Albany Primary School, Cardiff

Albany Primary School is an English-medium school in Wales. Welsh schools are inspected by Estyn rather than Ofsted, and its latest report is published on Estyn's website.

It had 359 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

33% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 5% have additional learning needs (9% in 2020/21); 58% are learning English as an additional language; and 90% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 32 pupils (Reception) to 55 (Year 6).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £4,823 per pupil, against £3,879 in 2021-22. It carried forward £100k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its March 2022 inspection summarises Albany Primary School like this:

"Albany Primary is a diverse and welcoming inner-city school in Cardiff. It is an inclusive school that places its families and the community it serves at the heart of its work. This is particularly important as each year the school sees a significant turnover in its population as families from many parts of the world join and leave the school. Parents very much appreciate the strong support they receive from the school. The information and guidance the school provides for families is a notable feature of its work. As a result, pupils who attend Albany Primary are happy and make good progress from their varying starting points."

"The headteacher leads a team of dedicated staff who care for their pupils, support their well-being and encourage them to be the best they can be. The school provides solid support for pupils with additional learning needs and those where English is new or an additional language. Leaders and staff have a clear vision for the development of a purposeful and rounded curriculum. This has its roots in the school’s drive to foster pupils’ sense of identity within Cardiff and Wales and provides pupils with many opportunities to learn beyond the walls of the school. Staff plan thoughtful and interesting topics for pupils and encourage them to contribute their thoughts and ideas on what they would like to learn. The headteacher has been effective in developing partnerships with other schools and organisations to improve provision to the benefit of pupils, staff and the wider community."

"Leaders ensure that there are beneficial opportunities for teachers to develop their practice through professional learning in areas of importance to them and the school, such as the curriculum, well-being and pupil progress. However, self- evaluation processes do not always highlight inconsistencies in teaching and the effectiveness of planning to develop pupils’ skills across the school and over time. Overall, the school has a generally suitable approach to health and safety and safeguarding its pupils. However, during the inspection the team raised a few issues with school leaders."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Address the health and safety issue identified by the team during the inspection; (2) Ensure that senior leaders robustly monitor and evaluate learning and teaching to identify necessary areas for improvement; (3) Ensure that the curriculum builds pupils’ skills systematically as they move through the school; (4) Improve the quality of teaching to ensure progression and consistency across the school.

The nearest other state primary schools to Albany Primary School are Ysgol Y Berllan Deg (under 0.1 miles), Roath Park Primary School (0.3 miles), Marlborough Primary (0.4 miles) and St Peter's R.C. Primary School (0.5 miles).

The nearest railway station is Cathays Rail Station, about 890 metres away (roughly a 11-minute walk).

13 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Alfred Street (before), 40 metres away.