SCHOOLS in Aberystwyth and Llanidloes appear in the top 10 state secondaries in Wales according to the latest instalment of an influential school ranking guide.

The top performing schools in Wales are revealed in Parent Power, The Sunday Times Schools Guide 2022, available online on Friday, 3 December and as a supplement with The Sunday Times on Sunday, 5 December.

Penglais School in Aberystwyth was ranked sixth out of all state secondary schools in Wales, ranking 243rd for the whole of the UK.

Llanidloes High School was ranked ninth in Wales, and 297th in the UK.

Ysgol y Preseli in Crymych just over the Ceredigion border in north Pembrokeshire ranked fourth in Wales and 213th in the UK.

Cowbridge Comprehensive School took top honours in Wales among state secondary 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.

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.”

The 29th edition of Parent Power identifies the highest-achieving schools in the UK, ranked by their examination results from 2017-19.

A fully searchable national database by school name, local authority, town and postcode, together with regional rankings are available to Times and Sunday Times subscribers at www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/parentpower

As well as assessment of all academic results on a school-by-school basis, Parent Power enables 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.

Parent Power is widely acknowledged as the most authoritative survey of the country’s schools.