Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar Sixth Form Entry 2026

Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School is a co-educational academy grammar school in Sidcup, in the London Borough of Bexley, whose sixth form has a Published Admission Number of a minimum of 80 external places in Year 12. The entry-requirements sheet the school lists for 2027 applicants, headed September 2026 entry, sets seven full-course GCSEs at grades 9–5 including English and Mathematics at grade 5 or above, plus an average point score of at least 6.5. A Level Mathematics additionally requires grade 8 and a pass in the school's own aptitude test.

Those conditions are stated in more than one of the school's documents. They are spread across an admissions policy, an entry-requirements sheet, a subject booklet, two key-dates documents and an enrolment page — and the versions disagree with one another. The section below sets out where each figure comes from and which document governs.

Which CSGS Document Governs 16+ Entry?

Where documents differ, the A Level Mathematics threshold is the figure that matters most.

The Admissions Policy 2026–2027 published on the school's own site says "a minimum of a grade 8 at GCSE (9 for Further Maths)". A student who plans around a lower grade, sits their GCSEs and comes out with a 7 in Mathematics will find they are a grade short of the subject they applied for.

Which governs. The Admissions Policy 2026–2027 is the formal admissions document, and it is the one that sets out the right of appeal: it says parents will be informed of their statutory right of appeal to an independent School Appeal Panel. But it is also the thinnest of them: it never mentions the Mathematics Aptitude Test, it gives one blanket sentence for all three sciences, and it says nothing about Computer Science, Economics, Business, Music, Physical Education or Psychology. The Entry Requirements sheet and the Subject Information booklet carry the subject-level detail, and both are stricter on several subjects. The practical answer for any applicant is to meet the strictest published version of every condition, and to treat the policy as the floor rather than the specification.

How the Average Point Score of 6.5 Works, and Where It Bites

The school's general requirement, in the entry-requirements sheet headed September 2026 entry, is "7 full course GCSEs at grades 9 - 5 which must include English, Mathematics (English & Maths grade 5 or above) and an average point score (APS) of at least 6.5". Seven passes at grade 5 will not do. The APS is a separate gate applied on top of the grade range.

The documents above do not say how the average is calculated or across how many subjects. On the natural reading — that it is taken across the seven qualifying GCSEs — the arithmetic is worth doing before results day, because the answer is not intuitive.

An APS of 6.5 across seven subjects needs 6.5 multiplied by 7, which is 45.5 points. Since GCSE grades are whole numbers, the first total that clears the bar is 46. That produces a sharp boundary:

The row that matters is the third one. A candidate with three grade 7s and four grade 6s has met the grade range in full, has English and Mathematics comfortably above the grade 5 floor, and still fails the general requirement on an average that falls seven-hundredths of a point short. Under the school's own oversubscription rules that same average is then used again, this time as the ranking mechanism for external places. The APS is not a formality at the door; it is the number that decides the queue.

Because the school's documents do not name the subject set, a candidate whose eighth and ninth GCSEs are stronger than their seventh should ask the sixth form admissions team directly which subjects are counted before assuming the best seven apply. That question takes one email.

Other schools publish their own entry rules, so each school's own published policy is the one to read before comparing.

Who Gets Invited to the CSGS Mathematics Aptitude Test?

Sixth form entry here is not decided on GCSE grades alone. To take Mathematics or Further Mathematics at A or AS Level, a candidate must pass the CSGS Mathematics Aptitude Test, referred to throughout the school's subject booklet as the MAT. The test is not open to everyone who applies: the school's Maths test revision topics for September 2026 entry say "External applicants need to be predicted grade 8 or above for GCSE Maths to be invited to sit the CSGS aptitude test." On that wording a predicted grade 7 does not produce an invitation.

For September 2027 entry the test is on 8 and 9 March 2027 for external applicants (invitees only; the school notes the test "will not be made available to late applicants"), and on 8 March 2027 for the school's own Year 11 students. For September 2026 entry it ran on 9 and 10 March 2026 for external applicants. Drama and Music auditions for September 2027 entry are on 12 March 2027. The same 2026 document says eligible applicants "will need 'book in' their test through their online application".

The conditions are unusually bare. The school's revision list for the September 2026 test states plainly that "There will be no formulae provided" and "You will not need a calculator", and asks candidates to bring a pencil or pen, a ruler and an eraser. That list covers algebraic fractions, algebraic proof, changing the subject of a formula, completing the square, direct and inverse proportion, equations of circles, expanding and factorising, functions, laws of indices including fractional and negative indices, quadratic graphs, simultaneous equations, solving equations and inequalities, straight line graphs, surds, transformation of graphs, trigonometric values and graphs, and trigonometry of both right-angled and non-right-angled triangles.

