Crossley Heath School

The Crossley Heath School (CHS) is a state supported, mixed, selective 11- 18 grammar school providing a free education. As an Academy, the CHS governance board is the school’s Admission Authority. For entry to Year 7, the school operates a joint admissions process with The North Halifax Grammar School (NHGS).

In common with all state schools throughout the country, parents must apply through their Local Authority (LA) which is responsible for the co-ordinated arrangements to secondary schools. Parents must consult their LA to confirm the arrangements for such applications. In order to preserve the established character of the school, only children who attain the required standard in the prescribed arrangements for selection by reference to academic ability and attainment will be eligible to be considered for admission to the school. In accordance with the Admissions Code, the admissions arrangements for CHS are fair, clear and objective.

The school does not have a defined catchment area and parents with children in any UK Local Authority may apply. Anyone wishing to apply from outside the UK should contact the school’s admissions team.

All tests for admission into any year group will take place in the two schools (CHS and NHGS) unless there are special circumstances, in which case the tests will be conducted under the supervision of an invigilator from the schools.

Familiarisation materials (including sample exam questions) will be available on the two schools’ websites 
Children who have an EHC plan which names the school, will be admitted, if the required standard is met. 
The Published Admission Number (PAN) for The Crossley Heath School is 180 (the PAN for NHGS is 180). The date of birth of all applicants must be between 1st September 2012 and 31st August 2013. If an applicant’s date of birth is outside their normal age group, for example, if the child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health, then an application will be considered under the policy’s Exceptional Circumstances section. Please contact the admissions team at the school for further information.

Entry to the two schools will be determined by academic ability and attainment, as identified by admissions tests which will be a test of ability irrespective of sex, race or disability. The tests will be accessible to children with special educational needs and disabilities and appropriate, reasonable adjustments will be made based upon evidence provided by parents and/or primary school. Children sitting the tests may be required to have a photo taken on the day of the examination for the sole purpose of verifying their identity for the purposes of sitting the tests.

The admissions test will consist of: (a) a test in English and Verbal Reasoning (VR); (b) a test in Mathematics and non VR.

The scores for each test will be standardised and age-weighted. After the tests are completed, children will be placed in a single list based on their performance in terms of aggregated scores across both tests. Those with the highest scores will be at the top of the list which will form an ‘order of merit’. Following the tests, the information we will release will be the child’s order of merit and score. The tests are selection tests and not diagnostic tests. As such the scores are not used in the allocation process. The only information that is used is the order of merit. A candidate may only sit the admissions test once. If a candidate is unwell immediately before or on the day of the test and is unable to attend please inform the school as soon as possible. A letter must be sent to the Head Teacher within 5 working days of the test enclosing a letter from your doctor or a relevant medical certificate. Arrangements can then be made for the test to be sat at a later date.

Supplementary tests will only be available to children who are unable to sit the original test for valid reasons for which evidence is provided or for children who have moved into the area after the admissions test has taken place. Valid reasons might include a clash with the admissions tests of another grammar school within the same broad geographical region.

The tests will be conducted at the schools. The main admissions tests will be held on a Saturday in September or early October preceding the September of entry usually. For admission in September 2024 the test will he held on Saturday 23rd September 2023. Parents who wish their child to take the admission test must complete a CHS/NHGS school registration form either online or by paper copy by Friday 30 June 2023. Registration for admissions will open on Friday 31st March 2023. Parents of children registered for Pupil Premium (Free School Meals) must indicate this when registering for the test and provide evidence. Failure to provide the evidence could result in a child not being awarded a place at their preferred grammar school. No late applications will be considered. Once the tests have been marked, the schools will inform parents in writing of their child’s position in order of merit. In order to reach the required standard, candidates must be in the top 500 places in the order of merit. Reaching the standard does not guarantee the offer of a place.

If more children reach the required standard in the test than there are places at the school, children in the following categories who reach that standard will be offered a place according to the following oversubscription criteria, which will be applied in the following order:- a) Children looked after and children previously looked after* (see definition below) b) Children attracting the Pupil Premium (PP)** (see definition below) and children whose parent/carer is a current serving UK Armed Forces personnel will be treated as a child who has attracted Pupil Premium.

Parents will need to provide evidence of their position within the armed forces to the schools no later than the end of the September in the year of application. Any evidence received after this date will be considered as late and will only be considered after the main round of allocations has been made.

Once these places have been allocated, the remaining places at CHS will be offered according to the order of merit until the school reaches its PAN.

