The school banding system has received fresh criticism from the Shadow Education Minister who has asked the Welsh Government to review the categorisation process.

This concern joins complaints from many of the Welsh teaching unions who have described the system as "complex" and "confusing", Wales Online reports.

"Now that secondary school bandings have been released in full, albeit by the media rather than the Government, it would be timely to review whether banding is, in its current form, a useful tool for parents," Angela Burns, the Shadow Education Minister stated.

"The Education Minister needs to seek the feedback of parents and teachers and as necessary, go back to the drawing board to devise a system which more accurately reflects the successes and shortcomings in our schools."

The school banding system, uses national data on school performance to group schools together into one of five 'performance bands'. The band model uses data such as: GCSE results, free school meal eligibility, attendance record and progress in order to categorise schools.

The Chair of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) Cymru, Neil Foden has previously spoken out against the system, saying that he has "lost confidence" in the way it is run. "This system is an imperfect way of measuring schools. For example, if we were able to recruit seven additional children from disadvantaged households who are eligible for free school meals even though we had done nothing to improve our own performance, we would almost certainly go up a quartile. Even though we had done nothing our performance would suddenly look better. Clearly that isn't a healthy state of affairs. It could be misleading."

Despite criticism, the Government claim that parents have an "appetite" for the information the banding system provides and has assured schools that they will not be backtracking on the decision.

The Government have also stated that they will not be returning to the "simplistic" school league table system, scrapped in 2001: "We understand that parents want to know how schools are performing, but we don't agree that publishing crude league tables is the best way of delivering that information," a Spokesman for the Welsh Government said. "The new banding system we're putting in place will give us and parents a clear picture of which of our schools in Wales are doing well and delivering the best outcomes for our young people. Banding will also help us identify how additional support can be offered to those schools which need it the most."

To read more on the school banding system, click here:

• Welsh schools to be placed in performance bands
• School banding scores are revealed to Headteachers
• Confidence lost in school banding system, says Chair of NUT Cymru
• 55 per cent vote for return of school league tables

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