Schools in Caerphilly County Borough have shown improvement, under the Welsh Government’s National Categorisation System.
Introduced in 2014, it uses four categories – green, yellow, amber and red. Schools in the green category are deemed to be in need of the least support, while schools in the red category are those identified as needing the most support.
Each school’s category is determined by performance data and capacity to improve in areas such as leadership, teaching and learning.
In Caerphilly County Borough, 17 primary schools were green; 52 yellow; three amber; and one red.
In secondary schools, six were classed as yellow; six amber; and one red.
Both sets of categories demonstrate an improvement on last year’s categorisations. Primary schools in green and yellow are above the Welsh average, although secondary schools in the same categories are below the average.
Cllr Derek Havard, Cabinet Member for Education said, “It’s encouraging to see that schools across the county borough continue to work hard to raise standards and deliver quality learning environments for pupils.
“We liaise closely with all our schools and the regional Education Achievement Service to ensure appropriate support is provided where necessary and we will continue to build on recent positive progress.
“It is important that we now reflect on these latest categorisation figures and ensure that all stakeholders work together to deliver further improvements.”
Across Wales, schools overall showed improvement.
NUT Wales secretary David Evans said: “With more schools in both the primary and secondary sector placed in the top green category, and all other categories seeing a decrease we can say this year’s figures are positive news.
“However, we should not misrepresent the fact that categorisation is but one model for evaluation and simply a snapshot of performance.”
Cabinet Secretary for Education Kirsty Williams AM said: “This system is not about grading, labelling or creating crude league tables but about providing support and encouraging improvement in our schools.
“It is about putting schools into a position that helps them to identify areas they can strengthen and what they need to do to achieve further improvements.
“The figures we have published show that 84.4% of primary and 64.6% of secondary schools are now in the green and yellow categories. This increase is to be welcomed, as these schools will have a key role to play in supporting other schools, sharing their skills, expertise, and good practice. In this way they will be making a vital contribution to our national mission of driving forward improvements in Welsh schools and moving us towards a self-improving system.”
However, the Welsh Conservatives have questioned the results stating they sat “at odds” with recent independent reports.
Education spokesman Darren Millar AM said: “The Welsh Labour-led Government must explain why the ratings they have published are so out of kilter with the independent assessments of performance undertaken by PISA and Estyn.
“If we want an education system that competes with the best in the world, then we must be honest about the failings in Welsh schools – and work with the teaching profession and other stakeholders to solve them.”