Specialist 11 Plus tutors in Essex, Essex prepare children for the CSSE exam format used by local grammar schools, including King Edward VI Grammar School (KEGS), Chelmsford. Compare rates and profiles, and enquire directly with no agency fees.
Essex grammar schools select through the CSSE, the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex, whose members include KEGS Chelmsford, the two Colchester grammars and the four Southend and Westcliff high schools. Find a specialist tutor, compare rates, read profiles and enquire directly. No agency fees.
The CSSE exam has two papers, English (60 minutes) and Mathematics (60 minutes), each marked out of 60 and age-standardised. There is no verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning paper. The English paper tests comprehension and writing; the maths paper tests KS2 knowledge applied to unfamiliar, multi-step problems. The minimum qualifying standardised score has recently been 303 across the two papers.
Meeting the CSSE qualifying score is only the first hurdle: the most oversubscribed schools, KEGS and Colchester Royal Grammar School, typically require combined scores well above the minimum, and priority rules differ school by school. Southend and Westcliff schools admit a share of places by rank order regardless of where a child lives, which attracts applicants from East London as well as Essex.
Registration deadline
CSSE registration opens in mid-May and closes in mid-June of Year 5. The exam is held on a Saturday in mid-September of Year 6, with results in October and the council application deadline on 31 October.
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The CSSE consortium covers King Edward VI Grammar School (KEGS) in Chelmsford, Colchester Royal Grammar School, Colchester County High School for Girls, Southend High School for Boys, Southend High School for Girls, Westcliff High School for Boys and Westcliff High School for Girls. One CSSE exam covers applications to all of them. Chelmsford County High School for Girls is not a CSSE member and runs a separate test through FSCE.
Two papers sat on the same Saturday in September: English (60 minutes) and Mathematics (60 minutes). Unlike GL Assessment regions there is no verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning paper. Scores are age-standardised, and the minimum qualifying mark has recently been 303 combined. The most competitive schools effectively require scores above the minimum.
CSSE registration opens in mid-May and closes in mid-June of Year 5, over a year before entry. The exam is then sat in mid-September of Year 6, results arrive in October, and you name your preferred schools on the local authority application by 31 October. Missing the June registration window normally means missing the main sitting.
Both schools are heavily oversubscribed and consistently rank among the strongest state schools in England. A child needs to score comfortably above the CSSE qualifying minimum to be in contention, and the effective offer threshold moves each year with the cohort. Structured preparation across Year 5 focused on CSSE-style English and maths papers is standard among successful applicants.
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