Apply to The North Halifax Grammar School, in plain English.
North Halifax Grammar (NHGS) is super-selective: after a small number of looked-after, Pupil/Service Premium and priority-area places, every remaining place goes to the highest-scoring children by combined English and Maths score — there is no real catchment. Around 650 children apply for its 180 places, all sitting one joint admissions test shared with The Crossley Heath School (a single test counts for both). You must register for that test by 26 June 2026 — registering is separate from naming the school on your council form.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these.
One test, two schools — register by 26 June 2026.
NHGS and The Crossley Heath School share a single admissions test: three papers — English, Mathematics and Creative Writing — sat on Saturday 19 September 2026. Your child sits it once and the result counts for both schools. Register directly through either school's website by 26 June 2026. Registering for the test is not the same as applying — you must also name the school on your council's form (step 4).
Meeting the standard is a pass — not a place. Score then decides.
Children must reach the qualifying standard in all three papers to be considered. Reaching it does not guarantee a place: most places are then filled by the highest combined English + Maths score, in rank order. The Creative Writing paper is judged for those who clear the English and Maths standard.
There is no real catchment — but a small local head exists.
Anyone in Calderdale or any other UK area can apply, and rank by score decides almost everything. The only geographic element is the Priority Admissions Area (the Illingworth & Mixenden and Ovenden wards), which reserves up to 10% of places for qualifying local children. Distance is used only as a final tie-break when two children are level on the last place.
Five steps — starting now.
If more children reach the standard than there are places, this order decides.
Every child must first reach the qualifying standard. Among those who do, places are allocated in the order below. Most places are filled in step 4 by combined English + Maths score. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: Children who are, or have been, in council care — including those adopted from care or on a special guardianship order — get the highest priority, provided they reach the qualifying standard. This group is small in practice.
What the document says: Children looked after, previously looked after, or with a special guardianship order, who reach the required standard, are offered a place first.
In plain English: Children who attract the Pupil PremiumPupil Premium (PP)Broadly covers children eligible for free school meals at any point in the six years before the test registration closing date. come next, ranked by score. A child of current serving UK Armed Forces personnel (Service Premium) is treated the same way. You must flag this at registration and send evidence by the end of September.
What the document says: Children attracting Pupil Premium (PP) and Service Premium (SP); a child whose parent/carer is current serving UK Armed Forces personnel is treated as attracting Pupil Premium. Evidence must reach the schools no later than the end of September in the year of application.
In plain English: Up to 10% of the 180 places (about 18) are reserved for qualifying children whose permanent home is in the NHGS Priority Admissions Area — the Illingworth & Mixenden ward and the Ovenden ward. If more than 10% qualify, they are ranked by combined English + Maths score. This is the only place living locally helps, and Crossley Heath has no priority area at all.
What the document says: Up to 10% of the 180 places available at NHGS to children whose permanent home address lies within the school's Priority Admissions Area and who have met the qualifying standard. Where numbers exceed 10%, selection is by rank order for English and Mathematics.
In plain English: Once the groups above are placed, every remaining place — the large majority — goes to the highest-scoring children by their combined English and Maths order of merit, regardless of where they live. This is the step that decides most outcomes.
What the document says: Once these places have been allocated, the remaining places at NHGS are offered according to their combined order of merit for English and Mathematics until the school reaches its PAN.
In plain English: If two children have the same score as the child in the last available place, a sibling already at the school is preferred first; if there is still a tie, the place goes to whoever lives nearer in a straight line. Distance is never used otherwise — it cannot make up for a lower score.
What the document says: Where two or more children achieve the same order of merit as the child in the last place to be offered, the tie-break is (i) siblings of children presently attending the school, then (ii) proximity of the child's home to the school, measured by straight line using the LA's GIS / Ordnance Survey ADDRESS-POINT data.
Joint process: The same test counts for NHGS and Crossley Heath, but each school runs its own oversubscription order and Crossley Heath has no Priority Admissions Area. List both on your council form if you would be happy with either.
Rank by score decides almost everything.
NHGS has no general catchment area: a child in Bradford, Leeds or further afield competes on exactly the same terms as a child in Halifax. After looked-after and Pupil/Service Premium places, just up to 10% of places are reserved for qualifying children in the small Priority Admissions Area (Illingworth & Mixenden and Ovenden wards). Every other place — the large majority — goes to the highest combined English + Maths scores, in rank order.
Distance plays no part in ranking. It is used only as the very last tie-break: if two children have an identical score for the final place, a sibling at the school comes first, then whoever lives nearer in a straight line. The circle shown on our map is illustrative only — it is not a boundary you must live inside.
See North Halifax Grammar on the GrammarBound mapTwo children ranked by score — not by where they live.
Neither child is looked-after, Premium, or in the Priority Admissions Area, so both fall into criterion 4 (everyone else, by score). Child A scored higher and lives far from school; Child B scored lower and lives much closer. Child A ranks above Child B — score, not proximity, decides. Living nearby only ever matters as a tie-break between identical scores.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Reallocation / waiting list
If your child reached the standard but missed out, tell Calderdale LA you want to go on the reallocation list. The list is held in oversubscription-criteria order; responsibility passes from the LA to NHGS in the first term of Year 7 and is kept until the last school day of December.
Notify Calderdale LA, then NHGS Admissions.
Appeal
You can appeal the decision not to offer a place. Appeals are set out in writing and heard by an independent appeals panel arranged via Calderdale LA. Appealing does not remove your child from the reallocation list.
Deadlines are on your council's non-offer letter.
Joining Year 12.
NHGS has a co-educational sixth form. External students apply directly to the school; entry is by GCSE grades, not the 11+ test.
The grade floor.
You need a minimum of 5 GCSEs at grade 6 or above, including English and Mathematics. Most A-level subjects expect at least a grade 6 in that subject at GCSE, and some need more — for example grade 7 in Maths, Music or a modern language, and grade 8 in Maths to take Further Maths. Some vocational Level 2 qualifications count as one GCSE.
Apply direct to the school.
Apply to NHGS directly — sixth-form entry is separate from the Year 7 process and the home-to-school council form. Check the school website for the current Year 12 application window and the full subject-by-subject entry requirements.
See nhgs.co.uk for the sixth-form prospectus and deadlines.