How to prepare for The Crossley Heath School 11+

The exam at a glance

The Crossley Heath School uses the Halifax Grammar Schools admissions test for Year 7 entry. For 2028 entry, the verified format is a Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE) test sat on paper.

The test is designed around the Key Stage 2 curriculum rather than separate reasoning papers. Children are assessed in Maths, English and a Wider Curriculum element. The English side includes a creative-writing task, and the wider-curriculum questions can draw on other KS2 subjects such as Science, History and Geography.

That means preparation should focus much more on secure school learning, careful reading, fluent arithmetic and real writing practice than on drilling verbal-reasoning or non-verbal-reasoning techniques. The school’s admissions information says that all written elements are tested on one day in September.

In practical terms, parents should expect one assessment day with a series of paper-based sections rather than a long season of separate tests. The school does not publish detailed past papers for this format, so the most useful preparation is steady curriculum-based work: reading widely, writing often, and keeping maths methods accurate and quick.

Board: FSCE via Halifax Grammar Schools
Delivery: paper-based
Subjects: Maths, English, Wider Curriculum
Includes: creative writing and cross-curricular breadth questions
Does not include: verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning
Test day: all written elements on one day in September

Registration and key dates

For The Crossley Heath School, registration is handled through the school’s admissions process for the Halifax Grammar Schools test. The school’s admissions page for Year 7 entry states that parents must register for the admissions test and also complete the usual local authority secondary preference application as part of the wider admissions process.

For the most recently published cycle the school states that registration opened on 20 March 2026 and closed on 26 June 2026. The same page says that all written elements will be tested on one day in September, but the exact September test date was not stated in the text available on that page. Calderdale Council’s secondary admissions process then follows the national timetable for school preference applications and National Offer Day.

If you are applying for September 2028 entry, do not assume dates will be identical. Based on the school’s published 2027-entry information, registration usually opens in March and closes in late June, with the test typically in September. Parents should check the school’s admissions page regularly once the 2028 arrangements are published.

It is sensible to have the following ready before registration opens:

your child’s personal details
current primary school details
home address information
any documents the school asks for in that year’s registration guidance

After the test, parents still need to submit their formal school preferences through the Calderdale local authority. Missing either step can cause problems, so treat test registration and the local authority application as two separate tasks.

Useful links for parents:

Who can apply: catchment and admissions

The Crossley Heath School is a grammar school and its admissions page says that entry is determined by academic ability and attainment identified by the admissions exam. The verified number of places for Year 7 is 180.

The school publishes its admission arrangements and oversubscription rules in its formal policy documents. Parents should always read the current determined admission arrangements for the exact priority order used for the relevant year, because grammar-school policies can include a mix of rank order, eligibility rules and other oversubscription criteria.

For this guide, one important point is clear from the school’s own admissions information: sitting the test is only one part of the process. Families must also apply through the local authority admissions system and list the school as a preference if they want to be considered for a place.

We have not included any cut-off score, pass mark, lowest qualifying score or catchment distance here because schools do not always publish these in a way that is stable from year to year, and they should never be guessed. If you are looking for the most up-to-date oversubscription criteria or any defined priority area, check the school’s current admission arrangements on its admissions page before you apply.

In practice, parents should focus on three things:

registering for the admissions test on time
reading the current admission arrangements in full
submitting the Calderdale local authority preference form by the published deadline

A month-by-month preparation plan

Because this test is curriculum-based, the best preparation is steady and sensible. Most children do not need huge hours. They need consistency, good habits and calm familiarity with writing under time pressure.

January to March in Year 5

Keep it light and regular: around 1 to 2 hours a week split over short sessions. Focus on reading comprehension, arithmetic fluency, times tables, vocabulary in context and accurate sentence writing. If your child is a reluctant writer, begin a short weekly creative-writing habit now.

