11 Plus Maths Tuition Essex | CSSE and CCHS Tests, Online

In short

Essex has two selective tests. The CSSE test is used by Colchester Royal Grammar School, Colchester County High School for Girls and King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford, along with seven Southend schools: an English paper and a sixty-minute Mathematics paper, each worth half the marks, based on Key Stage 2, with no calculators and a minimum total standardised score of 303. For 2027 entry it was sat on Saturday 19 September 2026, and the CSSE says 2028-entry dates will be published by Easter 2027. Chelmsford County High School for Girls runs its own FSCE test, sat this cycle on Thursday 3 September 2026, drawing on Key Stage 2 subjects up to Year 5, which may include maths. We teach the maths for both, live online. The first lesson costs nothing; regular tuition is USD 100 monthly in a small group or USD 150 monthly one to one.

Starting points in Essex

Three courses for the Essex tests

Choose by whether your child's errors are about ideas or about how maths is written down.

ESSEX / 1

Essex 11 plus maths

Key Stage 2 to Year 5, with the notation and conventions that cost careless marks.

Open the syllabus →

ESSEX / 2

Squares, cubes and quick facts

Square numbers to 144 and small cubes known instantly, for a paper with no calculator.

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Elementary Maths for Grades 1-5 course thumbnail

ESSEX / 3

Groundwork, Years 1 to 5

For Year 4 children whose place value and tables are not yet secure.

Open the syllabus →

Two Essex tests

The CSSE test, and the CCHS test

Essex County Council's admissions page returned an error to our reader, so this page relies on the CSSE and on Chelmsford County High School for Girls. Both read on 26 September 2026.

The two Essex selective tests for September 2027 entry
	CSSE 11+	Chelmsford County High School for Girls
Schools	CRGS, CCHSG, KEGS in Essex; seven more in Southend	CCHS only
Provider	Set by the consortium	Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE)
Maths	A sixty-minute Mathematics paper, 50% of the total	Maths may be among the subjects tested
Registration	12 May to 19 June 2026	13 April to 3 June 2026
Test	Saturday 19 September 2026	Thursday 3 September 2026
After the test	Results emailed 12 October 2026	Qualifying standard set, then the Creativity paper judged

The CSSE describes its test as "two tests. One in English and one in Mathematics", with "The Mathematics paper" lasting sixty minutes. The papers are standardised and weighted, each worth 50% of the marks, and based on Key Stage 2. Calculators of any description are not permitted. Offers are not made to any child with a total standardised score under 303.

The three Essex CSSE schools are Colchester County High School for Girls, Colchester Royal Grammar School and King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford. The other seven CSSE schools are in Southend, and share the same test.

Chelmsford County High School for Girls describes itself as "a selective, non-denominational girls' school with Academy Status" and has adopted the FSCE test. FSCE says its content comes from Key Stage 2 subjects "up to and including the Year 5 programme of study", that subjects "may include" mathematics among several others, and that maths is tested through written and mental methods, with no calculators.

The school's arrangements say papers other than Creativity are marked and age-standardised, a qualifying standard is agreed, and then Creativity is judged by trained staff. Places after that are for each school to explain, and we leave them to their own documents.

Sources: CSSE, home page, 11+ Information Guide, Selective Test 2027 Entry, and "Preparing for the 11+" (October 2016); Chelmsford County High School for Girls, Admission to Year 7 September 2027, its admissions arrangements and FSCE guide. Essex County Council's admissions page returned HTTP 403. Modern Age Coders has no connection with the CSSE, FSCE, the council or any Essex school.

What the heads look for

A headteachers' list, and what it says about maths

The CSSE's "Preparing for the 11+" note dates from October 2016, but it is still linked from the consortium's examination page, and its description of what the schools value has not been withdrawn.

The two maths items

Among the qualities the CSSE headteachers list are "understanding of all concepts taught at primary school", "ability to work at pace and assimilate information quickly", "appreciation of numerical conventions" and "ability to apply mathematical concepts".

The last is familiar: using what you know in a new setting. The third is less often discussed. Numerical conventions are the shared rules for writing and reading maths, and "appreciation" suggests understanding why they exist, not just obeying them.

What they say about coaching

The same note says a few hours spent getting familiar with "the style of responses required in the papers" is advisable, and "can be done at home, using materials and papers available on the CSSE website". It adds that "Headteachers share a concern that extensive coaching for the 11+ is inappropriate, ultimately counterproductive".

We take that seriously. What we offer is not coaching to a paper but teaching of the primary curriculum, with the conventions properly understood. A child who understands the maths will cope with any paper; a child drilled on papers will not necessarily cope with secondary school.

The note also contains score guidance and statistics from 2016. We do not repeat them: they are ten years old, the CSSE sets cut-offs from each year's results, and quoting old numbers as if they were targets would mislead.

The lesson

Numerical conventions in Year 5: squares, cubes and units

The Year 5 curriculum asks children to "recognise and use square numbers and cube numbers, and the notation for squared (²) and cubed (³)". Around that sit other conventions worth securing.

