SCHOOLS across Penarth have once again recorded big successes in the latest school categorisation bandings.

The Welsh Government’s National School Categorisation System, introduced in 2014, places schools into one of four colour-coded categories – green, yellow, amber, and red – to demonstrate the level of support they need.

Red-scoring schools require the most and green scoring schools the least.

The majority of schools in Penarth – 11 out of 14 – have achieved the top colour coding –‘green’.

In terms of secondary schools, Stanwell School and St Cyres School were rated ‘green’ and ‘yellow’ respectively.

And the following primary schools all achieved ‘green’ ratings: Albert Primary, Cogan Primary, Victoria Primary, Evenlode Primary, Dinas Powys Primary, St Joseph’s Primary School, Sully Primary, Ysgol Pen-y-Garth and St Andrew’s Major Church in Wales Primary.

Fairfield Primary and Llandough Primary were both handed ‘yellow’ ratings.

And the Vale’s newest special school Ysgol Y Deri was given a ‘green’.

After the results were released, the Welsh Government’s cabinet secretary for education Kirsty Williams said she was “pleased” with the results.

She said: “I’m pleased to see that even more of our schools are now in the green and yellow categories, continuing on with the upward trend we have seen over the past few years.

“These schools have a key role to play in supporting other schools to improve by sharing their expertise, skills and good practice.

“The system has become more sophisticated over time and now allows for a much broader range of factors about a school’s ability to improve to be taken into account – leading to a tailored programme of support and intervention which meets the needs of all pupils.”

And a Vale of Glamorgan Council spokesman also described the results as “encouraging”.

He said: “This Welsh Government assessment once again reflects positively on Vale schools.

“We have none in the lowest band and all but two in the top two bands.”

He added: “Though the results are encouraging, it is important to note this categorisation is not a classification of a school but rather demonstrates how much additional support it receives.”

Some 88.4 per cent of primary schools and 69.4 per cent of secondary schools across Wales are now in the ‘green’ and ‘yellow’ categories.

This increase from last year continues the upward trend since 2015.

In Wales as a whole there has also been a rise in the number of schools in the ‘green’ category by 6.2 percentage points to 41.6 per cent. While the proportion of ‘red’ schools is still around the same as last year in the primary sector, in the secondary sector, this has decreased by 1.8 percentage points.

And 52.5 per cent of special schools across Wales have been categorised as ‘green’, and needing less support, with no schools categorised as red and in need of most support.

If you are require any additional information on the National Categorisation system you can get it from visiting bit.ly/2SfLhou