The 11+ in Essex

The ten CSSE schools

One examination gains entry to these schools and no others:

• Colchester County High School for Girls
• Colchester Royal Grammar School
• King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford
• Shoeburyness High School
• Southend High School for Boys
• Southend High School for Girls
• St Bernard's High School
• St Thomas More High School for Boys
• Westcliff High School for Boys
• Westcliff High School for Girls

What is in the papers

Candidates sit two papers on the day, one in English and one in mathematics. Both are based on Key Stage 2 of the national curriculum, which makes this a curriculum test rather than a pure reasoning test.

English

Sixty minutes, with ten minutes of additional reading time.

Mathematics

Sixty minutes.

Scoring

The final scores for the individual papers are mathematically standardised and weighted, with a statistical age adjustment where one is required.

Change worth knowing

From September 2024, which was the 2025 entry round, the English paper no longer contains Applied Reasoning questions.

The number that decides everything: 303

CSSE publishes a floor, and it is unambiguous. No CSSE secondary school offer is made to any child who has scored under a total standardised score of 303.

Places awarded on appeal, and places awarded under special considerations criteria, sit outside that figure.

303 is a floor, not a pass mark. Clearing it means a school may consider your child; the score that actually secures a place at a particular school is set by demand that year and is only known after offer day in March.

• On results day CSSE publishes a guidance sheet of historical data, showing what scores were needed in previous years at each school. It is explicitly historical — there is no guarantee attached to it.
• CSSE's own advice is that it may still be worth applying to a school even if your child scored below the lowest mark recorded there in previous years, because the picture changes every year.

No re-marks, and no special consideration in the marking

CSSE does not give special consideration to a pupil's circumstances when papers are marked, and scores are not adjusted afterwards. The consortium schools also have a joint policy of not re-marking test papers.

Circumstances are heard instead by an independent appeal panel at the schools you have chosen, after offer day on 1 March 2027.

• That is why the 26 June deadline for special adjustments matters so much: adjustments are arranged before the test, because nothing is adjusted after it.
• If a religious objection or exceptional circumstance means your child cannot sit the test on Saturday 19 September, CSSE asks to be told by email.

Registering is not applying

The CSSE registration form registers your child to sit the examination. It is not an application to any school. You can only apply by naming the schools as preferences on your home local authority's common application form, in your genuine order of preference.

• Your child's name, date of birth and address on the CSSE form must match your local authority application exactly, or the result cannot be matched to the application.
• You nominate one CSSE school as a test centre. That choice does not affect which schools can consider your child.
• Several CSSE schools reserve places for children on free school meals, entitled to Pupil Premium, or who are or have been in social care. There is a separate Pupil Premium form on the CSSE website for families making such an application.

If you are reading this for the next round

Registration for 2027 entry has closed. CSSE's published position for the round after it is that registration will open next year, with important dates published by Easter 2027.