April to May in Year 5

Build to around 2 to 3 hours a week. Start mixing in slightly harder KS2 maths questions, longer comprehension passages and short pieces of descriptive or narrative writing. For wider-curriculum preparation, talk through what your child is learning in school in Science, History and Geography rather than trying to teach a separate syllabus.

June in Year 5

By now, aim for 3 hours a week. This is a good point to begin occasional timed sections: not full papers every week, but short timed bursts so your child gets used to keeping going when the clock is running. In writing, practise planning quickly, writing clearly and leaving time to check punctuation and spellings.

July in Year 5

Continue at 3 to 4 hours a week. Use one session for maths, one for reading and English, one for writing, and one shorter session for mixed wider-curriculum material. Timed work can become a little more regular, but still leave room for untimed teaching and correction. Summer is not the time for panic; it is the time to improve stamina.

August before the exam

This is the key month for routine. Aim for 4 hours a week across several short sessions rather than one long block. Start doing fuller timed practice now, including writing to a prompt within a set time. Review mistakes carefully. If your child repeatedly loses marks on one area, reteach that topic simply instead of doing paper after paper.

September of the exam month

In the final weeks, reduce the urge to cram. Keep practice short, calm and confidence-building: a maths recap, a comprehension, a short writing task and light general revision of KS2 topics. In the last few days, prioritise sleep, routine and reassurance over extra work.

A good rule throughout is this: teach, practise, review, repeat. Children usually improve more from going through mistakes properly than from racing through lots of questions.

Subject by subject: what to practise

Maths

For this FSCE format, focus on secure Key Stage 2 maths up to the end of Year 5. That means number fluency, the four operations, fractions, decimals, percentages, measurement, time, shape, perimeter, area, data handling and multi-step word problems. Because this is not a separate reasoning paper, the useful skill is not spotting a special trick; it is reading the question carefully, choosing the right method and carrying it out accurately.

Good practice includes short arithmetic warm-ups, mixed-topic problem solving and regular correction of errors. Encourage your child to show clear working and to check whether an answer makes sense.

English

English preparation should cover reading comprehension, vocabulary in context, grammar and punctuation at KS2 level, and the ability to write accurately and thoughtfully. Children should be comfortable reading prose extracts, retrieving information, explaining word choice and making straightforward inferences.

The strongest preparation is reading widely at home and discussing what has been read: what happened, why a character acted that way, how the writer created a mood, and what a word means in that sentence. Short but frequent written responses are more helpful than occasional long ones.

Creative writing

The verified format includes a creative-writing task, so this deserves regular practice. Children should get used to turning a simple prompt into a structured piece with a clear beginning, middle and ending, or into a well-shaped scene if the task is shorter. The key skills are generating ideas quickly, planning briefly, writing in paragraphs, varying sentences and checking punctuation and spelling.

Do not push children to sound overly elaborate. Clear, controlled writing usually scores better than writing packed with forced vocabulary. Regular practice from everyday prompts works well: a place, an object, a memory, a surprise event, or a character entering a new situation.

Wider Curriculum

The wider-curriculum element may draw on Science, History and Geography alongside general KS2 knowledge and reading skills. Preparation should be broad rather than narrow. A child does not need specialist tutoring in separate subjects; they need to be used to reading short factual material, understanding diagrams or information, and answering clearly from what they know and what they can infer.

Useful practice includes revisiting school topics, reading child-friendly non-fiction, talking about current learning from class, and answering short mixed questions. Encourage precise vocabulary and careful reading of instructions.

Practice papers and mock exams

Because this format is curriculum-led and there are no published past papers to drill in the traditional way, practice papers are most useful when they are used as diagnostic tools. In other words, use them to find strengths and gaps, not just to generate scores.

A good routine looks like this:

choose one paper or one section at a time
sit it under sensible timed conditions
mark it carefully
sort mistakes into groups: knowledge gap, rushed error, weak reading of the question, or stamina issue
reteach the weak area before the next paper

For creative writing, a mock is useful only if it includes time to plan, write and review. Afterwards, look at structure, clarity, punctuation, paragraphing and whether the child answered the task set.

