Apply to Colchester Royal Grammar School, in plain English.
CRGS is a super-selective boys' grammar on Lexden Road in Colchester that admits 128 boys a year through the shared CSSE 11+ — the one test used by the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex. It has no catchment area: places go in rank order of standardised score to the highest-scoring boys, whether they live in Essex or not. 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.
CRGS does not run its own Year 7 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 CRGS on your council form — you must do both, and miss the registration and there is no route to a 2027 place.
There is no catchment area — your score is what counts.
Unlike most Essex grammars, CRGS has no priority area. The policy is explicit that selection is "open equally to pupils in Essex and those who live outside the county". After a small number of reserved places (see below), the school simply offers places in descending order of standardised CSSE score until the 128 are filled. Where you live only matters as the very last tiebreaker between two boys with identical scores — so a top scorer from outside Essex is admitted ahead of a lower scorer who lives next door.
Up to 12 places are reserved for looked-after and Pupil Premium boys.
Before the main score list, up to 12 places (Admissions Priority 1) go first to looked-after / previously looked-after boys, then to boys in receipt of the Pupil Premium — in both cases needing a standardised score above 320. Declare it on the CSSE registration form; evidence is checked afterwards. There is no sibling, faith, staff or forces priority for Year 7 entry.
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 CRGS on your council application; you must do both.
If more boys reach the standard than there are places, this order decides.
Every applicant sits the CSSE 11+ and is ranked by standardised score. A small block of places is reserved first; everything else is filled strictly by score. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: Boys who are in care or were previously in care (for example through adoption, a child-arrangements order or a special guardianship order) and who score above 320 in the CSSE test are placed first, taking the earliest of the 12 Admissions Priority 1 places. This is required by the national Admissions Code.
What the document says: Up to 12 places will be offered to boys … who achieve a score greater than 320 … Priority will be given to applicants who are a 'looked after child' or previously looked after child. The places will be allocated based on descending rank order of marks, until either 12 places have been allocated or there are no more boys who fall into this category and have achieved a score greater than 320.
In plain English: Any of the 12 reserved places not taken by looked-after boys go, in score order, to boys eligible for the Pupil Premium — those in receipt of free school meals now, or in the previous six years, whose primary school receives the Pupil Premium — provided they score above 320. Declare it on the CSSE registration form; evidence is sought afterwards. Address is not part of this criterion.
What the document says: The remaining places (of the 12 earmarked for Admissions Priority 1) will be allocated to applicants who are in receipt of the Pupil Premium Grant who meet the aforementioned conditions … in descending rank order of marks, until either a total of 12 places have been allocated or there are no more boys who fall into this category and have achieved a score greater than 320.
In plain English: Once the reserved places are dealt with, every remaining place goes to the highest-scoring boys, in descending order, regardless of where they live, until all 128 are taken. If two boys have an identical score for the last place, priority goes first to a looked-after boy, then to a Pupil Premium boy, and finally to whoever lives closest to the school by straight-line distance. Distance only ever splits a tie — it never moves a lower scorer ahead of a higher one.
What the document says: The remaining places will then be offered in descending rank order of marks to the boys scoring highest in the selection tests … until the PAN of 128 is reached. If there are applicants with an equal ranking … preference will be given to: a 'looked after child' … followed by a child in receipt of the Pupil Premium Grant … followed by the applicant living closest to the school by straight line distance.
There isn't one — and that changes the whole game.
CRGS has no catchment or priority area. The admissions policy says the selection procedure is "open equally to pupils in Essex and those who live outside the county", and places are filled in descending order of standardised CSSE score until the 128 are gone. A boy in Suffolk or north London with a high score is admitted ahead of a Colchester boy with a lower one. The displayed circle on the GrammarBound map is purely illustrative — it shows roughly where most boys travel from, not a boundary that affects who gets in.
Distance does one thing only: it breaks a final tie. Where two boys have exactly the same standardised score competing for the last place, priority goes first to a looked-after boy, then to a Pupil Premium boy, and only then to whoever lives nearer the school by straight-line measurement. For almost every family, the test score is the entire story.
See Colchester Royal Grammar on the GrammarBound mapThe higher score wins — wherever home is.
Boy A lives a mile from the school in Colchester but scores 332. Boy B lives in Ipswich, well outside Essex, and scores 351. Because CRGS has no catchment, Boy B is offered a place ahead of Boy A — the higher score wins. Distance would only matter if both boys scored exactly the same.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
A boy who sat the test but isn't offered a place is held on the waiting list, ranked by score within the same Admissions Priority category — not first-come-first-served. The school keeps the list for the Autumn Term following the September entry, and longer if you ask after that term. When a place is declined, the next-highest scorer in the relevant category is offered it.
Vacancies in Years 8–10 are filled by a separate school-set test in English, Maths and Science; apply to the school by 1 February in the year before admission.
Appeal
You have a statutory right of appeal against the decision not to offer a place, provided you named CRGS on your council application. Appeals are heard by an Independent Appeals Panel; you submit a Notice of Appeal form via Essex County Council and the Clerk then sends the procedure and hearing dates. The panel is independent of the school and its decision binds both sides.
Joining Year 12 at CRGS.
CRGS admits external students into its Sixth Form — and at this stage it is open to boys and girls, not just boys, with a number of additional boarding places. Sixth Form entry is decided purely on GCSE results; external applicants apply directly to the school by 1 December, not through the council.
The grade floor.
The minimum requirement is at least 38 points across the best five GCSEs (reformed GCSEs scored by their numerical grade). On top of that, each chosen A-level subject needs a grade 7 or above at GCSE, and you must have a reformed grade 5 or above in GCSE English Language and Mathematics, whether or not you study them at A-level — with grade 8 in Maths required for A-level Further Mathematics.
Apply direct to the school.
External applicants submit CRGS's own application form by 1 December; predicted grades are requested from your current school and conditional places go to the applicants with the highest average points score across their best 8 GCSEs. Where the Sixth Form is oversubscribed, looked-after applicants are preferred, then those living closest to the school. The combined Sixth Form admission number, including boys progressing from Year 11, is 200. See the CRGS sixth-form admissions pages for the current form and subject requirements.