Two details in that list change how a candidate should prepare. Non-calculator trigonometry of non-right-angled triangles means the sine and cosine rules from memory, with exact values rather than decimals. Equations of circles and transformation of graphs are both on the school's list, so a candidate should check with their own school that both have been covered before the March 2027 test.

Three further conditions are set out in the subject booklet. The MAT "is for invitees only and can only be sat once" — there is no resit, so the single sitting is the one to prepare for. Further Mathematics requires grade 9 at GCSE and "a higher-level pass" in the test. And where A Level Mathematics is heavily oversubscribed, "priority will be given to applicants with an APS of 7 and above", which brings the average point score back into play a second time.

There is one documented way in without the test, and the school states it on its enrolment page: a candidate who has "not sat or not passed our Maths Aptitude Test (MAT)" will "require grade 9 in GCSE Mathematics to be considered", with "Priority will be given to applicants that passed the MAT". The subject booklet frames the same allowance more tightly, as something granted "in exceptional circumstances". Either way it is a worse position than a MAT pass, not an equivalent one. Sitting the test is the stronger route, and preparing for it is closer to A Level Mathematics groundwork than to GCSE revision.

Auditions, Portfolios and the Subject Rules the Admissions Policy Leaves Out

Mathematics is not the only subject with a non-grade hurdle. Drama and Music are auditioned, and both Art and Design and Technology carry a portfolio clause.

For Drama, candidates prepare a monologue: "The monologue should be no more than two minutes in length and come from a professionally published play of your choice", performed to the Curriculum Leader as part of the admissions process. For Music, the performance "should last between 2 and 5 minutes" on a first instrument or voice, an accompanist can be provided if sheet music is supplied at least two weeks beforehand, and the ability to read notation in both treble and bass clef must be demonstrated at the audition itself. Auditions are by invitation, issued by email. For Art the school "reserve the right to request an electronic portfolio showcasing artistic ability", and Design and Technology carries the same reservation for a design-based portfolio.

The subject floors themselves are where the documents diverge most sharply. The admissions policy handles all three sciences in a single sentence: "Science requires grade 7 in separate Sciences (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) or two Grade 8s or above in Combined Science Trilogy." The entry-requirements sheet does not agree. Physics there carries an additional condition the policy omits entirely — "and grade 7 or above in GCSE Mathematics" — and the subject booklet adds that Physics candidates are strongly recommended to take A Level Mathematics alongside it. A student reading only the statutory policy would not know that Physics has a Mathematics gate.

Two rules apply across the whole list. Where a subject is oversubscribed, "preference will be given to those students who have achieved a grade 7 or higher" — and for Biology, Chemistry and Computer Science the booklet raises that preference to grade 8. And Business and Economics are mutually exclusive: "Students may opt to take either Business or Economics, but may not select both subjects." That restriction is stated only in the subject booklet.

Why Your Postcode Barely Counts at 16, and How Many External Places Exist

The admissions policy states that "The Published Admission Number (PAN) for Year 12 is a minimum of 80 external places." The wording is worth reading twice. Chislehurst and Sidcup words it as a minimum rather than a fixed number, so 80 is the least number of external places and not a stated cap. The prospectus says the school welcomes "over 70 students from other schools each year", joining a sixth form it describes as a community "made up of approximately 500 pupils".

What decides who gets those places is a much shorter list than the one used at 11. The 16+ oversubscription criteria run to three items: looked-after and previously looked-after children first, then "Rank order of their average APS points score", then, only where two candidates have identical scores, "proximity to the school will be used as a tie break", measured in a straight line to the Hurst Road entrance.

Set that against the seven ranked criteria the same policy applies at age 11, where up to 12 Pupil Premium places come before the top-scorer band, siblings in Years 7 to 12 rank fourth, children of staff of two or more years' standing rank fifth, and distance is criterion six.

The consequence is worth stating flatly: the geography that counted at 11 does not count again at 16. There is no catchment area at 16, no priority zone, and no advantage for a sibling already at the school or for a child of a member of staff. A candidate living a long way from the school competes on the same basis as one living on Hurst Road, and is separated from them only by average point score. Distance re-enters the process only when two applicants finish on an identical average. For families across Bromley and the surrounding boroughs, 16+ is the entry point where distance from the school stops being the main way applicants are ranked.

Two further eligibility details are published only in the policy. In the 2026–2027 policy, applications are considered "from students on a case by case basis who are no more than one year older (that is, they were born no later than 31st August 2008) provided that they are in Year 11 at a secondary school". And a name can join the Year 12 waiting list only if the applicant is "predicted to meet the entry requirements" — the waiting list is not open to candidates whose predictions fall short.

