Essex 11 Plus Results: What They Mean and What to Do Next
If your child sat the Essex 11 Plus in September, you're in that odd limbo every Year 6 parent knows – the test is over, there's nothing more anyone can do, and the email still hasn't arrived. CSSE results come out after the close of business on Monday 12 October, and the deadline for your secondary school application is 31 October. That's under three weeks, and the decisions you make in them matter.
It doesn't help that Essex does things its own way. Most of the county's grammar schools share one test, but Chelmsford County High School for Girls sets its own – which surprises plenty of families, given it sits on the same road as KEGS! A lot of what you'll read online is also written with Kent or Buckinghamshire in mind.
So here's the explanation I give the Essex families I work with: what to do when the email lands, which test leads where, what the scores actually mean, and what to do if it hasn't gone the way you hoped. If your child is in Year 5, skip to the end. There's a section for you.
When the results arrive
The first thing to say, because it catches so many people out, is that a CSSE result is a score, not a school place. Places are decided by your local authority and don't arrive until National Offer Day, 1 March 2027.
The email comes after the close of business on 12 October, though the CSSE asks you to allow 24 hours. It shows your child's raw marks in English and Maths and an overall standardised score. On the same day, the CSSE puts a Historical Guidance Sheet on its website, showing the score of the last child offered a place at each school last year.
Then, before 31 October:
Compare your child's score with the guidance sheet – not with the class WhatsApp group, however tempting that may be. Last year's figures are only a guide, and the CSSE itself says it can be worth applying if you're a little below them.
Bear in mind that no CSSE school offers a place below a total of 303, except through appeal or special considerations.
Fill in your home local authority's application form. This is the only way to apply; registering for the test doesn't count. Use the form for the area you live in, even if the school you want is in the other authority, Essex or Southend.
Put the schools in the order you genuinely prefer them. You'll be offered one place, at the highest school on your list whose criteria your child meets, and putting a grammar school first won't count against you at the others.
Include at least one school you'd be happy with and are confident of getting into. A form with nothing but grammar schools on it leaves you badly exposed if the score falls short.
It's worth knowing, too, that the CSSE doesn't re-mark papers and won't adjust a score because of something that happened on the day. If something genuinely affected your child, that's a case for an independent appeal panel once offers are out in March.
Which test for which school
Ten schools across Essex and Southend share the CSSE test, so one sitting covers the lot. Chelmsford County High is the exception, having left the consortium more than a decade ago to run its own test, which since September 2023 has been set by FSCE and held on a different date.
School | Town | Intake | Test | Year 7 places, 2027 |
King Edward VI Grammar School (KEGS) | Chelmsford | Boys | CSSE | 150 |
Chelmsford County High School for Girls (CCHS) | Chelmsford | Girls | FSCE | 180 |
Colchester Royal Grammar School | Colchester | Boys | CSSE | 128 |
Colchester County High School for Girls | Colchester | Girls | CSSE | 192 |
Southend High School for Boys | Southend | Boys | CSSE | 180 |
Southend High School for Girls | Southend | Girls | CSSE | 224 |
Westcliff High School for Boys | Westcliff | Boys | CSSE | 185 |
Westcliff High School for Girls | Westcliff | Girls | CSSE | 192 |
Places are from the CSSE 2027 Entry Information Guide and the CCHS 2027 admissions policy. St Thomas More and St Bernard's are Catholic bilateral schools, and Shoeburyness is a comprehensive; the figures shown are their selective places.
Do watch the names. Chelmsford County High (CCHS) and Colchester County High (CCHSG) sound almost the same, and every year some families muddle them. They're different schools in different towns with different tests, so a girl who wants both needs to sit both.
And whilst the test is shared, the admissions rules aren't. Some schools give priority to children living within a set distance; others go purely on score. Read the policy for every school you're considering before you fill in the form.
What's in the CSSE
The CSSE consists of two papers, English and Maths, each counting for half – and, unlike most other grammar school areas, there's no verbal or non-verbal reasoning at all.
The English paper lasts an hour, with ten minutes' reading time beforehand. It includes comprehension and a piece of continuous writing (the CSSE publishes a sample mark scheme for the writing), and since 2024 it no longer has Applied Reasoning questions. The Maths paper is also an hour, and it's based on the Key Stage 2 curriculum.
'Key Stage 2' sounds reassuring – but the standard is high and the pace is quick. The children I see do well are rarely the ones who've done the most practice papers. They read a lot, they write with some control, and they can stay calm through a maths question with several steps.
That's why so much generic 11+ advice leads Essex families astray. Every hour spent on codes and shape sequences is an hour taken from reading and writing – and that's where the CSSE marks are. The CSSE's own familiarisation papers are free and give the truest picture of the real thing.
One more thing: if your child is eligible for Pupil Premium, the CSSE schools pay for free access to Atom Learning for 11+ familiarisation. Do take it up.
Making sense of the 11 plus score
Each paper's raw mark is standardised, then the two are weighted equally and combined into one total. The CSSE also looks at results by date of birth and adjusts if needed, so a child born in August isn't penalised for being nearly a year younger than a classmate born in September. The formula goes on the CSSE website shortly after results are sent.
You'll hear 303 talked about at the school gate as the 'pass mark'. Strictly speaking it's a minimum – below it, no CSSE school will offer a place, other than through appeal or special considerations. Above it, your child is in the running, and what happens next depends on the school.
