority form, in your order of preference, and one test score serves all of them. The Local Authority offers the highest preference the child qualifies for. Naming a school you cannot realistically reach costs nothing, but every preference used on a stretch school is one not used on a school that would take the child, so keep a realistic one on the list.
For the open places at every school, and for the priority places inside a school's area, yes: places go in descending score order. Residence decides which list the child is on, pupil premium eligibility decides whether the lower threshold applies, and distance is only ever a tie-break for the last place.
Because it has only 30 open places and every strong boy in Essex, and some from well beyond it, applies for them. The priority-area places, 120 of them, are the bulk of the school, and in 2025 they went down to 355. The Colchester and Southend schools have larger intakes and less competition from outside their areas.
Some have. Colchester County High admits 192, Southend High for Girls 224 and Westcliff High for Girls 192 for 2027 entry, and each says so in its arrangements. KEGS has been 150 since 2015. Because the CSSE cut-off tables are per year, a bigger intake tends to show up as a lower last score the following March.
Places, priority areas and quotas are from each school's determined admissions arrangements for September 2027, linked under the table. The scores are from the CSSE's historical guidance sheet published in October 2025. If a figure here disagrees with a school's own policy, the policy is right and we will correct it.
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