Where two or more children achieve the same score as the child in the last place to be offered at CHS, the following oversubscription criteria will apply as a tie breaker: 
i) Siblings (to include step, foster and adopted siblings living permanently at the same address) of children presently attending the school. 
ii) Proximity of the child’s home to the school, with those living nearer accorded the highest priority. Distance will be calculated using a straight line measurement from the pupil’s home to the closest designated school gate. Distances will be calculated using the LA’s Geographical Information System (GIS). To ensure consistency, all measurements will be carried out by the LA’s GIS system and no other method of measuring distance will be considered. Each property has a coordinate taken from Ordnance Survey ADDRESS-POINT data. This is the point which distance measurements will be taken from. If there is a shared responsibility between parents, the home that is registered for child benefit will be used or information from the courts showing which home the child resides in for most of the time. For families that are not eligible to claim child benefit, the address that was entered onto the application form at the time of applying for a place, will be the address used as the child’s predominant address.

* A 'looked after child' or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order including those who appear [to the admission authority] to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. A looked after child is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989).

**Children attracting Pupil Premium are those who have been registered for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the 6 years prior to the closing date for registering for the test. The school will require evidence of Pupil Premium registration and reserves the right to withdraw the offer of a place if the offer has been made on the basis of an incorrect, fraudulent of misleading application. Parents of children attracting Pupil Premium must have ticked the Pupil Premium box when registering their child for the test. Parents will need to provide evidence of Pupil Premium registration to the schools no later than the end of September in the year of application. Any evidence received after this date will be considered as late and will only be considered after the main round of allocations has been made.

Introduction

1.1 The Crossley Heath School (CHS) is a state supported, mixed, selective 11-18 grammar school providing a free education. As an Academy, the Crossley Heath Trustee board is the school’s Admission Authority. 
1.2 For entry to Year 7, the school operates a joint admissions process with North Halifax Grammar School (NHGS). In common with all state schools throughout the country, parents must apply through their Local Authority (LA) which is responsible for the coordinated arrangements to secondary schools. Parents must consult their LA to confirm the arrangements for such applications. 
1.3 In order to preserve the established character of the school, only children who attain the required standard in the prescribed arrangements for selection by reference to academic ability and attainment will be eligible to be considered for admission to the school. 
1.4 In accordance with the Admissions Code, the admissions arrangements for CHS are fair, clear and objective. The school does not have a defined catchment area and parents with children in any UK Local Authority may apply. Anyone wishing to apply from outside the UK should contact the school’s admissions team. 
1.5 All tests for admission into any year group will take place in the two schools (NHGS and CHS) unless there are special circumstances, in which case the tests will be conducted under the supervision of an invigilator from the schools. 
1.6 Familiarisation materials (including sample exam questions) will be available on the two schools’ websites. 
1.7 Children who have a statement of special educational needs or EHC plan which names the school, will be admitted, if the required standard is met. 
1.8 The Published Admission Number (PAN) for The Crossley Heath School is 180 (the PAN for NHGS is 180). 
1.9 The date of birth of all applicants must be between 1st September 2013 and 31st August 2014. If an applicant’s date of birth is outside their normal age group, for example, if the child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health, then an application will be considered under the policy’s Exceptional Circumstances section, 11.0. Please contact the admissions team at the school for more information
2 The Tests 
2.1 Entry to the two schools will be determined by academic ability and attainment as identified by admissions tests which will be a test of ability irrespective of sex, race or disability. The tests will be accessible to children with special educational needs and disabilities and appropriate, reasonable adjustments will be made based upon evidence provided by parents and/or primary school (see Appendix 1). Children sitting the tests may be required to have a photo taken on the day of the examination for the sole purpose of verifying their identity for the purposes of sitting the tests. The admissions test will consist of: a) a test in English and Verbal Reasoning (VR) b) a test in Mathematics and non- VR 
2.2 The scores for each test will be standardised and age-weighted. 
2.3 After the tests are completed, children will be placed in a single list based on their performance in terms of aggregated scores across both tests. Those with the highest scores will be at the top of the list which will form an ‘order of merit’. 
2.4 Following the tests, the information we will release will be the child’s order of merit and score. The tests are selection tests and not diagnostic tests. As such the scores are not used in the allocation process. The only information that is used is the order of merit. 
2.5 A candidate may only sit the admissions test once. Supplementary tests will be available to children who are unable to sit the original test for a valid reason. Valid reasons are as set out in Appendix 2. 
2.6 The tests will be conducted at the schools. The main admissions tests will usually be held on a Saturday in September or early October preceding the September of entry. For admission in September 2025 the test will be held on Saturday 21st September 2024. Registration for admissions will open on Friday 22nd March 2024. Parents who wish their child to take the admission test must complete a NHGS/CHS school registration form either online or by paper copy by Friday 28th June 2024. 
2.7 Parents of children registered for Pupil Premium (Free School Meals) must indicate this when registering for the test and provide evidence via email to admissions@nhgs.co.uk. Failure to provide the evidence could result in a child not being awarded a place at their preferred grammar school. 
2.8 No late applications will be considered without extenuating circumstances (see Appendix 2). 
3.0 Order of Merit 
3.1 Once the tests have been marked, the schools will inform parents in writing of the child’s position in order of merit. In order to reach the required standard, candidates must be in the top 510 places in the order of merit. Reaching the standard does not guarantee the offer of a place
4.0 Allocation of places 
4.1 Calderdale Local Authority is responsible for the co-ordinated scheme for admission to secondary schools in the LA area. Under its scheme, Parents may express up to five preferences for admission to all maintained schools. Only one offer of a place will be made by Calderdale for admission to any secondary school, including CHS. The priority in which parents express their preferences will be used to determine which school offer is made. 
4.2 In accordance with the details outlined in the Calderdale Admissions to Secondary Schools Booklet, the school will send a list to Calderdale LA of the children to be offered a place at one of the grammar schools as determined in section 5 of this policy. 
4.3 The system by which the LA allocates school places means that if, after applying the admissions criteria, a child appears on the eligible list of their first preference school, then this is the place that will be offered. A child with CHS as a 2nd or lower preference, even if they are eligible for a grammar school place because of their position in the order of merit, will not be offered a place if they are eligible for a school which they have placed at a higher preference on the initial application. 
4.4 The LA will distribute the formal offer of a place on 1 st March 2025 A single offer of a secondary place will be made by Calderdale LA for admission to a secondary school, including CHS, to parents of children resident in Calderdale. For those children living outside Calderdale, the offer will be made by their home LA. 
4.5 Parents whose child has not been offered a place at CHS at the allocation date but were deemed suitable by the grammar schools must notify Calderdale LA if they wish to be placed on the reallocation list to be considered for a place should one become available. The responsibility for the waiting list transfers from Calderdale LA to CHS Academy Trust in the first term of Year 7. At the start of the Autumn Term, CHS will receive a list from the LA of children who have requested reallocation to CHS. The reallocation list will be maintained until the last school day of December. The school will check with parents if they wish their child(ren) to remain on the waiting list for January 2026. 
4.6 Should a vacancy arise in Year 7 prior to the end of Autumn Term, children on the waiting list who sat the entrance examination in the previous year and who were next in the order of merit will be contacted to see if they wish to be considered for a place. From the start of Spring Term the arrangements detailed in section 7 will apply. 
5.0 Allocation of places and oversubscription criteria
5.1 If more children reach the required standard in the test than there are places at the school, children in the following categories who reach that standard will be offered a place according to the following oversubscription criteria, which will be applied in the following order: 
a) Children looked after and children previously looked after * (see definition below) 
b) Children attracting the Pupil Premium (PP) ** (see definition below) and children whose parent/carer is a current serving UK Armed Forces personnel will be treated as a child who has attracted Pupil Premium. Parents will need to provide evidence of their position within the armed forces to the schools no later than the end of the September in the year of application. Any evidence received after this date will be considered as late and will only be considered after the main round of allocations has been made.

