City secondary named among Wales’s best schools

SWANSEA’S Olchfa School has been named Wales’s second-best secondary school.

The annual Sunday Times Parent Power Guide ranks secondary schools by the first true set of post-pandemic examination results. The school, which is in Sketty Park, secured second place behind Cowbridge Comprehensive School in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin in Carmarthenshire was ranked third.

St Michael’s School in Llanelli came second in the publication’s list of Wales’s top independent schools.

The guide is seen as the most authoritative survey of the country’s top schools.

As well as an assessment of all academic results on a school-by-school basis, it allows parents to compare the performance of a given school with other schools in the same town, local authority or nationally. There are also live links to school websites and schools’ most recent inspection reports.

The guide includes a searchable national database of more than 1,000 schools by name, local authority, town and postcode, and is available online and as a print supplement with The Sunday Times tomorrow.

The guide’s editor, Helen Davies, said: “The educational landscape continues to be challenging across both the state and independent sectors, and this is the first true assessment of post-pandemic exam results.

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.

“The guide showcases academic excellence but also celebrates schools who may not be right at the top but are rising, innovating and helping pupils flourish.

“Being a teenager is hard enough, and the past few years since Covid have made life even harder. It is heartening to highlight the achievements of so many students and schools across the UK.

“This year Parent Power includes details on extracurricular clubs, wellbeing initiatives and school lunch menus – chicken katsu seems to be the dish of the day.”