The Crossley Heath School
The Crossley Heath School in Halifax is a mixed grammar school with 180 Year 7 places and no catchment area. Children sit the FSCE test it shares with North Halifax Grammar School and must meet the standard in English, maths and creative writing; after looked after and pupil premium children, places go in order of merit.
At a glance
- Where
- Halifax, West Yorkshire (Calderdale)
- Takes
- Mixed
- Year 7 places
- 180
- Applicants
- 655 for 2026 entry, about 3.6 for each place. This counts local authority applications naming the school as any preference; the school says about 1,300 children sit the joint test each year for both Halifax grammar schools.
Applicants figures aren’t counted the same way at every school, so they don’t compare from one school to another.
Admissions
The test
The Halifax Grammar Schools' admissions test, set by FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise) and shared with North Halifax Grammar School: two English and maths papers and a creative writing paper, on Year 5 curriculum content with no non-verbal reasoning.
What qualifies
There is no pass mark: the English and maths papers are age-weighted and standardised, the two Halifax grammar schools agree a qualifying standard after the test, and children who meet it have their creative writing judged by a staff panel. A child must meet the standard in all three; results show whether they did, with a banding, and places then go by order of merit.
Who gets priority
Crossley Heath has no catchment or priority area (North Halifax's priority area does not apply to it). After EHCPs naming the school, qualifying children are offered places in this order: looked after and previously looked after children, then all pupil premium and service premium children (no fixed number), then the rest in order of merit in English and maths up to 180; ties for the last place go to siblings, then straight-line distance.
Registering
Families registered online through the Halifax Grammar Schools' Applicaa portal (via the Crossley Heath or North Halifax website) from 10am on Friday 20 March to 11pm on Friday 26 June 2026. The test was on Saturday 19 September 2026 at the two schools, with a supplementary test that month and results by Friday 16 October 2026.
Open events
Open evening on Tuesday 23 June 2026, plus an open morning in the autumn (date to be confirmed) for children who meet the qualifying standard.
Good to know
Mixed academy with a mixed sixth form; there is no fee and a child may sit the test only once. The applicants figure is local authority applications naming the school as any preference for September 2026 (DfE school-level data: 655, of which 293 first preferences, 177 offers); the school says about 1,300 children sit the joint test each year for both Halifax grammar schools. Families must name the grammar school they prefer first on the local authority form by 31 October, and children who qualify but get no offer join Calderdale's reallocation list.
Not confirmed yet
- The qualifying standard is set after each test and not published as a number.
- Autumn 2026 open morning date is listed as to be confirmed.
- Supplementary test date: the policy says Friday 26 September, the separate timetable says Friday 25 September 2026.
Check these on the official page: crossleyheath.org.uk/_site/data/files/policies/1D3A39FA504181BA028C3D58A3B2F6E9.pdf
The 11+ in Calderdale (Halifax)
The papers, registration, test dates, results and how qualifying works for every school there.
The 11+ in Calderdale (Halifax)
With Exam Prep, Thena sets practice papers in your child’s test’s style and goes over every mistake with them on her board: £49 a month with the Solo plan.
More on the 11+
Sources
Every fact here comes from the official pages below. Admissions rules change each year, so check them there before you rely on them.
- crossleyheath.org.uk
- crossleyheath.org.uk/school-information/admissions
- crossleyheath.org.uk/_site/data/files/policies/1D3A39FA504181BA028C3D58A3B2F6E9.pdf
- crossleyheath.org.uk/_site/data/files/school-information/admission/59388F57E7740771514EA7E93D92D8F4.pdf
- crossleyheath.org.uk/_site/data/files/school-information/admission/E32173623F4C665BA32D36C01791669A.pdf
- crossleyheath.org.uk/_site/data/files/school-information/admission/4B9348DF048217D865C3049C26C61650.pdf
- new.calderdale.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools
- new.calderdale.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools/admissions/process
- new.calderdale.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools/admissions/secondary-criteria
- explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/primary-and-secondary-school-applications-and-offers/2026-27
- content.explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/api/releases/0bf4f9cf-721d-44e3-8473-266c87e17e00/files?fromPage=ReleaseDownloads
Checked 2 November 2026.
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