HOW far below what is classed as an “excellent ” Welsh secondary school are Blaenau Gwent’s schools, a councillor has asked?

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s People scrutiny committee earlier this month councillors received a report on Key Stage Four outcomes – which is based on GCSE results.

But rather than a traditional setting out of how many pupils sat GCSEs- how many received an A to G grade, A to C grade or the top A* star grade – and compare it to the Wales average, the way “outcomes” are now set out are a bit more complicated.

Hayley Davies-Edwards is the principal challenge adviser for Education Achievement Service’s (EAS) the education improvement service that covers all of Gwent’s local authorities.

Ms Davies-Edwards gave councillors a presentation which explained where Blaenau Gwent schools sit in their “school families.”

This is a system where schools are divided up along the lines of how many pupils receive free school meals, deprivation index levels, how many have a statement of special needs and so on.

They are then put into groups of around 10 with similar backgrounds from all parts of Wales, and the school performance is compared against those.

Blaenau Gwent’s four secondary schools are in “school families” that are ranked as the fourth and fifth most disadvantaged areas in Wales.

Labour’s Cllr Sonia Behr said: “I’m wondering whether it would be helpful at all to make a comparison not just with the Welsh average but what is an excellent Welsh school and how far below that are we?

“Because we want excellence for our children in Blaenau Gwent – not just – they’ve done jolly well coming from such a low beginning.”

Ms Davies-Edwards said: “We have our starting point with the A and A* (star) data.

“What we hope to do in the next couple of years is to refocus our spotlight on our more able and talented children.”

She added that a meeting with the council’s director of education, Luisa Munro-Morris to discuss action in this area had already taken place.

Ms Davies-Edwads added that there are “partners schools” where Blaenau Gwent teachers can visit to find out more if: “we think practice is super-duper.”

Cllr Julie Holt (Independent) said: “We need to push aspiration.

“If we are from an education background, we understand the context behind all of the data.

“It’s more an indication of the support that a school is receiving rather than performance.”

She wondered if parents received the data in a more simplified version.

Director of education Luisa Munro-Morris said that schools send out information to parents “which explains the date” and the Welsh Government’s website “My Local School” which is more “user friendly.”

The report was accepted by councillors and will go on to be discussed at a meeting of the Labour Cabinet next Wednesday, March 5.

The report shows the “Capped 9” scores for the Blaenau Gwent schools for 2022/20023 are.

Abertillery Learning Community- 338.9, Brynmawr Foundation – 353.5, Ebbw Fawr Learning Community – 351.7, Tredegar Comprehensive – 350.0.