Chelmsford, Essex
11+ Tutoring in Chelmsford
Chelmsford is the only town in Essex where the boys' and girls' selective schools on your doorstep sit two different entrance exams. King Edward VI Grammar School is on Broomfield Road and Chelmsford County High School for Girls is a few minutes away — and everywhere else in the county with a pair like that, Westcliff and Southend included, both schools take the same CSSE paper. Here they do not. That makes Chelmsford look like the simplest place in the county to sit the 11+ and makes it the most misunderstood. The two schools do not share an entrance exam. KEGS is a member of the CSSE consortium and takes the shared CSSE paper in September. Chelmsford County High runs its own separate entrance test, on its own registration window, several weeks earlier in the same month. A Chelmsford family aiming at both is running two unrelated application processes with two different deadlines, and missing the earlier registration is the most common way a place is lost before a child has written a single answer. We prepare children for both papers and tell you plainly which of the two your child is actually placed to win.
Schools Chelmsford families apply to
King Edward VI Grammar School (KEGS)
CSSE consortium test, sat in September of Year 6
Admission number 150 for 2027. Of those, 120 places are reserved for boys living inside a 12.5-mile straight-line priority area; the other 30 go on score alone, wherever the applicant lives.
Chelmsford County High School for Girls
The school's own FSCE entrance test — a separate exam from the CSSE paper, with its own earlier registration window
Admission number 180 for 2027, using the same 12.5-mile priority-area structure: 144 priority-area places and 36 decided by score alone.
Key dates for September 2027 entry
CSSE route (KEGS): registration 12 May to 19 June 2026, test Saturday 19 September 2026. CCHS route: registration 13 April to 3 June 2026, test Thursday 3 September 2026.
Dates and admission numbers change every year. Always confirm against the school’s own admissions page before you plan around them.
Both Chelmsford schools draw their priority area as a 12.5-mile straight line from the school gate, so most addresses in the town sit inside it and compete for the larger reserved block of places. The smaller remainder at each school — 30 at KEGS and 36 at Chelmsford County High — is offered purely on score to the strongest candidates from anywhere. If you live outside that line, those are the places you are competing for, and the score you need is materially higher.
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Questions Chelmsford parents ask
Do KEGS and Chelmsford County High use the same 11+ exam?
No, and this is the single most important thing for a Chelmsford family to get right. KEGS uses the shared CSSE consortium paper. Chelmsford County High School for Girls runs its own separate entrance test with its own registration window, which closes earlier. Registering for one does not register you for the other.
When is the 11+ test for September 2027 entry?
The CSSE test was sat on Saturday 19 September 2026, with a reserve date of Tuesday 29 September 2026 for illness or religious observance. Chelmsford County High held its own entrance test on Thursday 3 September 2026. Results for the CSSE test were emailed on 12 October 2026.
How many places are there at KEGS?
The published admission number for September 2027 entry is 150. 120 of those are reserved for boys who have lived continuously inside the 12.5-mile priority area, and the remaining 30 are offered in descending score order regardless of where the family lives.
Does living in Chelmsford guarantee a place?
No. Living inside the priority area puts your child in the larger pool, but the score still decides the outcome within that pool. Priority area affects which competition your child is in, not whether they qualify.
When do we have to name the school on the council form?
The school has to be named on the common application form submitted to your home local authority by 31 October 2026. Sitting the test is not an application. National Offer Day for September 2027 entry is 1 March 2027.