Colchester Royal Grammar School 11+ guide

Atom Learning is partnered with Colchester Royal Grammar School. You can read more about our partnership here.

Thinking about applying to Colchester Royal Grammar School? Find out everything you need to know about admissions and how to prepare your child for success in the 11 plus.

Key information about Colchester Royal Grammar School

• Address: Colchester Royal Grammar School, Lexden Road, Colchester, Essex CO3 3ND
• Number of pupils: approx. 1,000
• Admissions contact: [email protected]
• Number of places in Year 7: 128
• 11+ exam: CSSE 11+
• Catchment area: no

Dates for your diary

• Tuesday 13th May 2025: registration opens for the CSSE 11 plus
• Friday 27th June 2025: registration closes for the CSSE 11 plus, and deadline for requests for special adjustments
• July 2025: parents receive test centre information by 16th July
• Saturday 20th September 2025: CSSE 11 plus exam
• Monday 13th October 2025: parents receive CSSE 11 plus results
• Friday 31st October 2025: secondary school applications close at 5pm
• Monday 2nd March 2026: secondary school national offers day

About Colchester Royal Grammar School

Colchester Royal Grammar School (CRGS) is a boys' grammar school in Colchester with a mixed sixth form. It was founded in 1206 and granted Royal Charters by both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The Sunday Times has named the school 'East Anglia State School of the Decade'.

CRGS is known for its impressive facilities, extracurricular programmes, and excellent exam results. Unusually for a state school, sixth form students have the option to board at the school. This provides young adults with a transitional period of independence before going on to higher education or work.

How to apply to Colchester Royal Grammar School

Colchester Royal Grammar School is a selective school. This means that your child will need to take the 11 plus exam to be eligible for a place.

CRGS is a member of the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (CSSE). All 10 grammar schools in the CSSE use the same 11 plus exam. This means that your child will only need to take the exam once – even if they’re applying to other schools in the consortium.

The deadline to register for the CSSE 11 plus exam is 27th June 2025. The exam will take place on Saturday 20th September 2025 and you’ll receive your child’s results in mid-October. You can then use these results to decide whether to apply for a place at Colchester Royal Grammar School.

To apply, you’ll need to name the school as one of your preferred schools on the secondary school common application form. This will be available on your home council website from early September and must be submitted by 31st October.

Remember – passing the 11 plus doesn’t guarantee that your child will be allocated a place at your preferred school. Many grammar schools are often oversubscribed with qualified children. Schools and their admissions authorities work through admissions criteria to prioritise children for places. We’ve included the admissions criteria for Colchester Royal Grammar School below.

What subjects are on the entrance exam?

The CSSE 11 plus exam consists of two papers. Each paper lasts around one hour.

1. English: this consists of reading comprehension and creative writing
2. Maths: questions are based on the Key Stage 2 maths curriculum

How does place allocation work at Colchester Royal Grammar School?

Each of the two CSSE papers are worth up to 60 marks (120 in total). Your child’s final marks will be standardised and weighted.

Each school in the CSSE sets its own qualifying score, and this varies from year to year. In 2023, a total standardised score of 340 was the lowest score for which boys were offered a place at Colchester Royal Grammar School.

The school operates the following admissions priorities, in order, to rank pupils for places:

• Admissions Priority 1: up to 12 places are offered to boys who have named CRGS as their preferred school, who qualify under the coordinated admissions arrangements, who achieve a score of 320 or greater in the selection tests, and who are either a Looked After Child, a previously Looked After Child, or are in receipt of the Pupil Premium.
• Admissions Priority 2: the remaining places are then offered in descending rank order of marks to the boys who have scored highest in the CSSE 11 plus, have named CRGS as their preferred school, and who qualify for a place.

If there are children with an equal ranking competing for the last available place in either of the two admissions priorities, then the school will give preference in this order:

• A ‘looked after’ or ‘previously looked after’ child
• A child in receipt of Pupil Premium
• The applicant living closest to the school, measured by a straight line

Atom’s top tips for 11 plus preparation

The 11 plus is designed to select the most academically able children in the country. Here are our top tips to help you and your child feel confident for exam day!

Bitesize learning

It’s important to build a good knowledge base before the 11 plus. Using a ‘little and often’ approach when learning is key – our brains encode new information more effectively when dealing with smaller ‘chunks’ of information. For children aged 10–11, child psychologists recommend regular study sessions of 20–30 minutes.

Atom Home makes learning a more enjoyable process for your child. They'll explore exciting worlds full of interactive questions, earning coins to spend in the Atom shop. Atom adapts to your child, showing them questions at just the right level of difficulty to keep them motivated.

Read widely

11 plus exams test your child’s ability to analyse and interpret written information. Regular reading is a great way to help your child build these skills.

Encourage them to read books from different genres and by a diverse range of authors. Increasing the variety of your child’s reading will help them understand different styles, tones and purposes. Meanwhile, reading a little every day will help widen their vocabulary, sharpen their analytical thinking, and enhance their imagination.

Refine exam technique

When your child feels confident with the topics they’ve learnt in Year 5, they’ll be ready to put their knowledge to the test.

Practice tests can help your child develop problem-solving skills and build confidence working under test conditions. They’re also a great way to consolidate learning and highlight knowledge gaps for further improvement.

With Atom Home, you'll unlock online mock tests and printable practice papers. Enjoy automatic marking and progress tracking with the online tests, and help your child get familiar with the real exam experience with printable practice papers.

Celebrate progress

Setting regular, achievable goals and celebrating your child’s progress – no matter how big or small – will help keep their motivation high.

Make sure to encourage a growth mindset. This means celebrating effort, as well as achievement! When your child makes mistakes or struggles to understand a particular topic, help them understand that they’ll improve through practice. Regular praise will help your child improve their resilience when tackling new and challenging topics.