SECONDARY schools found themselves under the spotlight last week when new performance band figures were released.
The banding system, undertaken by the Welsh Government, highlights the performance of all Welsh secondary schools.
The figures, uses criteria including GCSE exam results and attendance, to place schools in bands ranging from one for the best to five for the worst.
Ysgol Dinas Bran in Llangollen received top marks with a band 1 which means it is ‘generally doing well’.
Ysgol Brynhyfryd in Ruthin and St Brigids School in Denbigh were both rated band 2, which again shows ‘good performance’.
Ysgol Glan Clwyd in St Asaph received band 3, with ‘areas of strength’ and areas where it ‘needs to improve’.
But Ysgol y Berwyn in Bala and Denbigh High School both scored band 4 which mean they both have ‘more areas of weakness’.
Half of Denbighshire schools appeared in the top two bands, with no schools appearing in the bottom band.
Hywyn Williams, corporate director - learning and communities, said: "We know, this year, that schools across Denbighshire have made significant improvements at Key Stage 4, as the official confirmation of the GCSE results published last week highlighted.
“I would like to stress that school banding is only one method of measuring pupil performance and does not represent performance across the ability range.
“In Denbighshire there are students in every school that achieve excellent results.
“The local authority and schools also take into consideration the achievements of children of all abilities, which is not reflected in this banding information.”
Ann Jones Vale of Clwyd AM said: “The Welsh Government has made it clear that this information is backed up with a strategy of support for schools that need it most.
“I hope that this accessible information will help to avoid a repeat of the failure we saw in Denbighshire several years ago. If we can spot problems sooner, we can find solutions sooner.
“Teachers and pupils in Denbighshire have worked incredibly hard to drive up standards and we are seeing signs of success in our schools.
“People deserve to know where improvement is needed and I am confident that this system will help us keep a strong focus on that task.”
And Clwyd West AM Darren Millar said: “Accessible information on standards in our schools has the potential to be a valuable tool for parents, but the new system has flaws and some of the measures used to rank the schools are out of the control of headteachers - that's unfair.
“The new banding system is complex and could cause confusion for parents. It may also have a negative impact on staff morale, even in schools which perform well academically.”
Dewi Jones, Gwynedd Council’s head of education said: “As this year’s GCSE and A-Level results show, Gwynedd’s secondary schools provide an excellent education for our young people. Those results show that Gwynedd’s schools performed better than the Welsh-average in most key areas.
“The banding data is part of a Welsh Government initiative to group schools according to a range of factors with the aim being to establish priorities for differentiated support.
“These bands do not necessarily provide a fair picture of each individual school’s performance and, as the Education Minister has emphasised, the data should not be used as the basis for creating divisive school league tables.”
Neighbouring counties results reveal that one third of Wrexham’s secondary schools have been given the lowest rating.
Flintshire has fared better in the analysis, with no band five schools.
Education minister Leighton Andrews said: “If we are to drive up standards across the board in Wales, we need to know how our schools are performing.
“It’s not about labelling, naming or shaming, or creating a crude league table.
“It is about putting schools into groups to identify which need our support and which we can learn from.”