The Crossley Heath School 11 Plus (11+) Exam Guide

About The Crossley Heath School

The Crossley Heath School is a co-educational state grammar school for pupils aged 11 to 18, in Halifax, Calderdale. The school admits 180 pupils into Year 7 each year.

Entry into Year 7 is by competitive entrance test, with all written elements tested on a single day in September of Year 6.

Key information for 2027 entry to The Crossley Heath School at 11 Plus (11+)

• School type: co-educational grammar school
• Test provider: FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise)
• Registration window: 20 March – 26 June 2026
• Exam date: Saturday 19 September 2026
• CAF deadline: 31 October 2026
• National Offer Day: 1 March 2027
• Year 7 places available: 180
• Contact details: www.crossleyheath.org.uk

Admissions information for 2027 entry to The Crossley Heath School at 11 Plus (11+)

The Crossley Heath School uses the FSCE Entrance Test, written by Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE). FSCE is a company established in 2022 which is itself a trading company of Reading School, so the test is written by a grammar school for grammar schools rather than by an outside assessment provider.

The school’s stated reason for choosing FSCE is that the test covers only the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum taught up to the end of Year 5, which is intended to reduce the advantage held by tutored children.

For admission into Year 7 at The Crossley Heath School in 2027, you must first register your child for the entrance test through the joint Halifax Grammar Schools online application system. Your child sits one test only, and the result feeds a single combined order of merit across the 360 Year 7 places at The Crossley Heath School and The North Halifax Grammar School. Registration for 2027 entry opens on 20 March 2026 and closes on 26 June 2026. All written elements are tested on a single day, Saturday 19 September 2026, and a results date has not been published either, so check the school’s admissions page nearer the time.

You must then separately name The Crossley Heath School on your local authority’s Common Application Form (CAF) by its national deadline of 31 October 2026. Registering for the test is not the same as applying for a school place, and both steps are required.

Selection is made strictly in line with the school’s published admissions policy, based on academic ability and attainment as shown in the entrance exam. The English and maths papers are marked by computer and age-standardised; creative writing is marked separately.

For an overview of how the wider FSCE test works, including the Adventure, Beacon and Discovery papers, see our full FSCE 11+ guide.

How can I register my child for the 11 Plus (11+) exams at The Crossley Heath School?

Registration opens on 20 March 2026 and closes on 26 June 2026 for 2027 entry. You register through the joint Halifax Grammar Schools online application system, which is linked from The Crossley Heath School’s admissions page.

Make sure you check the school website for the registration link and the current admission policy, as dates and the exact test date change from year to year. If you are planning ahead for a younger child, use this page as a guide to the format, and check the school’s website nearer the time for that cycle’s exact dates.

The application process is:

• Register your child for the entrance test via the Halifax Grammar Schools online application system
• Sit the entrance test on the school’s single test day in September of Year 6
• Receive your test results from the school
• Complete your local authority’s Common Application Form (CAF), naming The Crossley Heath School, by 31 October 2026
• Receive your offer on National Offer Day, 1 March 2027

What is the 11 Plus (11+) entrance exam format for The Crossley Heath School?

Children sit three papers in total, covering multiple-choice and short-written-answer questions in English and maths, plus a creative writing task. Papers other than creative writing are marked by computer and age-standardised.

The three papers, in FSCE’s own naming, are:

• Adventure Paper – English and maths questions in multiple-choice format. Answers are marked by shading ovals on a separate answer sheet, which is then marked by computer.
• Beacon Paper – English and maths questions answered with short written answers, written into boxes on a separate answer sheet, one digit or one capital letter per box.
• Discovery Paper – a longer handwritten creative writing task, written in response to a prompt. Only the answer sheet is marked.

A rough guide to topics covered:

• Maths – arithmetic, fractions, decimals and percentages, measurement and unit conversions, geometry, statistics and handling data, word questions
• English – reading comprehension, inference, vocabulary in context, spelling, punctuation and grammar

There is no verbal reasoning and no non-verbal reasoning at The Crossley Heath School.

It is important to note that the way an FSCE test is run differs from most other 11+ exams:

• Instructions are played from a voice recording rather than read out by an invigilator. The recording says when to open the booklet, which page to turn to, and how long each section lasts.
• Answers go on a separate answer sheet. Nothing written in the question booklet is marked.
• Children must write in black biro or ballpoint pen. Frixion pens are allowed, but pencils are not.
• Rulers, protractors, dictionaries, calculators, scrap paper, stopwatches, phones and smart watches are not permitted.
• Multiple-choice ovals must be fully shaded. A line or a tick through an oval will not be read correctly.
• No marks are deducted for a wrong answer.
• Spare time at the end of a section can only be spent on that section. Once a section is closed, your child cannot return to it.

The multiple-choice and short-answer papers are marked using optical mark recognition, with people checking any answers the scanner finds unclear, and scores are then age-standardised.

The Crossley Heath School 11 Plus (11+) top tips for your child

• Make sure you are familiar and confident with the KS2 syllabus up to the end of Year 5, as this is what the questions are based on. You will need to apply what you know to unfamiliar situations.
• Read as much as possible in the run-up to the exam. This builds your vocabulary and gives you practice at reading and understanding texts quickly, which helps in the English sections.
• Listen to the recorded instructions carefully! Do not turn over any pages or start a new section before you are told to.
• Check your answer sheet as you go. Make sure the number on the answer sheet matches the number of the question you are answering in the booklet.
• Practise in black pen. If you are used to working in pencil, do a few papers in biro so that writing without an eraser is not new on the day.
• Shade the ovals fully. A line or a tick through an oval will not be read properly by the computer.
• Don’t leave any blanks! No marks are taken away for a wrong answer, so it is always worth putting something down.
• For the Discovery paper, spend a minute or two planning what you want to say before you start writing. Only your answer sheet is marked, so make sure your best version ends up there.
• Pay attention to the time! Move on if you are stuck, and come back to the question later if there is time left in that section.

How to prepare your child for The Crossley Heath School 11 Plus (11+) exam

Start with the official FSCE Familiarisation Guides, which The Crossley Heath School publishes free on its admissions page in separate versions for children and for parents, alongside an FSCE FAQ. These contain sample questions and sample answer sheets, and are a useful first look at the layout your child will meet on the day.

Beyond that, the most useful way to prepare is to use practice tests to familiarise your child with the exam format. This gives them practice at working to a clock, transferring answers to a separate answer sheet, and moving between multiple-choice, short written and creative writing tasks, so that the format itself holds no surprises on the day.

Because The Crossley Heath School sets a multiple-choice paper (Adventure), a short-written-answer paper (Beacon) and a creative writing paper (Discovery), practice in all three formats is worthwhile. We would not recommend buying verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning material for this school, as none of it appears in the test.

For The Crossley Heath School 11+ preparation, we recommend the following packs: