Colchester Royal Grammar School
Boys grammar school in Colchester, with a mixed sixth form.
| Places in Year 7 | 128 |
| How places are allocated | By score |
| Own entrance test | No |
| Feesstate-funded, like every grammar school | None |
What score is needed?
These are the scores of the last place actually offered — not a pass mark. Everyone offered a place scored at least this much.
| Entry year | Category | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | All applicants | 343 |
The consortium makes no offer anywhere below 303. Anything above that in the table is the school being oversubscribed, not a higher pass mark.
These move every year and are published months after most families have to choose. Treat them as a guide to how competitive a school is, not a target.
How hard is it to get a place?
In 2026, 280 families put Colchester Royal Grammar School first, and 63 of them were offered a place there (23%).
That includes children who did not reach the qualifying score, so it reflects the test and the allocation together, not the allocation alone.
| Year | Places offered | Put it first | Offered a placeof those |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 125 | 226 | 7433% |
| 2025 | 124 | 274 | 5821% |
| 2026 | 128 | 280 | 6323% |
44% of the places offered in 2026 went to families living outside its local council area.
Source: Department for Education, applications and offers. Figures are for National Offer Day in March; places filled later from waiting lists are not included.
How you get a place
Places are ranked by test score. Living nearby does not help - distance is only used to break ties between equal scores. The score needed for an offer runs well above the county qualifying threshold.
- The only CSSE school with no priority area at all. Where you live is irrelevant - places are allocated in descending order of score nationally.
- Distance is used only to break ties between identical scores.
- Up to 12 places are reserved for looked-after and pupil premium boys scoring above 320.
Does it run its own test?
No. Entry is through the CSSE 11+ only. Its reputation for being hard to get into comes from ranking those scores, not from setting an additional paper.
Does it charge fees?
Colchester Royal Grammar School is a state grammar school, so there are no fees. Selective does not mean private. Admission is decided by the CSSE 11+ and the school’s published criteria, never by what a family can pay.
Work out where a score lands
The CSSE 11+ calculator turns marks into a standardised score you can compare against the figures above.
Other schools to look at
Same region, so the same test gets you into all of them. Which of these is a realistic alternative depends far more on how each one allocates places than on its reputation.
Source
Built from published admissions documents for 2027/28: admissions arrangements. Check the school’s own site before applying — arrangements change annually and deadlines are unforgiving.