Results are out on Thursday 20 August. Great Baddow opens its gym at 9am and wants sixth form places accepted by 1pm. The KEGS and CCHS forms exist for one day.

Year 11 students across Chelmsford collect their GCSE results on Thursday 20 August. AQA confirms 20 August 2026 as results day for the June 2026 GCSE series, and Ofqual publishes its national level 1/2 and level 2 results data on the same day.

The part that catches families out is not the results. It is the deadlines that run on the same morning.

What Chelmsford schools have published

We checked the websites of Great Baddow High School, St John Payne, The Boswells School, Moulsham High School, The Sandon School, The Beaulieu Park School, King Edward VI Grammar School and Chelmsford County High School for Girls on Tuesday 18 August. One of them has published its collection arrangements.

Great Baddow High School has published the fullest information. Its announcement of 14 August says:

  • results can be collected from the gym between 9am and 10am on Thursday 20 August
  • students who applied for the school’s sixth form will find a confirmation letter in their results envelope
  • they must accept the place by 1pm that day, either in school that morning or through the online Applicaa account
  • students from other schools applying to the Great Baddow sixth form should email sixthformapplications@gbhs.co.uk with a scanned copy of their results and their subject preferences

St John Payne Catholic School lists GCSE results day on 20 August in its calendar of upcoming events but has not published a collection time.

The Boswells School, Moulsham High School, The Sandon School and The Beaulieu Park School had nothing about results day on their websites when we looked. If your school has not written to you, the school office is the place to ask rather than the website.

The two sixth form forms that only exist on Thursday

Both Chelmsford grammar schools run their Year 12 admissions entirely on results day. Miss the day and there is no form to fill in.

King Edward VI Grammar School says formal applications are only made on GCSE results day. An online form appears on its website that morning and disappears afterwards. The school recommends completing it as early as possible, because it telephones successful applicants during the day using the contact details on the form. Make sure the phone number you give is one someone will answer.

KEGS also publishes its Year 12 application process document. It states that offers are made purely on the basis of final GCSE examination results, and that the admissions policy does not permit places to be offered after a formal interview.

Chelmsford County High School for Girls says the same: its Year 12 application form “will only become available on GCSE Results Day, Thursday 20th August 2026”. Its published minimum entry requirements for September 2026 are:

  • a grade 6, 7, 8 or 9 in both English Language and Mathematics
  • an average of at least 6.625 across the best eight GCSE grades, including English Language and Mathematics
  • at least one grade 8 among Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics for anyone taking two or more of those subjects

If the grades are not what you hoped

There are three routes, and they have different clocks.

Chelmsford College. The college says enrolment starts the day after August GCSE results day, which this year means Friday 21 August. It also warns that you cannot enrol without proof of all your qualifications, so take the results slip itself. The college has not published dated enrolment sessions for 2026 on its calendar page, so the date in your own enrolment letter is the one to follow.

If you did not get a grade 4 in English or maths, that is not the end of a college place. Chelmsford College states that learners who have not achieved a grade C in English or maths GCSE continue to study those subjects at the appropriate level as part of a full-time programme. Grade C is the old-scale equivalent of the current grade 4.

A review of marking. This has to go through your school, not you, and the AQA deadline for the June 2026 series is 24 September 2026. Read the warning on that page before asking. AQA says there is no grade protection: marks and grades “may be lowered, confirmed or raised”. A review normally takes up to 20 calendar days. AQA runs a faster service, but only for students whose place at a university or other higher education institution depends on the outcome.

A November resit. The AQA November 2026 timetable puts GCSE English Language Paper 1 on Tuesday 3 November and Paper 2 on Friday 6 November. Maths Paper 1 is on Wednesday 4 November, Paper 2 on Friday 6 November and Paper 3 on Monday 9 November. Results for the November series are issued on 14 January 2027.

Timeline of key dates after GCSE results day 2026: results on 20 August, Chelmsford College enrolment from 21 August, review of marking deadline 24 September, November resit exams from 3 to 9 November, and November series results on 14 January 2027.

What it means for you

Plan Thursday morning, not Thursday afternoon. At Great Baddow the collection window is one hour and the sixth form acceptance deadline is 1pm. At both grammar schools the application form exists for one day. Anyone away on Thursday should sort out in advance who can collect results and act on their behalf.

Have a second option ready before you open the envelope. Sixth form entry at CCHS turns on an average across eight subjects, not on one result. Work that average out beforehand, using the school’s published rule. If it falls short, college enrolment opens the next morning.

If you want to talk to someone outside school. The National Careers Service takes calls on 0800 100 900, from 8am to 8pm on weekdays and 10am to 5pm on Saturdays.

Results day also lands in a tighter local labour market than last year. Figures the Office for National Statistics released on Tuesday show 625 people aged 18 to 24 claiming unemployment-related benefits in Chelmsford, a third more than two years ago.

Sources