Each school's cut-off is simply the score of the last child to be offered a place there, so it differs from school to school and from year to year. Where a school gives priority to local children, the cut-off for families nearby can be lower than for those further away. This year's cut-offs won't be known until offers go out on 1 March, so last year's figures on the guidance sheet are your best estimate, and an estimate is all they are.
So, hard as it is, try not to compare scores with other families. A score that looks disappointing next to a friend's may still be plenty for the school that's right for your child.
Chelmsford County High
CCHS sets its own test through Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE). This year's was on Thursday 3 September, and girls can only sit it once. Results come by email in mid-October and tell you whether your daughter has reached what the school calls an 'eligible score'.
Whilst English and Maths are age-standardised and scored much as in the CSSE, the test itself is far broader. According to the school's policy, it can draw on any National Curriculum subject taught up to the end of Year 5 – science, history, music and art are all fair game. There's also a Creativity paper, marked by trained CCHS staff, for girls who reach the qualifying standard in the rest.
Reaching the eligible score doesn't guarantee a place. Of the 180 places, up to 144 go to girls living within 12.5 miles of the school in a straight line, and up to 30 of those are kept for girls eligible for Pupil or Service Premium who score up to five marks below the eligible score. The remaining places, up to 36, go to the highest scorers wherever they live. It's competitive: the school's admissions policy records that 1,225 girls sat the test in 2024 and 586 went on to name CCHS on their application.
CCHS is refreshingly clear about preparation. Its admissions page says the FSCE test doesn't need specialist tutoring, and it warns against anything that disrupts school or makes children anxious. It recommends wide reading, everyday maths, good conversation at home and a calm approach.
I agree with nearly all of that, and I'd urge any CCHS parent to read the school's familiarisation guide. The one thing I'd add is about nerves. A test this broad can throw even a very bright child who is used to knowing exactly what's coming. Over the years I've prepared girls for CCHS, what has helped most is getting them comfortable with questions they haven't met before, and confident enough to write freely when the task is open-ended.
Many mid-Essex girls sit both the CCHS test and the CSSE for the girls' grammar schools in Colchester, Southend or Westcliff. The registrations, dates and results are all separate, but both feed into the same local authority form by 31 October.
If it hasn't gone to plan
Some parents will open that email and feel their heart sink. If that's you, leave the application form for a moment and think about your child first.
Children take their lead from us. If you're calm, they'll bounce back far faster than you might expect. Tell them you're proud of how hard they worked, and that one morning's test says nothing about who they are. The post-mortem can wait until they've gone to bed.
When you're ready to look at the practical side, a few things are worth knowing. A score just below last year's cut-off isn't necessarily the end of the road; the CSSE itself suggests applying anyway, because cut-offs move. The other schools on your form now matter more than ever, so visit them if you can. A good local school where your child is known and stretched will serve them far better than a grammar place they only just scraped into and then struggle with.
Waiting lists do move after 1 March, as families accept and turn down offers. You can also appeal once offers are out, and it's worth considering if something genuinely went wrong on the day, but go in with your eyes open – at CCHS, none of the seven appeals heard for 2025 entry succeeded. And there are other routes. Many independent schools hold their entrance tests in January, and Essex grammar schools take students into the sixth form.
When I was a head, I saw plenty of children miss out at eleven and go on to do brilliantly, some of them overtaking friends who had got in. Where your child goes at eleven matters, but far less than it feels like it does this month.
If your child is in Year 5
If your child will be sitting the Essex 11+ in September 2027, the year will look roughly like this. The CSSE publishes its exact dates for 2028 entry by Easter 2027, so treat these as a guide based on this year.
When | What happens |
Mid-April to early June 2027 | CCHS registration window |
Mid-May to mid-June 2027 | CSSE registration window (late registrations are not accepted) |
June to July 2027 | Open evenings and Year 5 tours at the grammar schools |
Early September 2027 | CCHS entrance test |
Mid-September 2027 | CSSE test (a Saturday) |
Mid-October 2027 | Results for both tests |
31 October 2027 | Local authority application deadline |
1 March 2028 | National Offer Day |
The CCHS test comes very early, in the first days of the autumn term, so most of the preparation for it needs to be done by the end of Year 5.
As for preparation, you don't need to start in Year 3, and you certainly don't need to give up every weekend – your family deserves those too. For the Essex tests I'd put the time into four things. Daily reading comes first: varied, stretching and talked about, because it feeds comprehension, vocabulary and writing all at once. Then short, regular pieces of writing with honest feedback, which do more good than the occasional long one. Then solid Key Stage 2 maths, starting with fluent arithmetic and building up to problems with several steps. Finally, the free CSSE and FSCE familiarisation materials, so nothing about the format comes as a surprise. Timed practice can wait until the last few months.
Above all, watch the balance. A child who turns up rested, curious and confident will nearly always do better than one worn down by a year of practice papers.
And finally...
Laid out plainly, the Essex 11+ isn't complicated: two tests, eleven schools, one form and one deadline. What makes it feel overwhelming is the 'noise' around it – the forums, the school gate and the well-meaning advice from every direction.
If something in the results email doesn't make sense, my 11+ jargon glossary explains standardised scores and the rest. For more on the CCHS test, there's my guide to preparing for the FSCE, and my 11+ reading list works for both the FSCE and the CSSE.
If your child is in Year 5 and you'd like an honest view of where they stand, or you're in Year 6 and weighing up what to do next, I'm always happy to have a chat. My Academic Audit gives you a clear picture of your child's strengths and gaps, with a written report, before you commit to anything. You can get in touch here.
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