GWENT has seen an increase in the number of “highly effective” schools according to colour-coded bandings released by the Welsh Government today.

The system – originally unveiled in 2015 – rates schools either green, yellow, amber or red depending on its performance.

Schools awarded a green colour – the highest – are said to be “highly effective”, while the red category indicates the school needs the greatest amount of improvement.

A total of 12 schools in Gwent received red ratings.

More positively, there were 63 schools which were awarded the highest green bracket – an increase of 11 from last year.

The assessment revealed that Newport has the highest proportion of yellow and green schools at primary level in Gwent, with more than half (52 per cent) of all schools ranked in the highest category of green.

Between primary and secondary level there was a total of 25 across the city.

Cllr Gail Giles, cabinet member for education and young people, said: “We are of course pleased to see such a high number of our schools ranked so well. It is testament to the hard work of our governors, teachers, pupils, families and the council’s education team.

“We pride ourselves on a good working relationship with our schools.

“We will continue to encourage ongoing improvement across our schools, and for those schools who may have more of an improvement journey ahead of them, we will ensure they are able to access all the support needed and available.”

Newport had two schools –Milton Junior and St Julian’s – marked as red.

In Monmouthshire, Usk Church in Wales Primary, Cantref Primary School and Goytre Fawr Primary School jumped to green ratings this time around. There were a total of nine rated green county-wide.

Magor Church in Wales was the only school in the area to receive a red rating.

Chepstow’s Pembroke Primary school, meanwhile, rose by two colours, from red to amber.

Head teacher Helen Hampson described the news as “incredible”.

She said: “I’m immensely proud of everyone here from the children to the staff, who have shown such dedication to the job.”

“The family support has also helped us reach a huge achievement within a year.

“We are where we are and I’m very proud of everybody.

The school has also recently come out of Estyn monitoring and received plenty of plaudits for its “strong progress”.

Mrs Hampson added: “The children matter the most, and it shows. Everybody was onboard.”

Schools across Torfaen also received top marks, with eight green ratings. The borough also had two red ratings.

The two red ratings included Cwmbran High School secondary school, which has dropped from amber last year.

Abersychan Comprehensive – which received an “unsatisfactory” Estyn report last year – failed to improve on its 2016 red rating.

All primary schools in Torfaen either maintained standards or improved with no red ratings.

Four schools rose from amber to yellow.

These included Victoria Primary, Griffithstown Primary, Blaenavon Heritage VC Primary School and Ysgol Bryn Onnen.

Llanyrafon Primary School and Coed Eva Primary school also made the leap from yellow to green over last year, while Crownbridge Special School was also among those rated green.

Some Blaenau Gwent schools also saw improvements on their past ratings, with one primary leaping from red to yellow.Deighton Juniors and Infants, Georgetown Junior and Infants and Beaufort Hill Primary were ranked green, having previously been yellow.

Tredegar Comprehensive School was the only secondary school within the local authority to move from yellow to green.

Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Helyg is no longer rated as red having achieved an amber rating, while Willowtown Primary Schools jumped two colours – from red last year to yellow this time around.

“We are really, really proud of the achievement,” said Willowtown’s head teacher Paul Keane, who took over the role in March of last year.

“This is a tribute to the entire team at the school from the staff, the pupils and the parents. The entire community has really rallied around us.”

At the other end of the scale, Abertillery Comprehensive and both Ebbw Fawr Learning Community primary and secondary were rated at the bottom of the four-colour scale.

In Caerphilly 17 schools were given the colour green and four were given red - including Park Primary.

Fleur-De-Lys Primary and Nant Y Parc Primary School both improved from yellow bandings in 2016.

Pantside Primary and St. James Primary were also rated in the red banding. They were both previously amber.

Not one secondary school in the Caerphilly County Borough received a green rating, but Risca Community Comprehensive, St Martin’s School and Lewis School Pengam all moved up from amber to yellow.

Cwmcarn High School, which is set to close at the end of the 2017/8 academic year, was the only secondary school to remain in the red banding, after Bedwas High School improved to amber.

Elsewhere the Trinity Fields School, along with Crownbridge, was one of two specialist schools across Gwent to receive a green banding.

Wales-wide figures record 425 green ratings, 827 in the yellow category, 244 amber ratings and 46 in the lowest red category.

The Welsh Government’s education secretary, Kirsty Williams, said that new information on the performance of schools shows a fall in the number of schools in need of the most support.

She said: “This system is not about grading, labelling or creating crude league tables but about providing support and encouraging improvement in our schools.

“It is about putting schools into a position that helps them to identify areas they can strengthen and what they need to do achieve further improvements.”