Apply to Colchester County High School for Girls, in plain English.
CCHSG is a super-selective girls' grammar on Norman Way in Colchester that admits 192 girls a year through the shared CSSE 11+ — the one test used by the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex. Around 735 girls apply for those 192 places: all must reach the standard, then places go in rank order of score — but score alone rarely settles it, because 154 of the 192 are filled from girls living within a 25-mile priority area. Register with the CSSE by 19 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.
You register for the CSSE 11+ directly with the consortium — by 19 June 2026.
CCHSG does not run its own test. It uses the CSSE 11+, the single test shared by the Essex selective schools, sat as two papers — English and Maths — and age-standardised. You register through the CSSE website; registration opens 12 May 2026 and closes on 19 June 2026. The test is normally a Saturday in mid-September (19 September 2026). Registering for the test is separate from naming CCHSG on your council form — you must do both, and miss the registration and there is no route to a 2027 place.
Where you live decides most of it — 154 of the 192 places are filled from the priority area.
Reaching the standard only gets your daughter into the ranking. After children with an EHCP, looked-after girls and a small number of Pupil Premium and Service Premium places, the school fills places in descending score order from girls who have lived continuously within 25 miles of the school (by straight line) since 31 October of Year 6 — until 154 places are taken. Only the remaining 38 go to the top scorers from anywhere. Living inside the priority area is the single biggest factor after the test itself.
Pupil Premium, looked-after and forces girls have ring-fenced places.
Up to 20 places are reserved for the highest-scoring girls in receipt of the Pupil Premium, and up to 10 for girls attracting the Service Pupil Premium (armed-forces families) inside the priority area — all needing a standardised score of at least 320, the same floor that applies to looked-after girls. Declare it on the CSSE Supplementary Information Form, and return the school's pupil-premium form by 31 October 2026; it can't be added later, and evidence is required.
Four steps — the first deadline is summer, not October.
Registering for the CSSE 11+ (step 1) closes on 19 June 2026 — months before the CAF deadline that catches most families out. Registering for the test is not the same as naming CCHSG on your council application; you must do both.
If more girls reach the standard than there are places, this order decides.
Girls with an EHCP naming CCHSG who score 320+ are admitted first, within the 192. Everyone else must reach the required standard in the CSSE test; qualifying girls are then ranked by standardised score and placed in the order below. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: A girl whose Education, Health and Care Plan names CCHSG and who scores at least 320 must be admitted before the oversubscription criteria are applied. These places come out of the 192.
What the document says: If the school is oversubscribed after the admission of children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which names Colchester County High School for Girls on the EHCP who score 320 or above, admission will be given to those children who meet the criteria set out below in order.
In plain English: Girls who are in care or were previously in care (for example through adoption or a special guardianship order) and who reach a standardised score of at least 320 are placed first, ahead of the priority-area and open score lists. This is required by the national Admissions Code.
What the document says: 1. Looked After Children (LAC) or Previously Looked After Children (PLAC) who achieve a test score 320 or above.
In plain English: Up to 20 places are set aside for the highest-scoring girls eligible for the Pupil Premium — those in receipt of free school meals on the income threshold now or in the previous six years, whose primary school receives the Pupil Premium — provided they score at least 320. You must declare it on the CSSE form and supply evidence; address is not part of this criterion.
What the document says: 2. Up to 20 places will be available to the highest scoring applicants who are eligible for the pupil premium … who achieve a test score of 320 or more.
In plain English: Up to 10 places are reserved for the highest-scoring girls who attract the Service Pupil Premium — armed-forces families — provided they score at least 320 and live at a permanent home address inside the 25-mile priority area. A confirmed forces relocation into the area counts in advance with an official posting letter.
What the document says: 3. Up to 10 places will be available to the highest scoring applicants who are eligible for the Service Pupil Premium (SPP) who achieve a score of 320 or above and live at a permanent home address within the priority area.
In plain English: The bulk of places go, in descending score order, to girls who have lived continuously within 25 miles of the school (measured in a straight line) since 31 October of Year 6 — until the running total from the criteria above reaches 154. This is the criterion most parents are competing under.
What the document says: 4. Places will then be allocated in descending score order from the Rank Order of Merit List, highest scoring first, for girls who permanently live within the priority area … until 154 places have been allocated from the combination of admission of children with an EHCP and application of the above criteria in 1-4.
In plain English: Once 154 places are filled, the remaining 38 go to the highest-scoring girls regardless of where they live. For a girl outside the 25-mile area, this is the only route — and it takes a very high score.
What the document says: 5. The remaining 38 places will then be allocated in descending score order from the Rank Order of Merit List, highest scoring first, regardless of where the girls live.
A real boundary — it fills 154 of the 192 places.
CCHSG's priority area is a 25-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 around 80% of the places. After the EHCP, looked-after, Pupil Premium and Service Premium places, the school fills places in descending score order from girls living continuously inside this circle since 31 October of Year 6, until 154 are taken; only the 38 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 first to the girl eligible for the Pupil Premium, then to whoever lives nearer the school by straight-line measurement. A girl living closer but outside the 25-mile area is still behind every priority-area girl.
See the priority area on the GrammarBound mapInside 25 miles: in the race. Outside: a very high score only.
Girl A lives in Colchester, inside the 25-mile priority area, so her score puts her straight into the running for the 154 places filled from the area. Girl B lives in Cambridge, outside the area: even with a higher score she competes only for the 38 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 is held on the Order of Merit Lists, kept by the council until the first week of the autumn term and then by the school until 31 December 2027. When a place comes free, it goes to the next girl in rank order — a priority-area vacancy to the next priority-area girl, an open vacancy to the next girl overall — not first-come-first-served. A move into the priority area is taken into account with documentary evidence.
Late applicants whose move to the area could not be foreseen are allowed to sit the test on a later date set by the CSSE and are slotted into the rank order by score.
Appeal
You have a statutory right of appeal against the decision not to offer a place, provided you named CCHSG on your council application. Appeals are heard by an Independent Appeals Panel; information on how to appeal is provided with your offer on National Offer Day and via Essex County Council. The panel is independent of the school and its decision binds both sides.
Joining Year 12 at CCHSG.
CCHSG admits external students into its Sixth Form — and at this stage it is open to all genders, not just girls. The 25-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.
The minimum requirement is four GCSEs at grade 7 or above and two at grade 6, including English Language and Mathematics at a minimum of grade 6. Each chosen A-level subject then carries its own GCSE requirement — usually at least grade 7 in that subject, with grade 8 in Maths needed for A-level Further Maths, and specified grades for subjects not taken at GCSE.
Apply direct to the school.
Sixth-form applications go straight to CCHSG by the deadline published on the school website, with GCSE results day the point at which conditional places are confirmed. Up to 50 external students are normally admitted alongside those progressing from CCHSG, with the cap set by subject-group and teaching capacity. See the CCHSG admissions pages for the current form and subject requirements.