TWO Colchester schools have some of the highest admission rates to the UK’s elite universities, according to data published by The Telegraph.

In a dataset which includes hundreds of state schools, grammar schools, and colleges across England, both Colchester Royal Grammar School (CRGS) and Colchester County High School for Girls (CCHSG) had two of the highest proportions of pupils heading to either Oxford or Cambridge within two years of finishing their studies.

Of all the CRGS leavers in 2020, 16 per cent went on to study at Oxbridge, with 66 per cent enrolling at a Russell Group university.

CCHSG, curiously, produced the same statistics.

Nationally, only 1 percent of school students enrol at Oxbridge, with 18 per cent heading to a Russell Group university.

Data also showed that 94 per cent of school leavers from CCHSG started university studies within two years of finishing school, with the proportion for CRGS sitting at 96 per cent.

Also ranked highly in the table is Chelmsford County High School for girls, where 17 per cent of pupils started studying at either Oxford or Cambridge within two years of leaving school.

About 13 per cent of students from Colchester Sixth Form went on to study at Russell Group universities.