North Halifax Grammar School

🎓 Limited Sixth Form Places Available! 🎓

Still exploring your options for this September? We have a small number of places remaining on some Sixth Form courses!

If you’d like to drop in for an informal chat with a member of our Sixth Form team tomorrow between 9:30 and 12:00, (Friday 21st August), we’d be delighted to meet you and discuss your choices.

✉️ Email: [email protected]

We would love to hear from you! ✨

OpenDays

Congratulations to you, Year 11. It has been wonderful to share your successes today.

33% Grades 8/9
74% Grades 6-9
100% Brilliant Human Beings!

We hope that you are all proud of what you have achieved so far. Spending the last five years with you has been a privilege - not only have you worked hard academically and achieved the best set of results over the last four years, but you have also demonstrated that you are a multi-talented, independendently-minded and engaging group of human beings with a fascinating array of interests.

We would like to say well done to every single one of you for making this milestone and wish you all the very best as you begin the next stage of your education. We look forward to welcoming the vast majority of you back into the Sixth Form to continue the exciting journey and to lay strong foundations for your future success.

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

We would like to congratulate our students on their A Level results and the culmination of years of hard work and commitment.

Students achieved an average grade of B, with 86% attaining grades C or above and 20 students securing straight A*/A grades. We are particularly proud of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who achieved an average grade of a B.

Behind these results are individual stories of perseverance, resilience and success. This year group has supported one another, embraced opportunities and overcome challenges with determination.

With students progressing to a wide range of university courses, degree apprenticeships and employment opportunities, we look forward to seeing what they achieve next. Congratulations to all of our leavers, and best wishes for the future.

For our full statement, please visit the website:
https://www.nhgs.co.uk/our-academy/exam-results

Greece 2026 🇬🇷: Days 6 and 7

Day 6
Another early start for our final beach patrol then a visit to the bewitching ancient town of monemvasia for sightseeing and some retail therapy. Late afternoon we visited the wildlife rehabilitation centre where students were shown some of the injured animals in care.

Day 7

The team had a leisurely morning and then began the journey to Athens. We stopped in Sparta for lunch. Early night tonight as we are picked up at 4 am tomorrow to start the journey back to the UK.

All students are well and have been an absolute credit to the school/parents and carers. I am sure they will return or many tales of their adventures.

Mr Downing and Miss Middleton

Greece 2026: Day 5

Another busy day with breakfast on the beach at 6:30 am before dawn patrol. The team split into three separate entities responsible for: Turtle nest spotting, threats to the nests and one collecting dangerous items to wildlife. Next stop was the caves at Kastania and then late lunch at a local taverna. The students had some down time this afternoon to cool off after the morning's activities. After their evening meal the students have taken part in an astronomy workshop. Another early start tomorrow so early to bed for everyone!

Greece 2026: Day 4 🇬🇷

This morning we heard about the amazing work that NGO Tulipa Goulimyi Wildlife Rescue do and saw some of the wild animals they are currently rehabilitating. Also, students learnt how to identify and excavate a sea turtle nest. This afternoon when the heat had subsided, students had the opportunity to put into practice the things they had learnt this morning and surveyed a nest full of eggs and protected from wildlife and human disruption. Early night for all as we have a 5 a.m. start in the morning to do a dawn patrol.

Our annual SPEECH DAY celebration was a joyful occasion where we could celebrate both the successes of our students and the power of the spoken word. The day celebrates those students who have really demonstrated the core values of NHGS: SCHOLARSHIP, FELLOWSHIP and LEADERSHIP. Students who have demonstrated a real love of learning and determination to succeed even against the odds, a strong sense of respect for themselves and others, and the willingness to shoulder responsibility and lead with integrity.

Our three Oratory Award winners, selected during a process which saw the entire school stand up and speak out, spoke eloquently. Orla made us reflect on the consequences of our actions, and the potential power that we hold in The Butterfly Effect. Vlada, in It's More than Volunteering, extolled the virtues of altruism and demonstrated how volunteering benefits the volunteer as much, if not more, than those who receive aid. Aaryan, in My Brother, Ayaan, shared the story of his brother in a moving speech that made us reflect on the use of labels to describe SEND students and the future of SEND education. We were also treated to a speech by Ayesha from the Articulation competition on Millais' Ophelia reflecting on the combination of beauty and tragedy in the portrait, and the art behind it. We look forward to sharing videos of these speeches with you in September.

Our guest speaker, Mr Nadeem Mir QPM, a former Chief Inspector with Greater Manchester Police and current Chair of Calderdale Council of Mosques, drew on decades of experience in policing and community leadership as he addressed the audience with a powerful speech on the importance of oracy for social cohesion. He stressed that not only is it important to speak with clarity and purpose, developing relationships through dialogue and understanding, but also to listen carefully to one another. He reminded us that conflict can often be brought to an end not simply because someone spoke, but because someone listened.

Fine music accompanied fine voices and we also heard from the Choral Group, and winners of our School Music competition playing the saxophone, piano and Spanish guitar. The event was attended by the Mayor and other dignitaries including our generous sponsors, by award-winners and their families, and by a Year 7 audience who listened attentively. These students have just completed their first year of secondary school and have made a brilliant start to life at NHGS, also demonstrating a high level of engagement with learning and extra-curricular opportunities, and the kind and cooperative ethos we value - and we look forward to seeing them follow in the footsteps of our award winners.

Our in year admissions tests will take place on the following days:

Saturday 26th September for Year 8 to Year 10
Saturday 23rd January for Year 7 to Year 10

🏁 What a finish!

The final Wedensday lunchtime of term saw our Year 8 students battle it out in the "Drive to the Line" Robot Car Challenge. After weeks of designing, building and programming their vehicles, it was fantastic to see their innovation and teamwork in action.

Well done to Talha, Declan, Noach (in 8.1) and Shanice, Amina and Daniel (in 8.6).

Thank you to Hansen Plywoods for making this exciting STEM opportunity possible. 🚗🤖

Mace Masters 2026

A lovely event to cap off the year of public speaking at NHGS. After two postponements - and coming four months after the original scheduled date - it might be reasonable to think that our Year 10 students would have lost their enthusiasm for these debates, coming, as they did, at the end of a long summer term. Not a bit of it. Of the eighteen students that took part, only three had any experience of formal public speaking, and none had ever debated in this format before, but you wouldn’t know it, such was the overall standard.

The first debate saw the proposition (Andriea, Grace and Annabelle) argue the case for property damage as a legitimate tactic for environmental protest, with thoughtful and reasoned opposition from Heidi, Mischa and Aiza. Honorary mentions from Miss Kent (our head judge) at the end of the night went to Grace for her points of information, and to Mischa for the clarity of her reasoning.

The second debate was equally impressive: Ashan, Sachin and - the summariser of the evening - Stanley arguing in support of a regulated market for the sale of human organs, with Jemima, Delilah and Freya, who was commended for the passion of her closing summary, making the case for the opposition.

Finally, Leon, Solomon and Simon proposed the implementation of a maximum wage, one linked to the lowest-paid in any company, and did so impressively, but this was countered by an excellent first-time performance by the night’s winning team, Adam, Esa and Azaan, who managed to make the potentially difficult case for the highest earners into a question of social conscience and individual liberty for all. They did so with some skill, and, as with many of their competitors, showed an impressive ability to think on their feet and make calm, coherent arguments under pressure.

Congratulations and thanks go to them and to all six teams for their perseverance and willingness to take themselves out of their comfort zone. Thanks also to all staff who supported this event, and to our returning Year 13 students, Molly and Lucy, for chairing and judging duties.

Mr O'Neill