FAIRFIELD Primary School has been defended by its own Parent Teacher Association after it was categorised as Amber by the Welsh Government.

Paul Fenton, vice chairman of the PTA, said the Amber categorisation "is not in anyway a true interpretation of the good work that is taking place at Fairfield" and he accused the Welsh Government of treating the school "dreadfully and most unjustly".

He said staff and pupils did not deserve an Amber categorisation awarded to schools in need of improvement, and urged the Welsh Education Minister Huw Lewis, who lives in Penarth, to visit the school unannounced to see the "professionalism and passion of the staff" and the "happy faces of the children who love being at the school".

The new National Categorisation System was introduced by the Welsh Government to help identify schools in Wales in need of the most support. Under the new system schools will be assessed on both their performance and their ability to improve.

All schools were allocated one of four colours with green representing the top performing schools, yellow for good schools, amber for schools in need of improvement and red for schools in need of the most improvement.

In Penarth five school's were categorised as green, seven were yellow and two, including Fairfield, were amber.

Paul Fenton, speaking to the Penarth Times, said the school was performing above LEA and Wales results in statutory tests, and their teacher results were in line with these tests and high levels of achievement at level five at year six.

"This data driven, pilot, political exercise does not compare like for like," he said.

"The Additional Resource Base (ARB) (pupils with moderate learning difficulties) at Fairfield is included in the process of categorisation. None of of the 'Green' schools have an ARB. With the exception of one school that has pupils with hearing impairments it appears that Fairfield Primary School is being discriminated by this process."

He added: "It's a pity the Welsh Government pays more credence to academic achievement,which is important, but rather than getting the best out of every pupil whatever his or hers capabilities are. This is the philosophy of the teaching staff at Fairfield."

After the Amber categorisation the school's head teacher held two parent forums to allay their concerns.

Ms S Lewis "vigorously defender her staff" and promised to introduce progress reports on a regular basis.

Mr Fenton, who attended the first well-attended meeting, said: "Ms S Lewis faced some searching questions and answered them with a number of evidenced answers, including statistics contradicting the Amber categorisation.

"It was heartwarming during this meeting to hear from a number of parents who were passionately praising the staff and the school in general. Two in particular had children at the school with learning difficulties. Both were saying that their respective children had come on 'leaps and bounds' since joining the school."

A Welsh Government spokesman defended the school categorisation system and said they aimed to drive up performances for both school's and pupils.

“The final school categorisation outcomes were determined by and owned by each regional consortium and all schools were made aware of their scores prior to publication," he said.

“The main aim of the categorisation system is to help identify those schools in Wales in need of the most support which is why it assesses school on both their performance and their ability to improve. Ultimately this is about driving up performance for all Welsh schools and for all Welsh pupils.”