Conventions Year 5 children meet, with questions of our own
Convention	Our question	Answer and the point
Squared	What is 3²? Is it 6 or 9?	9: 3 × 3, not 3 × 2
Cubed	What is 2³?	8: 2 × 2 × 2. Writing 6 means reading ³ as × 3
Square numbers	Which of 36, 48 and 64 are square numbers?	36 and 64: 6² and 8²
Area units	A square has sides of 5 cm. Is its area 20 cm, 25 cm or 25 cm²?	25 cm²: area is always in square units
Volume units	A cube has edges of 4 cm. What is its volume?	64 cm³, the cube of 4, in cubic units
Place-value commas	Write four hundred and five thousand and ninety in digits.	405,090: commas group digits in threes

Most of these look trivial to an adult. For a ten-year-old under time pressure they are exactly where marks go. The classic slip is reading 3² as 3 × 2. Another is writing an area in cm, or a volume in cm². The number is right and the answer is wrong, because the convention was missed.

Understanding why helps it stick. 5 cm × 5 cm is 25 square centimetres because the answer counts squares with 1 cm sides. A cube of 4 cm has 4 × 4 × 4 small cubes inside it, which is why cubic centimetres and cube numbers share a name.

Squares and cubes also link to the rest of Year 5. Square numbers have an odd number of factors; cube numbers turn up when counting cubes in a solid; both appear in the curriculum's own examples of equivalence, such as 4 × 35 = 2 × 2 × 35.

We teach conventions a little every week rather than in one lesson. Each set of practice questions includes one or two where the notation or the unit matters, so the habit of reading symbols carefully becomes automatic.

Source: national curriculum in England, mathematics, Year 5 multiplication and division, and measurement (statutory requirements and guidance). The questions are written by Modern Age Coders.

Our approach

Teaching, not coaching

Given what the CSSE heads have written, here is exactly what we do and do not do for Essex families.

We teach the curriculum

Key Stage 2 maths to Year 5, every strand, until it is secure. Conventions and notation are part of every lesson, not an afterthought.

We keep format brief

A few timed practice sessions late on, to get used to an hour-long paper. The CSSE's free papers are the right place to see the real format.

We never copy papers

Our questions are our own. We do not reproduce CSSE or FSCE material, and FSCE says its question types change each year anyway.

For the CSSE test, maths is a whole paper of sixty minutes and half the total, so breadth and stamina matter. For the CCHS test, maths may be one subject among several, and the content is again Year 5 and earlier. The same teaching serves both.

We do not teach English, creative writing or the other subjects FSCE may include. Families should plan for those separately.

FSCE's guide says the types of questions, subjects, content and format change from year to year, so that no tutor or company can claim to know the test. We agree, and we do not claim to.

We give no advice on the choice between schools, priority areas, or places. The schools and the council publish those rules.

Colchester, Chelmsford and beyond

Four Essex schools, two tests, one online lesson

The CSSE names its Essex schools, and CCHS runs its own test. We list them only to show what this page covers.

Essex selective schools covered by this page
School	Test used
Colchester Royal Grammar School	CSSE 11+
Colchester County High School for Girls	CSSE 11+
King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford	CSSE 11+
Chelmsford County High School for Girls	Its own FSCE test

Southend's seven CSSE schools use the same test as the three here; our Southend 11 plus page covers them.

For coding in the county towns, see our pages for Colchester and Chelmsford.

Lessons are live on video, in groups of five to ten matched by level, so a child in Witham, Braintree or Maldon is taught exactly as a child in Colchester or Chelmsford.

We have no connection with the CSSE, FSCE, Essex County Council or any of these schools.

Towards September 2027

Four stages for an Essex test

For a child now in Year 5, both tests should fall in September 2027; the CSSE and CCHS will publish exact dates.

Understanding first, then speed, then stamina
When	Stage	You will notice
Autumn, Year 5	1. Number and notation	Squares, cubes and large numbers written and read correctly
Winter, Year 5	2. Operations and fractions	No-calculator methods fast and accurate
Spring and summer, Year 5	3. Measures and shape	Units always right: cm, cm², cm³
Summer holiday	4. An hour of maths	A full paper finished with care to the end

Starting later

A late start still helps if the order holds: understanding before speed.

We will say honestly at the free lesson what the time allows.

After the tests

Notation is the language of secondary maths. Many children continue with maths through coding, where symbols must be exactly right for a program to run.

Some go on to the challenges on our competitions calendar.

Our courses

Maths and coding for Essex families

Grouped by stage, each linked to its syllabus.

I

For the Essex tests

Years 3 to 5

EXM / A

11 plus maths for Essex

Key Stage 2 to Year 5, conventions included.

Open the syllabus

EXM / B

Quick-recall mental maths

Squares, cubes and tables on demand.

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EXM / C

Foundations of primary maths

Earlier years, made secure.

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EXM / D

Abacus calculation

Number sense for younger children.

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II

Secondary

Year 6 on

EXM / E

Years 6 to 8 maths

Indices, algebra and geometry.

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EXM / F

GCSE mathematics

Foundation and higher, all boards.

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EXM / G

Maths olympiad preparation

Non-routine problems for keen minds.

