Halifax, West Yorkshire · Calderdale
The North Halifax Grammar School
Its entrance exam quietly dropped verbal and non-verbal reasoning entirely for the current cycle — most tutoring sites online still describe the old format, which no longer applies.
Descended from a tangled 1985 amalgamation of two predecessor Halifax schools, North Halifax Grammar runs a genuinely joint 11+ test with neighbouring The Crossley Heath School — the same papers, sat once on the same day, marked jointly for Creative Writing — while each school remains its own separate legal admissions authority with its own catchment rules. Unlike Crossley Heath, which has no catchment at all, North Halifax reserves up to 10% of its places for a defined local Priority Admissions Area before the remaining 90%-plus go by open rank order across Calderdale and beyond. The test format itself changed for the current entry cycle, dropping verbal and non-verbal reasoning entirely in favour of English, Maths and Creative Writing — a change several tutoring sites online haven't caught up with.
Key facts
- Gender
- co-ed
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- Local authority
- Calderdale
- Established
- 1985
- DfE URN
- 136788
- Website
- https://www.nhgs.co.uk
Admissions
- Admissions authority
- The school sets its own test and criteria
- Entrance test board
- No external commercial test provider is named — the test is set, administered and marked jointly, in-house, by North Halifax Grammar and The Crossley Heath School as 'The Halifax Grammar Schools.'
- Test format
- Three age-standardised papers: English, Mathematics, and Creative Writing — no verbal or non-verbal reasoning. English and Maths are marked and standardised first, with a qualifying standard agreed jointly by the two schools; only children meeting that standard in both then have their Creative Writing paper judged by a trained joint panel. This format replaced an earlier Verbal Reasoning/Maths/English test following a review both schools announced in October 2024, now in force for the current entry cycle.partly verified
Multiple secondary tutoring sites still describe the older Verbal Reasoning/Maths/English format — both schools' own current policies confirm this changed to English/Maths/Creative Writing for the current entry cycle. Families relying on older tutoring-site descriptions would be preparing for the wrong exam.
- Qualifying / pass mark
- Not published as a fixed number — the qualifying standard is agreed jointly by the two Halifax Grammar Schools only after each year's papers are marked and age-standardised, reset every cycle.verify with school
Confirmed non-disclosure by design — reset every year after marking, with no historical cutoff found published by the school or Calderdale Council.
- Superselective?
- Nopartly verified
No primary source uses the term; this is a reasoned classification, not a school self-description. The applicant-to-place ratio cited comes only from tutoring sites.
Not stated explicitly by the school either way — this is a reasoned judgement. The school's own policy uses standard selective-grammar language with no superselective framing, and eligibility is deliberately broad — open to all of Calderdale plus any other UK local authority, with only up to 10% of places reserved by geographic priority, unlike a superselective drawing from a huge multi-authority pool for a wafer-thin fraction of places. Together with Crossley Heath, the two schools provide 360 grammar places serving one metropolitan borough, a comparatively generous share of the local cohort. A secondary source's estimate of roughly 1,200 applicants for the combined 360 places (around 3:1) wasn't confirmed by either school directly.
Catchment & priority criteria
A defined 'Priority Admissions Area' (the Illingworth & Mixenden and Ovenden wards) grants priority for up to 10% of places only. The remaining 90%-plus of places go by combined rank order of score, open to all of Calderdale and any other UK local authority — a different structure from exam partner Crossley Heath, which has no catchment at all.
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children
- Children attracting Pupil Premium (Free School Meals in the last 6 years); children of currently serving UK Armed Forces personnel are treated as Pupil-Premium-attracting
- Up to 10% of places for children living within the Priority Admissions Area who meet the qualifying standard
- Remaining places by combined order of merit (English and Mathematics) until the 180-place admission number is reached
- Tie-break: siblings (including step, foster and adopted) currently attending, then proximity of home to school by straight-line distance
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 68.5 (England average 46.1) | 91% | Not calculated — the school's own results statement shows 'N/A' for this cohort, consistent with the nationwide COVID-era gap | — | — |
| A-level: average grade B (average point score 40.33), value-added progress score +0.14. A full per-subject A*-E breakdown is published, but no aggregated whole-school A*-A/A*-B percentage is given by the school. | |||||
| 2026 | 69.48 (school's own provisional figure; too recent for a national comparator to be available yet) | 94% | Not yet calculated or published for this cohort, consistent with the continuing nationwide COVID-era gap | verify with school | verify with school |
| A-level: average grade B (average point score 38.55), progress score not yet available. 86% of A-level entries graded C or above; 20 students achieved all A*/A grades (a raw count, not a percentage). Whole-cohort A*-A/A*-B percentages aren't published by the school for either year, consistent with the general shift toward average-grade and value-added reporting. | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- Good overall (this was a full graded inspection under the pre-September 2024 framework — no inspection has occurred since). Sixth-form provision was Outstanding; all other categories were Good.
- Date
- 8-9 November 2023
- 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/136788
- 2. School's own Admissions Policy for entry September 2026 — https://www.nhgs.co.uk/storage/app/media/Admissions/Main-School/Consultation/intake-2026/North-Halifax-School-Admissions-Policy-for-Entry-in-September-2026.pdf
- 3. The Crossley Heath School's own Admissions Policy for entry September 2026 (cross-check) — https://www.crossleyheath.org.uk/_site/data/files/school-information/admission/D87023E885B9A19EB64ABB65E7DFC67D.pdf
- 4. Ofsted report, inspected 8-9 November 2023 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50235813
- 5. School's own GCSE Results Statement 2026 — https://www.nhgs.co.uk/storage/app/media/our-school/exam-results/gcse-results-statement-202608.pdf
- 6. School's own A Level Results Statement 2026 — https://www.nhgs.co.uk/storage/app/media/our-school/exam-results/a-level-results-statement-20260812.pdf
- 7. Calderdale Council — secondary admissions criteria directory — https://new.calderdale.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools/admissions/secondary-criteria
Last updated 2026-09-01. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.