Fairfield Primary School, Penarth

Fairfield 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 236 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

17% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 8% have additional learning needs (13% in 2020/21); 8% are learning English as an additional language; and 23% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 13 pupils (Reception) to 44 (Year 5).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £5,194 per pupil, against £3,520 in 2021-22. It ended 2024-25 with a deficit of £126k.

Estyn's report on its March 2025 inspection summarises Fairfield Primary School like this:

"Fairfield Primary School is a friendly and inclusive school where staff ensure that pupils feel happy and valued. Because of this, nearly all pupils show respect for others, behave well and demonstrate positive attitudes to their learning. Staff consider the views of pupils fairly and provide valuable opportunities to develop pupils’ leadership skills so that they contribute purposefully to the life of the school. Teachers generally provide clear objectives for pupils’ learning in lessons. Many use questioning to monitor and prompt pupils’ progress beneficially. Overall, however, teaching in around half of lessons does not develop or extend pupils’ knowledge and skills well enough. In these lessons, the pace of learning is too slow, and teachers set tasks that do not challenge pupils sufficiently."

"Consequently, during their time in the school, many pupils do not make the progress they could. Teachers provide a variety of learning experiences that engage many pupils well. Many pupils develop as capable readers who communicate their views and ideas through their speech and writing effectively. However, pupils do not have enough opportunity to use or hear spoken Welsh and this restricts their progress. Teachers develop many pupils’ understanding of mathematical concepts appropriately. Staff are committed to securing the progress and well-being of all pupils. With additional support, leaders are beginning to make focused improvements, such as the work to improve the provision for younger pupils."

"Staff have benefitted from valuable professional learning to implement these changes, and this is impacting positively on their capacity to sustain progress. However, over time, leaders have not evaluated the quality of the school’s work robustly. They have not addressed important areas for improvement, such as the inconsistency in the quality of teaching and the effectiveness of the school’s curriculum, swiftly enough. Governors show strong support for the school. However, they do not have a thorough enough first-hand knowledge of the school to be able to challenge leaders effectively."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Improve leadership at all levels and ensure that self-evaluation focuses closely on the most important aspects in need of improvement; (2) Raise teachers’ expectations of what pupils should learn, know and understand and improve teaching to ensure that all pupils make the progress they should; (3) Develop a coherent curriculum that supports pupils’ progress effectively; (4) Improve pupils’ Welsh language skills.

The nearest other state primary schools to Fairfield Primary School are Victoria Primary School (0.3 miles), Cogan Primary School (0.3 miles), Albert C.P. School (0.5 miles) and Ysgol Pen Y Garth (0.5 miles).

The nearest railway station is Dingle Road Rail Station, about 230 metres away (roughly a 3-minute walk).

12 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Ceiriog Close (before), 130 metres away.