Parents looking for school-specific support can use:

If you use mock exams outside the home, treat them as practice in routine and resilience rather than a prediction of the final outcome. One child may underperform in a mock and do much better in the real test once they know what the day feels like. Another may need mocks simply to become comfortable with timings and instructions.

On the day

Keep the day calm and practical. The aim is not to create a "big moment" feeling but to help your child feel that this is one manageable test day.

check the school’s instructions carefully when they are issued
prepare any required stationery the night before
allow plenty of travel time
choose comfortable school-appropriate clothes if guidance allows
eat a steady breakfast and bring water if permitted

Emotionally, the best message is simple: read carefully, do one question at a time, and keep going. Remind your child that some questions may feel easier than others and that this is normal. If they get stuck, they should move on and return if time allows.

For the writing task, encourage three habits: spend a short time planning, keep handwriting clear, and leave a little time to check the ending, punctuation and spellings. For maths and wider-curriculum sections, the most common avoidable marks lost are from misreading the question or rushing.

After the test, try not to conduct a full post-mortem in the car or on the train home. A quiet "well done" and a change of subject is usually far more helpful.

After the exam: results, allocation and appeals

After the September test, families usually move into the normal grammar-school admissions sequence: results are issued according to that year’s published arrangements, parents submit or confirm their local authority preferences if still within the timetable, and places are then allocated through the coordinated admissions process.

For The Crossley Heath School, the school’s admissions information links parents into the wider school admissions timetable, and Calderdale Council provides the secondary admissions process used for preferences and offers. The national offer date for secondary places is set through the coordinated local authority system.

If a child does not receive an offer, parents may have options such as joining the waiting list or making an appeal, depending on the published arrangements for that year. The exact process and deadlines should always be taken from the school’s and local authority’s current admissions information.

We have not stated a school-specific qualifying score or cut-off score here because no verified published figure was found in the sources reviewed for this guide. If the school publishes more detailed result information for the 2028 cycle, that will appear on its admissions page and should be read directly.

What has changed recently

The main recent announced change is the use of the Halifax Grammar Schools admissions test in the FSCE format for this entry route, with a curriculum-based structure covering Maths, English, creative writing and wider-curriculum breadth rather than verbal or non-verbal reasoning. The school’s current admissions information for the latest cycle also makes clear that all written elements are tested on one day in September.

We did not find any other clearly announced school-published change in the sources reviewed here relating to a new catchment rule, a change in Year 7 capacity from the verified 180 places, or a published exact September test date for the latest cycle.

Frequently asked questions

What exam board does The Crossley Heath School use for 2028 entry?

For 2028 entry, the verified format is an FSCE test used via Halifax Grammar Schools.

Does The Crossley Heath School 11+ include verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning?

No. The verified format is curriculum-based and does not include separate verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning papers.

How many Year 7 places are there at The Crossley Heath School?

The verified Year 7 admission number is 180 places.

When do registrations usually open?

For the latest published cycle, registration opened on 20 March 2026 and closed on 26 June 2026. For 2028 entry, check the school site when arrangements are published.

When is the exam held?

The school’s admissions page says all written elements are tested on one day in September, but the exact test date was not stated in the source reviewed.

Are there official past papers?

Not for this format in the usual published sense. Preparation is better based on strong KS2 maths and English, real writing practice and broad curriculum knowledge.

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Sources

The Crossley Heath School Admissions: The school uses the Halifax Grammar Schools admissions test; entry is determined by academic ability and attainment identified by the admissions exam; all written elements are tested on one day in September; registration opened on 20 March 2026 and closed on 26 June 2026; the page heading relates to
The Crossley Heath School website: School identity and official school website reference.

Preparing for other schools in Calderdale

Written by ElevenReady from the school's published information and reviewed by a person before publishing. Last reviewed 4 October 2026. Exam arrangements change. Check the school's admissions page for the current year.