First Minister Carwyn Jones has lauded Monmouthshire County Council’s efforts in driving up education standards and pulling the area out of ‘special measures’.

As the Welsh Government released its second set of colour-coded school league tables, the Welsh Labour leader said the improved results were evidence of a concerted effort to bolster standards.

The new system groups each school in Wales into green, yellow, amber or red categories in accordance with performance and is part of an effort to replace the controversial ‘banding’ method used previously.

The authority was placed in special measures in November 2012, along with six other Welsh councils, meaning half of local authorities in Wales were judged to be performing below expectation.

Four years of intense scrutiny from education watchdog Estyn found that Monmouthshire’s education system had made ‘significant’ improvements. Merthyr Tydfil’s education board was the last of six to be freed from special measures recently.

Speaking during a visit to Abergavenny, Mr Jones welcomed the turnaround after facing heavy criticism from the Conservative government in Westminster on Wales’ education record since powers were devolved to the Assembly in 1999.

“The key to turning around the local education system has been the success of regional consortia.

“While the Tories are proposing huge cuts to education funding, the Welsh Labour government have delivered on our promise to protect education funding, investing in improving standards and building new schools.

“Our approach is working. There is real momentum in education, and the latest GCSE results were the best ever.”

The First Minister also reiterated his government’s decision not to follow England’s academy system, which removes schools from local authority control, effectively creating a private school within the public sector.

“The difference with academy schools is the money. They hoover up funds from struggling schools nearby, making a difficult situation worse. This effectively forces schools to apply for academy status,” he said.

Catherine Fookes, Labour Assembly candidate for Monmouth, praised the news before warning against complacency.

“I think teachers should be congratulated for playing a big part in bringing Monmouthshire out of special measures. However, Monmouthshire County Council should never have allowed our education system to get in special measures in the first place. But now we are out, we mustn’t be complacent. We must continue to work hard for the highest standards for all our school children.”

The colour-coded tables, published on January 27, saw the vast majority of Monmouthshire schools, primary and secondary, fall into the Yellow category while Crickhowell High School, over the border in Powys, attained the top Green status.

Our Lady and St Michael’s RC, Abergavenny, was classified as Red, which means the primary will receive intensive support to improve outcomes.

Cantref Primary School in Abergavenny, Gilwern Primary and Goytre Fawr Primary were all rated in the top Green category.

Goytre Fawr was graded 1/A/Green, the highest categorisation possible - the same as it was last year.

Head Teacher Nicola Sutherland said, “We’re immensely proud of this achievement and would like to thank everyone for making Goytre Fawr Primary such a successful school. Particular thanks go to our staff team whose dedication and hard work ensures that pupils reach their full potential.”

Chair of Governors, Kathryn Edwards added, “Maintaining such high standards year after year can often be difficult but staff and governors at Goytre Fawr never take anything for granted. Our enthusiastic and active Governing Body continue to strive for excellence and their continued dedication is much appreciated. The culmination of all of this hard work means that our pupils are happy, confident and well-prepared for secondary school.“