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III

Coding

Precise notation in code

EXM / H

Maths through coding

Exponents and units in Python.

Open the syllabus

EXM / I

Scratch programming

Logic for younger coders.

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EXM / J

Python with AI, for children

The first typed language.

Open the syllabus

IV

Beyond

Teenagers

EXM / K

Vedic speed maths

Shortcuts for fluent calculators.

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EXM / L

AI and ML for teenagers

Mathematics behind modern tools.

Open the syllabus

Timing

Scheduled around an Essex school day

We teach live from India. Primary lessons sit in the early evening or on weekend mornings by UK time, and our teachers move their hours when the UK clocks change.

Early weekday evenings

Soon after the school day.

Weekend mornings

When children are freshest.

School holidays

Short, extra sessions.

One teacher all year

Who knows your child's habits by the second week.

Honest reporting

A few frank lines after lessons.

Five to ten children

Grouped by level.

Original material

No CSSE or FSCE content copied.

Private lessons

When one child needs focused help.

Maths only

No English or creativity coaching; no admissions advice.

Student work

Where our students take their maths

Four projects built by students at our school, grounded in the primary maths they once learned. More on the student labs page.

AI and ML

NutriLife

An AI nutrition coach that reads what you eat and works you toward a target.

by Bhavya · Open it

AI and ML

Misti

A chatbot that answers mathematics and programming questions, built and deployed by a student.

by Harshit · Open it

AI and ML

GuardianX

An assistant that helps a young person recognise unsafe situations online.

by Vivaan · Open it

Web app

SkyCast

A weather forecasting site with live conditions for any location.

by Krish

Fees

One US dollar rate per month for every family outside India. Nothing to join, cancel whenever you like.

Free first class

USD 0

no card required

A taught lesson
An honest verdict
No card needed

Book it

Group batch

USD 100

a month, billed in US dollars

Five to ten children at one level
A regular teacher
Work reviewed with the child
A certificate at the end

Start here

One to one

USD 150

a month, billed in US dollars

A teacher for one child
Aimed at weak spots
Flexible timing

Enquire

What families say

Rated 4.9 across 547 Google reviews

What parents wrote on Google, reproduced exactly.

★★★★★

"The one step solution for my son. Modern Age Coders make learning coding so simple that kids love it. The teachers explain complex concepts clearly with practical exercises and interactive content."

Ria Mukherjee

Parent

★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders has been a game-changer for me. I struggled to grasp IT concepts and coding before joining, but their classes transformed everything. I can now confidently write complex programs with ease."

Samriddha Mondal

Student

★★★★★

"One of the most wonderful education centres out there. Education is not limited to school syllabus but focuses on skill development."

Vansh Agarwal

Student

★★★★★

"My child Dhairya is really enjoying the Modern Age Coders classes. This is his first online class and he eagerly looks forward to it. I can already see his improvement, and the teachers are very cooperative."

Sonam Oswal

Parent of Dhairya

★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders have wonderful teachers who teach in a clear, easy and practical way. The teacher boosts students' confidence and inspires them to learn without hesitation."

Sonu Goyal

Parent

★★★★★

"I highly recommend this computer coding class! The teachers are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about coding."

Ritu Kedia

Parent

Essex questions

What Essex families ask us

Which Essex schools use the CSSE 11+?

Colchester Royal Grammar School, Colchester County High School for Girls and King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford, together with seven schools in Southend.

What is the CSSE maths paper?

A sixty-minute Mathematics paper, worth half the total, based on Key Stage 2 of the National Curriculum, with no calculators allowed, according to the CSSE.

Does Chelmsford County High School for Girls use the CSSE test?

No. It has its own entrance test from Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE). For 2027 entry it was sat on Thursday 3 September 2026.

Is there maths in the CCHS test?

FSCE says the subjects tested may include mathematics among others, drawn from Key Stage 2 up to the Year 5 programme of study, with written and mental calculation and no calculators.

What does "appreciation of numerical conventions" mean?

It is one of the qualities the CSSE headteachers list in their "Preparing for the 11+" note. In Year 5 maths it covers things like squared and cubed notation, units of area and volume, and how large numbers are written.

Do the CSSE heads recommend tutoring?

Their note says a few hours of familiarisation at home is advisable and that extensive coaching is inappropriate and ultimately counterproductive. We teach the maths curriculum rather than coach to a paper.

When are the tests for September 2028 entry?

The CSSE says dates will be published by Easter 2027. CCHS publishes its own. For 2027 entry, the CSSE test was on 19 September 2026.

Do you teach English or creative writing?

No. We teach maths only, and we do not advise on applications or places.

Do you use CSSE papers?

No. The CSSE offers its own free familiarisation papers; we write our own questions.

How much do lessons cost?

The first lesson is free. After that it is USD 100 a month in a group or USD 150 a month one to one.

The Southend CSSE schools, coding in Essex towns, and our national page.

11 plus maths in Southend

The seven Southend schools using the CSSE test.

Coding classes in Colchester

Programming for Colchester children.

Coding classes in Chelmsford

Programming for Chelmsford children.