Apply to King Edward VI Grammar School, in plain English.
KEGS is a selective boys' grammar on Broomfield Road in Chelmsford that admits 150 boys a year through the shared CSSE 11+ — the one test used by the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex. Around 740 boys apply for those 150 places: all must reach the standard, then places go in rank order of score — but score alone rarely settles it, because 120 of the 150 are reserved for boys living within a 12.5-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.
KEGS 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 KEGS 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 — 120 of the 150 places are reserved for the priority area.
Reaching the standard only gets your son into the ranking. After children with an EHCP naming KEGS, 120 places are reserved for boys who have lived continuously within 12.5 miles of the school (by straight line) since 10 October of Year 6, allocated to the highest scorers among them. Only the remaining places — about 28 — go to the top scorers from anywhere. Living inside the priority area is the single biggest factor after the test itself.
Pupil Premium and looked-after boys have a small number of ring-fenced places.
Up to 8 of the 120 priority-area places, and up to 2 of the open places, are set aside for the highest-scoring boys who are in receipt of the Pupil Premium or are looked after — provided they reach a slightly lower score threshold (330 in the priority area, 350 outside it). Declare it on the CSSE Supplementary Information Form when you register; 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 KEGS on your council application; you must do both.
If more boys reach the standard than there are places, this order decides.
Boys with an EHCP naming KEGS are admitted first, within the 150. Everyone else must reach the required standard in the CSSE test; qualifying boys are then ranked by standardised score and placed in the order below. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: A boy whose Education, Health and Care Plan names KEGS must be admitted before the oversubscription criteria are applied. These places come out of the 150.
What the document says: Places are first offered to students for whom the school is named on their EHCP. Where applications for admission exceed the number of places available, all further places will then be awarded in rank order from the test.
In plain English: Within both the priority-area and open pools, a small number of places are ring-fenced for the highest-scoring boys who are in receipt of the Pupil Premium or are looked-after / previously looked-after children. Up to 8 of the 120 priority-area places go to those scoring at least 330; up to 2 of the open places to those scoring at least 350. You must declare it on the CSSE Supplementary Information Form and supply evidence.
What the document says: Up to 8 out of the 120 'priority area' places are available to the top performing boys who… are EITHER in receipt of the Pupil Premium payment OR are classified as 'looked after'… and achieved a final standardised score of at least 330. … Up to 2 of these remaining places are available [to the same group] who achieved a final standardised score of at least 350.
In plain English: The bulk of places — 120 of the 150 — are reserved for boys who have lived continuously within 12.5 miles of the school (measured in a straight line) since 10 October of Year 6, with the highest scorers offered first until the 120 are filled. This is the criterion most parents are competing under.
What the document says: 120 places are reserved for boys who have been continuously living within the priority area, i.e. within 12.5 miles from the school, since 10th October in Year 6… Further places will be offered in descending rank order of marks to the boys up until 120 places have been awarded to priority area applicants.
In plain English: Once the EHCP places and the 120 priority-area places are filled, the places left over (about 28) go to the highest-scoring boys regardless of where they live. For a boy outside the 12.5-mile area, this is the only route — and it takes a very high score.
What the document says: Once EHCP places have been allocated and a further 120 places have been allocated to boys living inside the 'priority area', the remaining places will be allocated to boys regardless of where they live… offered in descending rank order of marks to the boys scoring highest in the selection test.
A real boundary — it reserves 120 of the 150 places.
KEGS'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 EHCP admissions, 120 of the 150 places are reserved for boys living continuously inside this circle since 10 October of Year 6, offered to the highest scorers among them; only the ~28 places left over are open to top scorers from outside it. Score sets your son's rank, but living inside the area is what puts him in the running for the bulk of the places.
Distance also breaks a final tie: where boys have identical standardised scores competing for the last place, priority goes first to looked-after then Pupil Premium boys, and then to whoever lives nearer the school by straight-line measurement. A boy living closer but outside the 12.5-mile area is still behind every priority-area boy.
See the priority area on the GrammarBound mapInside 12.5 miles: in the race. Outside: a very high score only.
Boy A lives in Chelmsford, inside the 12.5-mile priority area, so his score puts him straight into the running for the 120 reserved places. Boy B lives in Colchester, outside the area: even with a higher score he competes only for the ~28 open places left after the priority area is filled. Distance never moves an out-of-area boy ahead of a priority-area boy.
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 a waiting list for one year after admission to Year 7. When a place comes free, it goes to the next boy in rank order — a priority-area vacancy to the next priority-area boy, an open vacancy to the next boy overall — not first-come-first-served. A move into the priority area is taken into account with documentary evidence.
Late applications after the normal round are answered within 15 school days with the next available test date or the reason for refusal.
Appeal
You have a statutory right of appeal against the decision not to offer a place. Appeals are made to the clerk to the Independent Appeal Panel (Essex County Council's Statutory Appeals service), who sets out the procedure and hearing dates. The panel is independent of the school and its decision binds both sides; appealing does not affect your son's waiting-list position.
Joining Year 12 at KEGS.
KEGS admits external students into its Sixth Form — and at this stage it is open to all genders, not just boys. 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 (each 9–1 grade scored on its number; A*–G and AS/FSMQ equivalents converted), and must achieve at least grade 6 in GCSE Maths and English (Language or Literature). Each chosen A-level subject then carries its own GCSE requirement — usually grade 7 or better, with grade 8 in Maths needed for A-level Maths and grade 9 for Further Maths.
Apply direct to the school.
Sixth-form applications go straight to KEGS, with the morning of GCSE results day as the latest point to be considered alongside everyone else. At least 50 external students are normally admitted, with the cap set by teaching-group and pastoral capacity. See the KEGS admissions pages for the current form and subject requirements.