Two secondary schools in Carmarthenshire have been named among the best in Wales and the UK in a list released by The Times. 

The UK's highest-achieving secondary schools have been revealed in The Times' Parent Power Guide 2024. 

The guide, which The Times said is "widely acknowledged as the most authoritative survey of the country’s top schools", ranks schools based on performance at A-level and GCSE from the 2023 summer. 

The 2024 guide is the 31st edition and is based on the first true set of post-pandemic examination results.

South Wales Guardian: South Wales secondary school's dominated the best in Wales categories.South Wales secondary school's dominated the best in Wales categories. (Image: Getty Images)

Editor of Parent Power, 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.”

You can see the full 2024 Parent Power Guide here.

The Carmarthenshire secondary schools named among the best in Wales and the UK

St Michael's School in Llanelli and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin, located near Carmarthen, were both named among the top 5 best independent and state secondary schools, respectively, in Wales.

South Wales Guardian: St Michael's School, Llanelli, was one of the best independent secondary schools in Wales and the UK. St Michael's School, Llanelli, was one of the best independent secondary schools in Wales and the UK. (Image: Google Maps)

South Wales secondary schools dominated the best in Wales categories in The Times' Parent Power Guide 2024.

Cowbridge Comprehensive School was named the best secondary school in Wales for 2024, while The Cathedral School in Llandaff was awarded best independent school. 

The best independent school of the year for academic performance in 2024 was Cardiff Sixth Form College.

Cardiff Sixth Form College was also the highest-ranking Welsh school nationally, named among the top 15 secondary schools in the UK with a ranking of 13.

The next best was St Michael's which holds a national ranking of 27.

The top secondary schools in Wales, both state and independent, according to The Times are as follows:

The best secondary state schools in Wales

  1. Cowbridge Comprehensive School, Cowbridge (national ranking: 131)
  2. Olchfa School, Swansea (181)
  3. Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin, nr Carmarthen (198)
  4. Ysgol Erias, Colwyn Bay (278)

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The best independent secondary schools in Wales

  1. Cardiff Sixth Form College, Cardiff (national ranking: 13)
  2. St Michael's School, Llanelli (27)
  3. St John's College, Cardiff (50)
  4. The Cathedral School, Llandaff (77)
  5. Howell's School, Llandaff GDST (91)

The fully searchable national database of over 1,000 schools is available online and you will be able to collect a print supplement from The Sunday Times on Sunday (December 3).