About the school
St Bernard's Girls High School, officially St Bernard's High School, is a Roman Catholic bilateral secondary school for girls aged 11 to 18, with a co-educational sixth form, located in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. The school is strongly grounded in Catholic values, with the motto "Love one another as I have loved you," and consistently achieves results within the country's top 20% of schools.
The school was founded in 1910 by a group of Bernardine Sisters and celebrated its centenary in 2010. The St Bernard's Girls High School address is Milton Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, SS0 7JS. It holds specialist status in science and the arts and became an academy in 2011.
As a bilateral school, St Bernard's Girls High School admits the majority of its pupils through non-selective criteria, with a smaller number of academically selective places. St Bernard's Girls High School admissions for those selective places use the St Bernard's Girls High School 11 plus exam, the CSSE 11 plus, so families seeking a selective place benefit from focused, well-targeted exam preparation.
School type
Girls' Catholic Bilateral (Partially Selective)
Exam date
Saturday 19 September 2026 (for September 2027 entry)
Exam board
CSSE 11 plus (Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex)
Address
Milton Rd, Westcliff-on-Sea, Southend-on-Sea, SS0 7JS
Age range
11–18 (Years 7–13)
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Admissions information
The St Bernard's Girls High School entrance test is the CSSE 11 plus, used for its selective places. Here is everything you need to know about St Bernard's Girls High School admissions and the exam structure.
St Bernard's Girls High School is a member of the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (CSSE), which sets a shared two-paper entrance test written by the consortium itself rather than by GL Assessment or CEM. A girl needs to sit the CSSE 11 plus only once to apply to any of the CSSE schools. Entry to the selective places is on the basis of academic ability, with faith and other criteria then applied.
The St Bernard's Girls High School 11 plus exam consists of two written papers, one in English and one in Mathematics, sat on the same day. The English paper lasts 60 minutes with 10 minutes of additional reading time and includes comprehension and continuous writing, and the Mathematics paper lasts 60 minutes and is based on the Key Stage 2 national curriculum. The papers are not multiple choice, are marked centrally and are age-standardised. For the September 2027 entry, the test takes place on Saturday 19 September 2026.
For St Bernard's Girls High School 11 plus registration, families must register their daughter for the CSSE 11 plus by completing a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) on the CSSE website; for 2027 entry, registration runs from May to June 2026. Families must also complete the school's own Supplementary Information Form for faith criteria, and submit their Local Authority Common Application Form (CAF), naming the school, by 31 October 2026.
Entrance test results are emailed to parents in mid-October, ahead of the 31 October application deadline, with allocations made on National Offer Day on 1 March 2027. There is no fixed pass mark; selective places are offered in rank order of test score, and meeting the required standard does not guarantee a place, as the school applies its admissions criteria where demand exceeds places.
Key admissions details
St Bernard's Girls High School has a Published Admission Number of 175 places for Year 7, of which up to 30 are selective places offered through the CSSE 11 plus, with the remainder allocated through non-selective criteria. The school is regularly oversubscribed, so a qualifying test score combined with the St Bernard's Girls High School admissions criteria determines who is offered a selective place.
The St Bernard's Girls High School catchment area, for selective places, is a priority area covering the SS0 to SS9 postcodes around Southend-on-Sea. Entry to a selective place is based first on the CSSE test score; where applicants tie, the school's faith-based oversubscription criteria are applied, beginning with Catholic looked-after children and Catholic girls at named feeder parishes, with siblings at St Bernard's or St Thomas More High School and then distance from the school used as tie-breakers.
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St Bernard's Girls High School, officially St Bernard's High School, was founded in 1910 by a group of Bernardine Sisters and celebrated its centenary in 2010. It became an academy in 2011 and today educates girls aged 11 to 18, with a co-educational sixth form.
St Bernard's Girls High School has a Published Admission Number of 175 places for Year 7, of which up to 30 are selective places offered through the CSSE 11 plus. Demand is high and the selective places are competitive, making thorough St Bernard's Girls High School exam preparation essential.
The St Bernard's Girls High School 11 plus is the CSSE test. It consists of two written, non-multiple-choice papers, one in English (60 minutes plus 10 minutes reading time) and one in Mathematics (60 minutes), marked centrally and age-standardised. For 2027 entry, the test is sat on Saturday, 19 September 2026.
The St Bernard's Girls High School catchment area for selective places covers the SS0 to SS9 postcodes around Southend-on-Sea. Selective places are only available to girls living within this priority area, with faith criteria and distance used in the admissions criteria, so location matters for these places.
For St Bernard's Girls High School 11 plus registration, families must complete a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) on the CSSE website, with registration running from May to June 2026. Families must also complete the school's own faith form and submit the Common Application Form, naming the school, by 31 October 2026.
Yes. St Bernard's Girls High School offers an extensive and inclusive extracurricular programme before, during and after school, with strengths in science and the arts, supporting girls to develop their talents within a caring Catholic community.
Yes, all our St Bernard's Girls High School 11 plus tuition is available both in-person at our Edgbaston, Birmingham centre and online via live video sessions. Online tuition gives families across Essex and beyond access to our expert tutors without the need to travel. The quality and personalisation of sessions is identical in both formats.
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