Colchester County High School for Girls 11 Plus (11+) Exam Guide

About Colchester County High School for Girls

Colchester County High School for Girls (CCHSG) is a selective state grammar school with academy status for girls aged 11 to 18, based on Norman Way in Colchester, Essex. It is consistently one of the top-performing girls’ schools in the country and is heavily oversubscribed each year.

Entry to Year 7 is not through the school’s own exam but through the CSSE 11+, a bespoke test shared by the ten grammar schools in the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex. Your daughter registers once and sits the test once, and the result can be used for any CSSE school you name on the secondary application form.

CCHSG has 192 places each year (its Published Admission Number). Its own last published admissions policy sets a minimum standardised score of 320 for most routes into those places, notably higher than the CSSE-wide floor of 303, so a strong score is what really counts for a place at this particular school.

Key information for 2027: Colchester County High School for Girls at 11 Plus (11+)

• School type: State grammar school (girls), academy status
• Consortium: Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (CSSE)
• Registration deadline: 5pm, June 2026
• Exam date: September 2026
• CAF deadline: 31 October 2026
• National school offer day: March 2027
• Contact details: www.cchsg.com/admissions, www.csse.org.uk/examination

Admissions information for 2027 entry: Colchester County High School for Girls at 11 Plus (11+)

Registration for Year 7 entry into Colchester County High School for Girls opens in May and closes at 5pm in June 2026, through the CSSE’s own registration portal at csse.org.uk. The test is sat in September, with a contingency date later that month for religious, medical or exceptional circumstances, and results are emailed in October.

You must also submit your Common Application Form (CAF) to your local home authority by 31 October 2026, naming CCHSG if you wish your daughter to be considered; the order in which you list schools is treated as your order of preference.

CCHSG has 192 places (its Published Admission Number). The CSSE-wide minimum standardised score is 303, but CCHSG’s own last published admissions policy sets a higher bar of 320 for most of its oversubscription categories, and the school’s priority area is 25 miles from the school in a straight line: 154 of the 192 places go to the highest-scoring girls living within that area, with the remaining 38 going to the highest scorers regardless of address. Ties for the last place are broken first by pupil premium eligibility, then by straight-line distance to the school. A new admissions policy for 2027-2027 entry was in consultation at the time of writing, so always check the current published policy on the school’s own admissions page before applying.

National school offer day is in March 2027.

How can I register my child for the 11 Plus (11+) exam at Colchester County High School for Girls?

To register your daughter for the entrance exam, you as her parent or legal guardian must complete the online registration form through the CSSE’s own registration portal at csse.org.uk, before the June 2026 deadline.

Registering for the CSSE test does not commit you to CCHSG. You still choose which schools to name, and in what order, on your Common Application Form by the 31 October 2026 deadline.

What is the 11 Plus (11+) entrance exam format for Colchester County High School for Girls?

CCHSG does not set its own entrance exam. Like every Essex grammar school, it selects through the shared CSSE 11+, written by the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex on the school’s behalf. It is not a GL Assessment test, and it is not multiple choice: your daughter writes her answers in booklets across two papers, sat on the same day.

• English (60 minutes, plus 10 minutes reading time): comprehension, grammar and vocabulary, creative and extended writing, plus applied literacy and verbal reasoning within the paper.
• Maths (60 minutes): questions consistent with the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum, plus applied mathematical and non-verbal reasoning.

Each paper is worth 50 per cent of the total. The marks are aggregated and standardised for every candidate, then used to build a single rank order of merit across all CSSE applicants. There is no standalone verbal or non-verbal reasoning paper, as those skills are tested within the English and maths papers.

How to prepare your child for the 11 Plus (11+) Colchester County High School for Girls exam

The most useful way to prepare for CCHSG’s 11+ entrance exam is to use full, timed CSSE-style practice papers so your daughter is familiar with the exam content and format, including the genuine writing task in the English paper, which is where many strong candidates lose marks.

Regular practice through the summer, working up to full papers under timed conditions and marking them together, can help your daughter build confidence, sharpen her accuracy and improve her pace on the day.

For Colchester County High School for Girls (CSSE) 11+ preparation, we recommend the following packs: