ONE third of Wrexham’s secondary schools have been given the lowest rating in the Welsh Government’s new performance bands.
Flintshire has fared better in the analysis, which uses criteria including GCSE exam results and attendance to place schools in bands ranging from one for the best to five for the worst.
In Wrexham, three of the borough’s nine secondary schools – Rhosnesni High, Ysgol Bryn Alyn and Ysgol Clywedog – are in band five, while St Joseph’s Catholic and Anglican High and Ysgol Ruabon have been placed in band one.
In Flintshire there are no band five schools, but three – Alun, Holywell High and St Richard Gwyn High – are in band four.
Most of the county’s other schools are banded either three or two and just one – Castell Alun – is in the top band.
Ysgol Dinas Bran in Llangollen is also placed in band one.
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.
“We will now be exploring how we can best support those schools in the lower bands so they can begin their improvement journey.”
The Welsh Government has also taken account of the standards achieved in numeracy and literacy, as well as the level of poverty of pupils in the school, as this can have an impact on achievement.
Ian Budd, Flintshire Council’s director of lifelong learning, said: “Local authorities have been working with the national school standards unit in taking this work forward. This is about working together to improve performance.
“The bandings and school profiles are part of the regular discussions between local authorities and schools about the support that needs to be put in place to raise standards.”
John Davies, Wrexham Council’s head of lifelong learning, said: “Wrexham Council already has a well-established and agreed process in place for considering a wide range of data and information about its schools. That information is used to ensure that available resources are targeted at schools which require support.
“The information from the national school banding system will be considered within the above process in the future.”