Essex 11+ (CSSE) · for September 2028 entry
CSSE 11+ 2027
For families with a child in Year 5 now: when CSSE registration opens, when the test is, which ten schools use it, what the maths paper looks like and how the score decides a place.
Registration opens for 2028 entry
The test, at the start of Year 6
English and maths, 60 minutes each (plus reading time for English), equal weight
CSSE 11+ dates for 2028 entry
As of November 2026. The 2028 entry column is what CSSE has announced on csse.org.uk; the 2027 entry column is last year’s cycle from the CSSE Information Guide, to show the pattern. We will update this table when CSSE publishes its dates (by Easter 2027).
| What | 2028 entry (test in 2027) | 2027 entry (last year) |
|---|---|---|
| Important dates published | By Easter 2027 | CSSE Information Guide for 2027 Entry |
| Registration opens | May 2027 | 12 May 2026 |
| Registration closes (absolute deadline) | Not yet published | 19 June 2026 |
| Special adjustment (access arrangement) requests due | Not yet published | 26 June 2026 |
| Test centre letters arrive | Not yet published | By 15 July 2026 |
| The 11+ test (main day) | September 2027, date not yet published | Saturday 19 September 2026 |
| Second sitting (religious, medical or exceptional reasons only) | Not yet published | Tuesday 29 September 2026 |
| Results emailed | Not yet published | 12 October 2026 |
| Local authority application form closes | Not yet published | 31 October 2026 |
| National Offer Day | 1 March 2028 | 1 March 2027 |
National Offer Day is 1 March each year (the next working day if it falls at a weekend). The other 2028 entry dates are not announced; don’t plan around last year’s.
How CSSE registration and applications work
- Register for the test with CSSE in the May–June window, online or on the paper form. One registration covers all ten schools, so your child sits one test even if you want several of them. Use your child’s name exactly as it will appear on the local authority form, and their date of birth as on the birth certificate or passport.
- Choose a test centre. Your child normally sits the test at the CSSE school you nominate. If it is full, CSSE allocates another, and if every centre is full, the Tuesday sitting. CSSE’s advice is to register early.
- Ask for access arrangements by the deadline if your child has a medical condition or needs adjustments, with the form and evidence CSSE asks for.
- Apply through your local authority. After the results arrive in October, name every CSSE school you want, in your true order of preference, on your home local authority’s common application form. That form is the only way to apply. St Bernard’s and St Thomas More also ask for their own supplementary information form.
- Wait for offer day. Your local authority makes one offer on 1 March: the highest school on your list whose admissions criteria your child meets.
The ten CSSE schools
| School | Town | Type | Year 7 places (2027) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colchester County High School for Girls | Colchester | Girls’ grammar | 192 |
| Colchester Royal Grammar School | Colchester | Boys’ grammar | 128 |
| King Edward VI Grammar School | Chelmsford | Boys’ grammar | 150 |
| Southend High School for Boys | Southend-on-Sea | Boys’ grammar | 180 |
| Southend High School for Girls | Southend-on-Sea | Girls’ grammar | 224 |
| Westcliff High School for Boys | Westcliff-on-Sea | Boys’ grammar | 185 |
| Westcliff High School for Girls | Westcliff-on-Sea | Girls’ grammar | 192 |
| Shoeburyness High School | Shoeburyness | Mixed comprehensive with selective places | 28* |
| St Bernard’s High School | Westcliff-on-Sea | Girls’ Catholic school with selective places | 30* |
| St Thomas More High School | Westcliff-on-Sea | Boys’ Catholic school with selective places | 30* |
Places are each school’s published admission number for 2027 as printed in the CSSE Information Guide: 1,251 at the seven grammar schools plus 88 at the three partially selective schools, 1,339 in all. A grammar school’s number is its whole Year 7 intake, not only the places filled by test score. * The three partially selective schools fill only some of their Year 7 places by the test; this is the number CSSE prints for them, and their own admissions policies give the full intake, the selective places and any catchment rule. Every school sets its own priority area and admissions policy.
What the CSSE 11+ looks like
- • Two papers: English (60 minutes plus 10 minutes’ reading time) and maths (60 minutes). Each is worth 50% of the final score.
- • Level: CSSE says both are based on Key Stage 2 of the National Curriculum, and there is no separate reasoning paper. In practice the maths paper reaches past Key Stage 2 (decimal × decimal, fraction ÷ fraction, equations with the unknown on both sides, three-unknown puzzles), and because the test is in September of Year 6, topics like algebra, ratio and the mean have often not been taught at school yet.
- • The maths paper: 60 marks across 20 or 21 numbered questions on 12 pages, most with several parts that start easy and end with a harder step. Page 1 is always short calculations and fractions. Children write almost every answer in a box; a few parts each year are true/false, “always, sometimes or never true”, or a choice of lettered options, worth about 4 to 6 marks a paper.
- • Marking: CSSE’s published maths mark schemes give one mark for each correct answer. Working earns nothing on its own, so a right method with a slip, a wrong unit or an answer not in the form asked (say, not to one decimal place) scores zero for that part. Some answers need two or three boxes right for one mark, and a later part can still score from the child’s own earlier answer, so every box is worth filling in.
- • Bring: a pen, pencil, ruler and eraser. No calculators of any kind, no smartwatches, no highlighters or dictionaries.