Once these places have been allocated the remaining places at CHS will be offered according to the order of merit until the school reaches its PAN. Where two or more children achieve the same score as the child in the last place to be offered at CHS the following oversubscription criteria will apply as a tie breaker:
i. Siblings (to include step siblings, foster siblings, and adopted siblings living permanently in the same address) of children presently attending the school.

ii. Proximity of the child’s home to the school, with those living nearer accorded the highest priority. Distance will be calculated using a straight line measurement from the pupil’s home to the closest designated school gate. Distances will be calculated using the LA’s Geographical Information System (GIS). To ensure consistency, all measurements will be carried out by the LA’s GIS system and no other method of measuring distance will be considered. Each property has a coordinate taken from Ordnance Survey ADDRESS-POINT data. This is the point which distance measurements will be taken from. If there is a shared responsibility between parents, the home that is registered for child benefit will be used or information from the courts showing which home the child resides in for most of the time. For families that are not eligible to claim child benefit, the address that was entered onto the application form at the time of applying for a place, will be the address used as the child’s predominant address.

* A 'looked after child' or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order including those who appear [to the admission authority] to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. A looked after child is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989).

**Children attracting Pupil Premium are those who have been registered for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the 6 years prior to the closing date for registering for the test. The school will require evidence of Pupil Premium registration and reserves the right to withdraw the offer of a place if the offer has been made on the basis of an incorrect, fraudulent or misleading application. Parents of children attracting Pupil Premium must have ticked the Pupil Premium box when registering their child for the test. Parents will need to provide evidence of Pupil Premium registration to the schools no later than the end of the September in the year of application. Any evidence received after this date will be considered as late and will only be considered after the main round of allocations has been made.