THE leader of Carmarthenshire County Council has praised the efforts of county schools which have achieved the highest accolade in the nation’s new colour-coded performance tables.

Under the new system, produced for the Welsh Government, each school is a colour- graded from green - a school achieving excellent results - through yellow, amber and to red.

Of the 1,332 Welsh primary schools assessed, 206 have been placed in the green category while 58 received a red rating

Of the 211 secondary Welsh schools, 30 were rated as green 23 red.

One of the Amman Valley schools to achieve the top rating was Garnant's Ysgol y Bedol.

Current chair of Governors and leader of Carmarthenshire County Council, Kevin Madge, praised the headteacher and staff at Ysgol y Bedol, which only came into existence eight years ago.

“Considering where we have come from since closing three schools in 2006, to have achieved a place in the green zone is a remarkable achievement,” said Cllr Madge.

“I am really proud of the staff, the pupils, the parents and everyone involved at Ysgol y Bedol for all their hard work.

“Donna Williams has done a fantastic job as headteacher – under her leadership, the staff have done a brilliant job.”

Schools also appearing in the green zone include, Brynaman, Ysgol Bro Banw, Ysgol Gymraeg Rhydaman, Ysgol Gymraeg Teilo Sant, Ysgol Parcyrhun, Ysgol Gwaun-cae-Gurwen and Ysgol Pontardawe.

Cwmtawe Community School was the only secondary in the area to be rated as green.

Tycroes, Saron, Ysgol Rhys Prichard and Ysgol Bro Dinefwr are among those rated in the yellow zone.

Meanwhile Ysgol Dyffryn Amman is one of the local schools in the amber zone, along with Llandeilo CP and Cross Hands CP.

Ysgol Gynradd Blaenau was the only local school to be listed in the red zone – in need of the greatest improvement.

Cllr Kevin Madge added, “I would like to praise all the schools in Carmarthenshire who achieved excellent results.

“We need to get everyone up to that level.”

Category breakdown

Green: Highly effective schools with a track record of a high level of achievement.

Yellow: Effective schools with good achievement but which need to take action to improve.

Amber: Need improvement and are not improving quickly enough. They will receive intervention and short term support.

Red: In need of the greatest improvement. Will receive intensive support. They are experiencing a decline in key performance aspects.