A COLWYN Bay secondary is the only state school in North Wales to be named among the best performing state schools in Wales have been revealed.

The Sunday Times has this morning published its Parent Power, The Sunday Times Schools Guide 2022.

The 29th edition of the guide reveals highest-achieving schools in Wales and the UK, ranked by their examination results from 2017-19.

Colwyn Bay's Ysgol Eirias was listed eight in Wales, with 63.6 per cent of A level students recieiving A*-B grades, while 20.2 per cent received the grades A*/A/9/8/7.

The results put the school in 252nd place for the whole of the UK.

The best schools in Wales

Cowbridge Comprehensive School, in Cowbridge, has been named the best performing state secondary school in Wales by The Sunday Times.

More than 60 per cent of A-Level results at the school were graded at B or above.

That figures was more than 90 per cent at St John’s College, Cardiff, which was recognised as the best performing independent secondary school in the country.

Alastair McCall, editor of Parent Power, said: “The need for clarity about school examination performance has never been greater after two years of teacher assessed grades, during which for completely understandable reasons, the numbers of top grades increased dramatically.

“We felt it was important to go back to the last sets of moderated public examination outcomes from 2019, 2018 and 2017 to get the most accurate and current view of school academic achievement. By taking a three-year average, we mitigated against relatively poor performance in a one-off year.

“At a time when some schools are making hard to substantiate claims of academic prowess based on outcomes from 2021 and 2020, we believe these rankings – and all the additional information on offer in Parent Power – provide parents with a more reliable guide to academic achievement in schools today.”

Top 10 state secondary schools in Wales

These are the top 10 state secondary schools in Wales according to the Parent Power, The Sunday Times Schools Guide 2022, and their rank among UK schools.

Top 10 independent secondary schools in Wales

And these are the top 10 independent secondary schools in Wales according to the Parent Power, The Sunday Times Schools Guide 2022, and their rank among UK schools.

The rankings in the secondary school league tables are determined by the average percentage of examination entries in the three years, 2017-19, gaining A* to B grades at A-level (which is given a double weighting) and the average percentage of entries returning 9-7 or A* and A grades at GCSE.

Only schools that published their results in those years or disclosed them to The Sunday Times have been included in this edition of The Sunday Times Schools Guide, which includes around 1,700 schools. Examination outcomes from 2020 and 2021 have not been used in determining this year’s Parent Power rankings.

The full Parent Power, The Sunday Times Schools Guide 2022 is available online today, and as a supplement with The Sunday Times on Sunday, December 5.