Essex 11+ (CSSE) Results, 12 October 2026: Reading the Score Sheet, What Each Town Can Target, and Waiting Lists

For children sitting the CSSE 11+ on Saturday 19 September 2026, for entry in September 2027. Results are emailed after close of business on Monday 12 October 2026 — allow 24 hours. This page is what that number means, and which schools it puts in reach from where you live. For registration, papers and preparation, start with our complete guide to the Essex 11+ (CSSE).

Two caveats. The 29 September sitting is for religious observance, medical evidence or exceptional circumstances only. And 31 October falls on a Saturday, so work to Friday 30 October — the same deadline covers Pupil Premium forms, which go direct to each school.

Reading the CSSE score sheet

The email gives you two raw scores — English and maths — and one overall standardised score. Only the overall figure decides anything, and it is not the sum of the raw marks. Each paper is standardised separately, then weighted so that English and maths are worth 50% each. The CSSE also applies a statistical age adjustment where its analysis by date of birth supports one, so an August-born child is not judged on raw marks alone. In the last published year the scale ran from 163 to 419.

• There is no single pass mark. The CSSE makes no offer below 303; above it, each school ranks everyone who named it in score order inside its own categories. Colchester County High School for Girls sets a higher floor of 320.
• Papers are not re-marked. The ten schools have a joint policy against it, and the CSSE makes no adjustment at marking for circumstances on the day. That evidence goes to an independent appeal panel after 1 March 2027.

What 303 actually buys you

For 2026 entry, 5,115 children sat the papers and 2,900 of them — 56.7% — scored 303 or above, chasing 1,339 places. More than twice as many clear the floor as there are places behind it.

The median was 310; 322 put a child in the top 38% of the cohort, 343 in the top 19%, 355 in the top 10%. On raw marks the average was about 35 in English and 27 in maths, and maths spreads far wider — a standard deviation near 13 marks against 8 — so that is usually where a few weeks of work move the score furthest.

Score of the last selective place offered, by school

The lowest score that still secured a place on National Offer Day, for the two years published so far; the sheet with March 2026 figures lands on 12 October. It is history, not a forecast: the 2027 cut-offs exist only once offers go out in March. Three of the ten are not grammar schools: Shoeburyness, St Bernard's and St Thomas More are partially selective, holding a small block of places inside a much larger intake.

Inside the priority area, the Southend and Westcliff schools sit in the low 300s; outside it the same four asked 18 to 42 points more in 2025. KEGS is the hardest number in both years, and it moved 15 points in one.

Town by town: which schools are realistically in play

Southend, Westcliff, Leigh, Shoebury, Rayleigh, Rochford, Hockley, Benfleet and Canvey

All four Southend-area grammar schools use the SS0 to SS9 postcode districts as their priority area, covering every town above. In-area cut-offs have sat between 303 and 309 for two years, and the places rarely leave: Westcliff High School for Boys reserves 148 of its 185 for the area, Southend High School for Boys 150 of 180. A child on 310 has a real shot at three or four at once — list them in true order of preference, since a CSSE school first does not prejudice anything below it. Online 11+ tutoring for Southend-on-Sea families works best started early.

Basildon and Wickford

Basildon's SS13 to SS16 and Wickford's SS11 and SS12 fall outside SS0 to SS9, so these families compete on the out-of-area column: 321 to 351 in 2025. KEGS is the alternative for boys, its priority area being 12.5 miles in a straight line — Wickford sits roughly nine miles out, Basildon town centre close enough to the line that your exact address decides it.

Brentwood, Shenfield and Ingatestone

Brentwood town centre is about 11 miles from KEGS, inside the priority area, but the 12.5-mile line clips the south of the borough: Warley and West Horndon addresses can fall outside it, turning 355 into 372. Brentwood is out of area for every Southend school too, which makes it the hardest CSSE postcode in Essex — families using an online 11+ tutor from Brentwood typically start mid-Year 4.

Chelmsford

KEGS takes 120 of its 150 places from inside the priority area, up to eight reserved for pupil premium and looked-after boys scoring 330 or more; the other 30 go to anyone on rank order. For girls the CSSE route from Chelmsford is Colchester County High School for Girls, about 20 miles away and inside its 25-mile priority area. Our Chelmsford 11+ tutoring page has the timetable.

Colchester

Two schools, two very different rules. Colchester Royal Grammar School has no priority area: it ranks every boy who named it by score, which is why its number sits in the 330s and 340s. Colchester County High School for Girls sets a 320 minimum, fills 154 places from inside a 25-mile radius, and opens the last 38 to anyone.

Borderline scores, waiting lists, and when the movement stops

You get one offer on 1 March, for the highest school on your list whose criteria your child meets, and you go automatically onto the waiting list of every school ranked above it. Essex secondary schools hold their own lists until at least 31 December of the year of entry: CCHSG runs its order-of-merit lists to that date, Westcliff High School for Boys keeps a separate list per priority category, and KEGS holds one for a year after admission, giving families 21 days to accept or decline.

Two things to brace for. Lists are ranked by each school's published oversubscription criteria and re-ranked whenever a child joins, with no credit for time waited — so a higher-scoring child who moves into the area in June goes above you. And movement is front-loaded: declines, independent-school offers taken up in March and April, appeal outcomes in May and June. After that the council's online checker closes for the year and you ask the school directly.

If the score is a clear miss rather than a near miss, have the next conversation early: what to do after a near miss on the 11+ and what happens after 11+ results cover the appeal and waiting-list routes.

Year 5 families reading this early

Registration for 2028 entry should open around mid-May 2027 and close in mid-to-late June; for 2027 entry it ran 12 May to 19 June 2026, with access-arrangement requests due 26 June and test centre letters by 15 July.

Nominate your test centre carefully — it cannot be changed once confirmed, and if your first choice fills you are reallocated. Free familiarisation papers are on the CSSE website and practice packs are sold there; the papers follow Key Stage 2, with no verbal or non-verbal reasoning, which makes CSSE preparation genuinely different from Kent or Buckinghamshire. An 11+ tutor working from mid-Year 4 has time to fix underlying gaps rather than drill papers the summer before.

FAQ

Is 303 enough?

Enough to be considered — no offer is made below it. Whether it is enough to be offered depends on where you live. In 2025 it took the last place at Southend High School for Girls and at St Thomas More, both in-area, and fell 52 points short of KEGS in-area. It is the entry ticket, not the finish line.

Should we still name a school our score is below?

Usually yes, if you would genuinely want the place. The CSSE says the figures fluctuate year to year, and applications below the historical score but above the 303 floor may still be worthwhile. Naming a CSSE school higher up cannot damage your chances at the schools below it.

Does an older sibling already at the school help?

Not as a category. Selective places go in rank order of standardised score within each school's priority categories, and a sibling link is not one of them. It can surface as a tie-break for the last place — KEGS breaks ties by looked-after status, then pupil premium, then siblings, then distance, while CCHSG uses pupil premium then distance.

Can we ask for the paper to be re-marked?

No. The ten schools have a joint policy of not re-marking, and the CSSE makes no allowance at marking for illness on the day. That evidence belongs in an appeal to an independent panel after 1 March 2027, on a council-set deadline.

Sources

• CSSE 11+ Information Guide, 2027 Entry — dates, admission numbers, paper timings, weighting, age adjustment, the 303 minimum, no re-marks.
• Historical guidance sheets (October 2025 and 2024) and 2026-entry score data: CSSE Freedom of Information page.
• 2027 admissions policies: KEGS, Westcliff High School for Boys, Southend High School for Boys, CCHSG.
• Essex County Council waiting lists and the School Admissions Code 2021.