Southend-on-Sea, Essex · Southend-on-Sea

Southend High School for Girls

By CSSE's own comparison data, the least score-selective of the consortium's grammar schools — its cutoffs sit at or near the floor on both sides of its catchment.

Southend High Girls shares the CSSE consortium's test. Its own published historical cutoffs make it a useful counterpoint to some of its higher-profile CSSE neighbours: its in-priority-area score has sat at essentially the CSSE-wide floor of 303 in each of the last two published cycles, and its out-of-area cutoff (321-327) is the lowest, or joint-lowest, of any CSSE grammar school with a two-tier score — well below Colchester Royal Grammar, Colchester County High for Girls, or Westcliff High School for Girls' equivalent figures.

Key facts

Gender: girls
Age range: 11-18
Region: East of England
Local authority: Southend-on-Sea
Established: 1913
DfE URN: 136444
Website: https://www.shsg.org/

Admissions

Admissions authority: The school sets its own test and criteria
Entrance test board: The Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (CSSE). CSSE's own current materials describe the group as nine schools rather than ten in places — separate from the confirmed departure of Chelmsford County High School for Girls, there's also some evidence St Bernard's High School for Girls may no longer share the test, though this doesn't affect this school's own data.sources conflict
CSSE materials variously describe nine or ten member schools depending on the document and date — reflecting at least one genuine recent membership change (Chelmsford County High School for Girls) and possibly another (St Bernard's High School for Girls), neither of which affects this school's own figures.
Test format: Two papers: English (60 minutes plus 10 minutes' extra reading time) and Mathematics (60 minutes), both KS2-curriculum-based with no verbal or non-verbal reasoning, each weighted 50% and age-standardised.
Qualifying / pass mark: No fixed pass mark beyond the CSSE-wide floor of 303. The Published Admission Number is 224. Historical last-place-offered scores, per CSSE's own published data: September 2025 entry — 303 in the priority area, 321 outside; September 2024 entry — 304 inside, 327 outside. The September 2026 figures hadn't been published as a per-school breakdown at the time of this research.verify with school
The September 2026 entry per-school cutoff hadn't been published as a narrative breakdown at the time of this research — only raw score data existed, from which a per-school figure can't safely be derived.
Superselective?: No

Catchment & priority criteria

A priority area covering postcode districts SS0 through SS9, spanning Southend-on-Sea and parts of neighbouring Rochford and Castle Point. Up to 179 of the admission number go to priority-area residents who pass the test; a minimum of 45 places are reserved for applicants from outside it.

Looked-after and previously looked-after children who passed the test
In-area applicants who passed: up to 18 places first to Free School Meals/Pupil Premium-eligible applicants, then remaining in-area places up to 179 total (combined with the category above)
Out-of-area applicants who passed: up to 5 places first to Free School Meals/Pupil Premium-eligible applicants
Remaining out-of-area applicants who passed, at least 45 places

Results

Year	Attainment 8	GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths	Progress 8	A*–A	A*–B
2025	75 (Southend-on-Sea average 52.2, England average 46.1)	98.9%	Not calculated by DfE — no KS2 baseline data for this cohort nationally	39% (12% grade A* only)	76%
A-level figures come from the school's own results page, not independently cross-checked against DfE, whose 16-18 page didn't resolve for this school during this research.
2024	75.8 (Southend-on-Sea average 51.3, England average 45.9)	100.0%	+0.74 ('well above average'). The preceding year, 2022/23, scored +0.49 ('above average').	~50%	—
A-level: the school describes 'half of all grades at A/A' rather than giving a precise percentage; no A-B figure was found for this year.

Ofsted

Rating: Outstanding
Date: 2 July 2024
Report: Read the full report

Sources

1. DfE Get Information About Schools — URN, status, gender, LA — https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/136444
2. School's own determined Admission Arrangements 2026-27 — https://passelevenplus.co.uk/app/uploads/2025/10/Southend-High-School-for-Girls-Admission-Arrangements-2026-27.pdf
3. CSSE historical guidance sheet — 2024 and 2025 entry last-place-offered scores — https://csse.org.uk/storage/2024/10/CSSE-Historical-Guidance-sheet-2025-Entry.pdf
4. CSSE historical guidance sheet — 2025 entry (published Oct 2025) — https://csse.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/FOR-PUBLICATION-HISTORICAL-GUIDANCE-SHEET-FOR-2026-ENTRY.pdf
5. Ofsted report, inspected 2 July 2024 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50256611
6. DfE Compare School Performance — 2025 GCSE results — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136444/southend-high-school-for-girls/secondary
7. DfE Compare School Performance — historic Progress 8 (2023, 2024) — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136444/southend-high-school-for-girls/secondary/progress-measures-for-2023-and-2024
8. School's own exam results page — https://www.shsg.org/exams-2/

Last updated 2026-08-30. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.