SCHOOLS in the Vale of Glamorgan have been rated as some of the best in Wales in a report published by Welsh Government this week.

The National School Categorisation System, which came into force in 2014, reviews how well each primary and secondary school in Wales is performing.

Each is rated on a scale of one to four for its current standards. Schools are then given one of four ratings, A to D, for their ability to improve further.

Finally they are placed into one of four colour coded categories - green, yellow, amber, or red - which rate the level of future support or challenge needed for them to progress further.

Although standards in the Vale of Glamorgan were previously rated very highly, this year’s results have seen a surge with Vale schools moving into the top category for standards with almost half (43.1 per cent) being placed in the top group, a figure that has more than doubled since January 2015. More than three quarters of the Vale’s schools (76.4 per cent) were placed in the top two groups.

Even more encouraging for the county is that more than 80 per cent of the schools were rated as having the highest levels of potential for further improvement.

Under the colour coding system nearly nine out of ten schools were rated as green or yellow.

Councillor Chris Elmore, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Schools, said: “National categorisation is a vital tool in our drive to continue to improve our schools. The categorisation decision takes into account important areas such as literacy and numeracy, alongside the ability of the school to make progress.

“Today’s results show that not only are the Vale’s schools some of the best in Wales but also that the excellent work being undertaken by both the Vale of Glamorgan Council in partnership with the Central South Consortium and the schools themselves means they are likely to become even better in the future.

“More importantly these figures help us to identify the areas on which to focus our efforts in the future to ensure that no school or pupil is left behind as education standards across the Vale of Glamorgan continue to rise.”

The Vale of Glamorgan Council oversees the running of 59 schools across the county. Earlier this year many of these celebrated not only their best ever exam results but also some of the highest levels of achievement in Wales.

The figures released by Welsh Government come less than a month after the Vale of Glamorgan Council was commended by the education inspectorate Estyn for its improvement over the last three years.