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The September 2027 Deadlines, and the Weeks External Applicants Lose

The school publishes two separate key-dates documents for September 2027 entry, one for its own Year 11 students and one for external applicants. Placed side by side they show a gap that neither document mentions: the external application closes on 21 January 2027 and the internal one on 8 February 2027, so the external deadline falls 18 days before the internal one.

The reference requirement is easy to underestimate. An academic reference has to be returned to Chislehurst and Sidcup by 12 February 2027 — 22 days after the application itself closes on 21 January 2027.

The September 2026 cycle has closed: the school's enrolment page for 2026 says "sorry the enrolment period has now closed". For September 2027 entry the school's How to Apply page says the application form will be available from 6pm on 11 November 2026, and its external key-dates document puts the open evening and the form's availability on 11 and 12 November 2026. The school's How to Apply - 2027 entry page says the documents listed there will be updated for 2027 entry in due course, and it still lists the entry-requirements sheet and subject booklet for 2026-2028 and the Maths test revision topics for 2026, so check those documents again before applying.

Enrolment Day: 19 August 2027, and How It Ran in 2026

Enrolment at Chislehurst and Sidcup takes place on GCSE results day itself. The school's key-dates documents record 19 August 2027 as "GCSE Results Day AND Sixth Form Enrolment Day", and AQA lists the same date for June 2027 GCSE results; in 2026 the date was 20 August 2026. AQA tells schools they can give students their results slips from 8.00am on the Thursday.

For September 2026 entry the school's enrolment page asked applicants to submit their GCSE results and final subject preferences through an online Enrolment Request form.

In 2026 the whole process was online, and the school asked applicants not to visit the school site. The school's enrolment page said it would be updated through the enrolment period, 20 August to 28 August 2026; its later notes recorded "At 26.08.26, the Sixth Form is full aside from any new relinquishments." and "At 16.09.26 No new applicants will be added to the Waiting list, it is now closed."

In 2026 an applicant wishing to submit an Enrolment Day application to join the waiting list had to complete both the Application Form and an Enrolment Request, and the school said it would not accept new applications for Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry or Business.

What Chislehurst and Sidcup Does Not Offer at 16

Curriculum at 16 is worth checking before applying. Chislehurst and Sidcup's prospectus, its subject information booklet and its study programme page describe A Levels, AS Levels and the Extended Project Qualification, and none of them lists the International Baccalaureate Diploma, BTEC courses or T Levels. The prospectus puts it plainly: "In our sixth form, students choose three A Levels from a broad range of subjects."

The shape of the programme is three A Levels plus one enrichment choice. Here the documents disagree again, and this time the school's website is ahead of its paperwork. The Entry Requirements sheet names four enrichment options — an AS Level in English Literature, Mathematics or Further Mathematics, or the EPQ. The study programme page names five, adding AS Computer Science. The subject booklet also carries Computer Science in its AS section. Where the website and the booklet agree against the sheet, the website is the safer guide.

A fourth A Level is possible but rationed: "Students must achieve at least six grade 7s if they wish to be considered for four A Levels." That is a demanding threshold: six grade 7s and a seventh GCSE at grade 5 already give an average of 6.71 on the same seven-GCSE reading, above the general APS gate of 6.5.

Two closing rules deserve emphasis because they remove options families sometimes assume exist. "There are no new admissions into Year 13 of the Sixth Form", so 16+ here is a single annual entry point with no mid-course transfer in. And "It is not the school's policy to allow students to repeat Year 12 or Year 13; the school's Sixth Form education lasts for two years." A student who struggles in Year 12 cannot restart it at this school. All Year 13 students must carry a minimum of three subjects.

On outcomes, the school reports that 81% of students went on to university in 2025, of whom 63% went to Russell Group institutions and 37% to other UK universities, with 11% taking a gap year and 8% moving into higher apprenticeships or employment. A separate page on the same website gives 66% for Russell Group, counted as a share of offers rather than of entrants, so the two figures measure different things. Families comparing selective sixth forms across the Kent border, such as Dartford Grammar School, should check which denominator each school has used before treating any two percentages as comparable.

Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School is recorded on the Department for Education's register as an academy converter in Bexley, URN 137423, teaching ages 11 to 18, mixed sex. Its 11+ route, which uses the Bexley Selection Test and a distance-driven oversubscription list, is covered separately in our guide to Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School 11+ entry.

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Reviewed October 2026: dates, figures and rules checked against the school's key-dates documents for September 2027 entry (external and current Year 11), its How to Apply - 2027 entry, Open Evenings and enrolment pages, Admissions Policy 2026-2027, Sixth Form Entry Requirements sheet, Subject Information booklet, prospectus, Maths test revision topics, AQA's results days page and GIAS.

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