TWO secondary schools which have moved into new multi-million pound buildings went in opposite directions in the latest Wales school categorisation results.
The colour-coding green/yellow/amber/red system that shows the level of extra support a school needs saw Monmouth Comprehensive School move up to the top ‘green’ status, meaning it requires minimum help.
As part of the system introduced in 2014, those schools in the ‘green’ category recieve up to four days of help from ‘challenge advisers’ who lead on school improvement.
‘Yellow’ schools recieve a total of up to 10 days help, while ‘amber’ get 15 and ‘red’ schools 25.
Monmouth Comprehensive staff and students moved into their new £40m building last September, a year after Caldicot Comprehensive switched to its new £36m state-of-the art home.
Caldicot’s ‘amber’ rating comes just two months after Welsh education inspector Estyn judged three of the school’s five categories ‘adequate’ but in need of improvement, with the other two standards rated ‘good’.
Among the area’s primary schools, Overmonnow and Kymin View in Monmouth, and Ysgol Gymraeg y Ffin in Caldicot all moved up from ‘amber’ to ‘green’, with Thornwell and the Dell in Chepstow, and Shirenewton, retaining the highest status.
St Mary’s Roman Catholic School in Bulwark was one of only two schools in the county to suffer a two-tier fall from ‘green’, though, dropping down to ‘amber’, which it shared with Castle Park in Caldicot.
Yellow-rated primaries included Llandogo, Trellech, Pembroke in Chepstow, Dewstow, Archbishop Rowan Williams VA in Portskewett, and Osbaston Church in Wales School in Monmouth.
The county’s only special school, Mounton House near Chepstow, improved from ‘amber’ to ‘yellow’.
Cllr Richard John, Monmouthshire County Council’s cabinet member for children and young people, said: “The results show that there are more Monmouthshire schools in the top ‘green’ category than ever before, including two of our four secondary schools, while just one school is categorised as ‘red’ and will continue to receive significant support.
“We are committed to ensuring that all schools in the county receive the most appropriate support and challenge to continue the drive to raise standards.
“Monmouthshire schools and clusters continue to build their capacity to self-improve and are becoming more resilient.
“It is important that all educational professionals work together to ensure schools and educational settings receive the best possible support to enable the realisation of the new curriculum and the reform agenda. With our partners, we will be providing and brokering tailored support for all schools and settings.
“We will continue to support agreed identified areas for improvement and will strive to share current best practice within and beyond the county.” Wales has four schools improvement consortia which have an annual budget of £139m.