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A CONTROVERSIAL banding system showing how Welsh secondary schools are performing has gone live.

The scheme became fully operational at noon, when details on each of Wales’ 222 secondary schools were published online.

Banding, which considers a range of school data including exam results and attendance, groups the nation’s secondaries into one of five bands.

Band One schools are considered best-performing, with good progress made across all measures.

At the opposite end of the scale, Band Five schools are considered “weak relative to others” and in need of more support.

Click points for more info. Key: Band 1 = pink, Band 2 = blue, Band 3 = green, band 4 = yellow, band 5 = red

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But the system has attracted strong criticism from teachers who fear the categorisation could lead to a return of school “league tables”.

Scrapped in 2001 under pressure from the sector, league tables – as seen in England – judge schools on exam results alone and can lead to increased competition between schools.

The introduction of a national school banding system is a cornerstone of Education Minister Leighton Andrews’ five-year plan to raise performance in Welsh schools.

Wales’ dismal performance in Pisa – the world’s biggest education survey – provided ample ammunition but a radical new approach to school standards has attracted mixed reviews.

Rex Phillips, NASUWT Wales organiser, said: “The idea of assessing schools so that resources and support can be targeted to areas of needs has merit as it could mitigate the failing of the present funding methodology that is based on pupil numbers.

“However, the fact that schools will be banded and the information will be available publicly casts grave doubt on the integrity and purpose of the process.”

David Evans, Wales secretary of the NUT, said the Welsh Government’s decision to publish banding scores could trigger a “spiral of decline” in some schools ranked near the bottom.

“All teachers recognise the need to target resources and to work with parents to ensure they are aware of the performance of schools,” he said.

“However, this naming and shaming process is something that we in Wales were proud to have moved away from, and it is a real shame that the Government has decided to return to what is an outdated and restrictive practice.”

Anna Brychan, director of headteachers’ union NAHT Cymru, said schools do not object to a “forensic analysis of performance data” on a consistent basis.

“We do not however believe that the publication of a single banding grade will achieve this,” she said. “Nor are we persuaded that sufficiently expert school support services are currently available within our local authorities to make this system work as it should.

“Banding is based on evaluating a range of measures. The fact that these are then translated into a simple, single grade cannot represent the entirety of what a school does. The danger is however that this is exactly how the single grade will be perceived.”

Dr Philip Dixon, director of ATL Cymru, said that while school banding was designed to raise standards, there was little evidence to suggest schools would get the level of support needed to bring about change.

He added: “The proof of the pudding will be in the new and extra support that schools will receive to improve their performance. The success or otherwise of the school banding proposals will be judged on that.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said banding would give parents a clear picture of how secondary schools in Wales are performing.

“The process is designed to help local authorities support their schools more effectively, raising standards and performance in Wales. As we have always said, banding is not about labelling, naming or shaming, or creating a crude league table. It is about putting schools into groups to identify which need our support and which we can learn from.”

Click here to see which band your local schools are in