- • Difficulty: the average maths raw score in September 2026 was 25.8 out of 60, so most children leave plenty of marks on the paper.
How the score decides a place
Standardised, then added. CSSE converts each raw score so that average marks give 100 per paper, adds a small age adjustment for each day a child is younger than the oldest in the year, adds the two papers and multiplies by 1.5. Average marks on both papers give 300 before the age adjustment.
303 is the minimum. No CSSE school makes an offer below a total of 303. Above it, places go by score and by each school’s priority area: on 1 March 2026 the last place offered ranged from 303 at the two Southend girls’ grammars (inside their priority areas) to 370 at King Edward VI Grammar School (outside its priority area).
Every school’s cut-off score, the formula and a worked example →
CSSE results
- By email in mid-October (12 October in 2026), after close of business. The email gives the raw score for each paper and the total standardised score.
- CSSE publishes two documents around results day: the standardisation formula with that year’s means, and a historical guidance sheet of last year’s cut-offs, both on its Freedom of Information page.
- No re-marks. The CSSE schools do not re-mark papers or adjust scores for circumstances; those go to an independent appeal panel after offer day.
Free CSSE papers and a plan for Year 5
Official papers. CSSE posts the real maths and English papers with mark schemes for 2021, 2022 and 2023 entry free on its practice material page, and sells printed packs of the 2024, 2025 and 2026 entry papers at £19 each (UK postage included). The papers are CSSE’s copyright, so download them from CSSE. Our CSSE maths past papers guide explains how to use them.
Free practice set. Before the real papers, try our 10 free Essex 11+ maths practice questions: original questions in the CSSE style, 22 marks in about 20 minutes, with every answer explained, also as a printable PDF.
A calm timeline for today’s Year 5:
- Now to Easter: secure the Key Stage 2 basics, a little and often. On the free papers, sequences, formulae and function machines plus algebra make up about a quarter of the marks; fractions, percentages, the mean, ratio and units come up every year, and a four-part decimals block in most years. See the 11+ maths syllabus.
- Easter to the summer holidays: topic practice with harder word problems (ratio, percentages, algebra), and register in May.
- Summer to the test: one timed official paper every week or two, marked strictly answer-only, then a look at every lost mark: was it the method, the arithmetic or the form of the answer?
CSSE’s own advice is that children only need a limited amount of practice to get used to the question types and timing.
11+ maths questions
Original questions with step-by-step explanations.
Hard 11+ maths questions
Multi-step problems for the end of a paper.
Pass mark and cut-offs
303, every school’s last place offered, and the formula.
Sitting other 11+ exams too?
- Independent school 11+ dates: which schools set a written maths paper, and when.
- The ISEB Pre-Test maths section, the online first stage at many independent schools.
- Sutton SET stage 2 maths and FSCE 11+ maths, two other grammar school tests with written answers.
CSSE 11+ 2027 FAQ
When is the CSSE 11+ in 2027? +
The test for September 2028 entry will be in September 2027, but CSSE has not published the exact date yet. It says the important dates will be published by Easter 2027. For comparison, the test for 2027 entry was on Saturday 19 September 2026, with a Tuesday sitting on 29 September for religious, medical or exceptional reasons.
When does CSSE registration open for 2028 entry? +
CSSE says registration for 2028 entry will open in May 2027. Last year it ran from 12 May to 19 June 2026, and the closing date was absolute: no late entries. Register online at csse.org.uk as early as you can, because test centres fill up.
Who can sit the CSSE 11+ in September 2027? +
Children in Year 6 at the time of the test, for entry to Year 7 the following September. For 2027 entry that meant children born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016, so if the rule stays the same, 2028 entry is for children born between 1 September 2016 and 31 August 2017. Today’s Year 5 children are the ones sitting it.
Is registering for the CSSE 11+ the same as applying to the school? +
No. The CSSE registration only lets your child sit the test. To apply, you name the CSSE schools you want on your home local authority’s secondary school application form by its October deadline. A child who sits the test but whose school isn’t named on that form cannot be offered a place.
What is on the CSSE maths paper? +
One 60-minute paper with no calculator. CSSE says it is based on Key Stage 2 of the National Curriculum, but the free real papers regularly go further (decimal × decimal, two-step equations, three unknowns), and the test is sat in September of Year 6, before much of the Year 6 content is taught. It has 20 or 21 numbered questions, most split into parts, for 60 marks on 12 pages. Almost every answer is written in a box; each paper also has a few true/false, “always, sometimes or never true” or “choose A, B or C” parts, worth about 4 to 6 marks. The mark schemes give one mark for each correct answer and no marks for working.
How is the CSSE 11+ scored? +
Each paper is standardised so that average marks give 100, with a small age adjustment for younger children, and English and maths count equally. The sum is multiplied by 1.5, so average marks on both papers give a total of 300 before any age adjustment. No offer is made below 303; the last places offered on 1 March 2026 ranged from 303 to 370 depending on the school and the priority area.
Where can I get CSSE past papers? +
CSSE publishes the real maths and English papers and mark schemes for 2021, 2022 and 2023 entry free on its practice material page. It sells printed packs of the 2024, 2025 and 2026 entry papers for £19 each including UK postage, and the 2024 entry pack is free for families receiving free school meals by household income.
Math Explorers Club is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (CSSE) or any school named here. Dates and rules are taken from csse.org.uk; always check there and with each school before you rely on them.