Welsh Government's Categorisation of Schools

School's are given a colour rating based on a number of factors. The ratings are explained below:

Green - highly effective schools

Yellow - effective

Amber - in need of improvement

Red - in need of greatest improvement

The rating a school gets, also reflects how much support the school is entitled to from the local authority and the school's advisor.

Green - 4 days

Yellow- 10 days

Amber - 15 days

Red - 26 days

We have been rated as amber - in need of improvement. This rating is based on two key areas. The first is on the data of the school and the second is based on the school's capacity to improve.

The school's data is always very tricky. We are compared with other schools across Wales. However, most other schools we are compared with don't have a Special Needs Resource Base. Our data will always be lower than other schools, therefore it is not really a fair comparison.

However, we have made considerable improvements in our data. For example at the end of the Juniors the % of children reaching the expected level in 2015 was 78% and at the end of this year we are on track for 83%. This is a real improvement, although we would like the figure to be 88% next academic year.

Our advisor in his categorisation report is really pleased with the improvements we have made over the last 2 years as a school and has said,

"This school now feels like a yellow school and I'm sure it will be in the next round of categorisation."

The amber rating acknowledges that we still have improvements to make but we are certainly on track and going in the right direction.

We have included some sections from our advisor's report about the categorisation that we hope you will find encouraging.

• Leadership at the school has developed into a strong partnership. The Head and Deputy have a clear vision and strategy for improvement and work effectively to achieve these aims. This vision is shared by staff and governors.

• Staff have clear expectations and all are now responding to the greater challenge.

• The school has comprehensive monitoring procedures in place to support effective self-evaluation. There is a clear monitoring timetable in place which is closely adhered to. Issues identified through the monitoring process are followed up to ensure a direct impact upon teaching and learning.

• The monitoring of teaching is effective and has been externally verified. Teaching staff have improved practice and nearly all teaching is at least good.

If you have any further questions about the categorisation please don't hesitate to come and ask us.

Mr Saunders and Mrs Robbins