Admissions are accepted between ages 11 and 16 from other schools, with tests in English, Mathematics, Science and Modern Foreign Languages at an appropriate level administered.

After a long fundraising campaign, the school achieved Specialist Science College status in 2004, which funded the refurbishment and extension of existing laboratories and the construction of a new one.

[citation needed] The North Halifax Grammar School consists of several different buildings, each of which houses the appropriate facilities for separate subjects.

In 2016, NHGS was granted £2.9 million for the construction of a new sports building, which now sits on the upper fields of the school.

It has facilities such as a large sports hall, a small gym with new equipment, a dance studio, spacious changing rooms and classrooms available to the public to rent on weekends.

Students who do not wish to play ball games can stay in the East Wing Yard or in the outdoor space surrounding the languages centre or the science block where there are seating areas available.

A new common-room allowed the school to redevelop the previous space into a new Sixth Form study room with desks and several computers.

[citation needed] In Sixth Form, students are offered the chance to take part in several other extra-curricular activities, such as the Young Enterprise Company Programme.

[citation needed] In 2012, a Young Enterprise company from the school, "cloud-nine", won the Cisco Human Networking award for the United Kingdom.