Apply to Chelmsford County High School for Girls, in plain English.
CCHS is a selective girls' grammar on Broomfield Road in Chelmsford that admits 180 girls a year — and it is the one Essex grammar that runs its own entrance test, the FSCE, rather than the shared CSSE 11+. Of the roughly 590 families who name CCHS each year, all must reach an "eligible score", then places go in rank order — but score alone rarely settles it, because 144 of the 180 are reserved for girls living within a 12.5-mile priority area. Register with the school by 3 June 2026 — separately from, and months before, the October council application.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these. They're the bits that catch parents out.
CCHS runs its own test — you register directly with the school by 3 June 2026.
Unlike the other Essex grammars, CCHS does not use the CSSE 11+. It sets its own FSCE entrance test — papers in English, Maths and a Creativity element, all age-standardised. You register through the CCHS admissions pages; registration opens 13 April 2026 and closes at 4pm on 3 June 2026. The test is normally early in the autumn term. Registering for the test is separate from naming CCHS on your council form — you must do both, and a daughter may only take the test once.
Where you live decides most of it — 144 of the 180 places are reserved for the priority area.
Reaching the eligible score only gets your daughter into the ranking. After looked-after and EHCP places, 144 places are reserved for girls who have lived continuously within 12.5 miles of the school (by straight line) since 31 October of Year 6, allocated to the highest scorers among them. Only the remaining places — up to 36 — go to the top scorers from anywhere. Living inside the priority area is the single biggest factor after the test itself.
Pupil Premium and Service Premium girls have ring-fenced places.
Up to 30 of the 144 priority-area places are set aside for girls in receipt of the Pupil Premium or the Service Premium (forces families) — provided they reach within 5 marks of the eligible score and live inside the 12.5-mile area. Declare it to your council by the time you apply, with evidence; it can't be added later.
Four steps — the first deadline is spring, not October.
Registering for the FSCE (step 1) closes on 3 June 2026 — months before the CAF deadline that catches most families out. Registering for the test is not the same as naming CCHS on your council application; you must do both.
If more girls reach the standard than there are places, this order decides.
Every applicant must first achieve an "eligible score" in each element of the FSCE. Qualifying girls are then ranked by standardised score and places allocated in the order below. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: A girl who is in the care of a local authority, or who was previously looked after and left care through adoption, a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order, is placed first — wherever she lives — provided she scored within 5 marks of the eligible score. Declare this to your council with evidence at the time of application.
What the document says: The applicant is a Looked After Child or Previously Looked After Child… who has achieved a score up to 5 marks below an eligible score, irrespective of where they permanently live.
In plain English: A girl whose Education, Health and Care Plan names CCHS, and who has achieved an eligible score, is admitted next. These places come out of the 180.
What the document says: The applicant has an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) and has achieved an eligible score.
In plain English: Within the 144 priority-area places, up to 30 are ring-fenced for the highest-scoring girls in receipt of the Pupil Premium or the Service Premium (forces families) who live inside the 12.5-mile area and scored within 5 marks of the eligible score. You must declare it to your council by the time you apply, with evidence.
What the document says: Of the next 144, places will be allocated as follows: (a) up to 30 places will be made available to applicants in receipt of Pupil or Service Premium, who has achieved a score up to 5 marks below an eligible score and are living at a permanent home address within the 12.5-mile priority area of the School.
In plain English: The bulk of places — the remainder of the 144 — go to girls who achieved an eligible score and have lived continuously within 12.5 miles of the school (measured in a straight line) since 31 October of Year 6, with the highest scorers offered first. This is the criterion most parents are competing under.
What the document says: The remaining places (of the 144) will be allocated to applicants that have achieved an eligible score and are living at a permanent home address within the 12.5-mile priority area of the School… conditional upon the applicant living within the priority area… since 31st October in Year 6.
In plain English: Once the statutory and 144 priority-area places are filled, the places left over (up to 36) go to the highest-scoring girls regardless of where they live, until all 180 are filled. For a girl outside the 12.5-mile area, this is the only route — and it takes a very high score.
What the document says: All remaining places (up to 36) will be allocated in descending score order from the Ranked List of Applicants irrespective of where they permanently live until all 180 places are filled.
A real boundary — it reserves 144 of the 180 places.
CCHS's priority area is a 12.5-mile radius of the school, measured in a straight line by Essex County Council's mapping system from your home to the school. It is not a tiebreaker — it is the gate for 80% of the places. After looked-after and EHCP admissions, 144 of the 180 places are reserved for girls living continuously inside this circle since 31 October of Year 6, offered to the highest scorers among them; only the up-to-36 places left over are open to top scorers from outside it. Score sets your daughter's rank, but living inside the area is what puts her in the running for the bulk of the places.
Distance also breaks a final tie: where girls have identical standardised scores competing for the last place, priority goes to whoever lives nearer the school by straight-line measurement, and then to lots drawn by an independent person. A girl living closer but outside the 12.5-mile area is still behind every priority-area girl.
See the priority area on the GrammarBound mapInside 12.5 miles: in the race. Outside: a very high score only.
Girl A lives in Chelmsford, inside the 12.5-mile priority area, so her score puts her straight into the running for the 144 reserved places. Girl B lives in Colchester, outside the area: even with a higher score she competes only for the up-to-36 open places left after the priority area is filled. Distance never moves an out-of-area girl ahead of a priority-area girl.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
A girl who sat the test but isn't offered a place stays on the Ranked List of Applicants, which operates until 31 August 2028. When a place comes free, it goes to the next eligible girl in rank order — subject to the same priority-area conditions and proportions — not first-come-first-served. A move into the priority area after 31 October 2026 is only taken into account after the council's reply deadline, then re-ranked on the waiting list from 1 September 2027.
Applicants who move into the area after registration closes, for reasons that could not be foreseen, should contact the Admissions Office about sitting the test on a later date.
Appeal
You have a statutory right of appeal against the decision not to offer a place, heard by an Independent Appeal Panel (Essex County Council's Statutory Appeals service). The panel is independent of the school and its decision binds both sides; appealing does not affect your daughter's waiting-list position. In 2024 seven appeals for Year 7 were heard and none upheld — each is judged on its own merits.
Joining Year 12 at CCHS.
CCHS admits around 30 external girls into Year 12 each year, on top of those continuing from Year 11. The 12.5-mile priority area does not apply: Sixth Form entry is decided purely on GCSE results. External applicants apply directly to the school, not through the council.
The grade floor.
Applicants need an average of at least 6.625 points across their best 8 GCSEs (including English Language and Mathematics), and must achieve at least grade 6 (or grade B) in GCSE English Language and Mathematics. Each chosen A-level subject then carries its own GCSE requirement — generally grade 7 or better — and at least one grade 8 is needed to study two or more of Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
Apply direct to the school.
Sixth-form applications go straight to CCHS — it is recommended that students new to the school apply by 31 March 2026. Offers are confirmed once GCSE results are published; for equal consideration, upload your results to the CCHS admissions website by 12:00 BST on results day. Internal students who meet the criteria are offered places before external applicants. See the CCHS Sixth Form admissions pages for the current form and subject requirements.