Goetre Primary School, Gurnos Estate

Goetre 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 414 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

54% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 21% have additional learning needs; 5% are learning English as an additional language; and 6% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 41 pupils (Reception) to 61 (Year 3).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £7,164 per pupil, against £4,712 in 2021-22. It carried forward £85k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its September 2022 inspection summarises Goetre Primary School like this:

"Goetre Primary School provides pupils with a nurturing learning environment in which they feel safe and secure. Ensuring the well-being of pupils is a high priority for all members of the school community. As a result, pupils feel cared for and valued by staff. Most pupils behave well both in classrooms and when moving around the school. Over the past year, the school has seen a period of major turbulence at senior leadership level with five different headteachers. This has had a significant impact on the school’s ability to address important shortcomings in their provision."

"Leaders have started to make improvements, including increasing the provision for reading and information and communication technology (ICT). However, there are still shortcomings in the way that they identify and address other important weaknesses in the school’s work. In around half of classes, teaching does not ensure that pupils have the opportunity to make strong progress. As a result, pupils do not always achieve standards of which they are capable, particularly in literacy. In addition, staff do not always ensure that they provide pupils with stimulating and authentic learning experiences. They do not take into account the views of pupils about what they would like to learn well enough."

"In addition, pupils have too few opportunities to take on leadership roles at the school. The provision to support pupils with additional learning needs (ALN), particularly those in mainstream classes, is generally effective. Staff identify pupils’ needs at an early stage in their education and put suitable plans in place to help address the needs of individual pupils. The provision for pupils in the two learning resource bases has recently improved, but there are still inconsistencies in how well staff support pupils’ learning."

Estyn made 6 recommendations: (1) Address the safeguarding and health and safety shortcomings identified during the inspection; (2) Improve the quality of teaching and feedback so that pupils develop as independent learners and have the opportunity to achieve to the best of their ability; (3) Improve standards of pupils’ literacy and ICT; (4) Further strengthen monitoring and evaluation to enable leaders to accurately identify and address important shortcomings in the school’s work and to judge the impact of teaching and provision on improving pupils’ outcomes; (5) Further develop approaches to curriculum planning so staff have a shared understanding of progression, and all teachers consult with pupils to plan authentic learning experiences; (6) Improve the quality of resources to support pupils’ learning both indoors and outdoors.

The nearest other state primary schools to Goetre Primary School are Gwaunfarren Primary School (0.5 miles), Cyfarthfa Park Primary School (0.5 miles), Ysgol-Y-Graig Primary School (0.8 miles) and Gellifaelog Primary School (0.9 miles).

The nearest railway station is Merthyr Tydfil Rail Station, about 1.1 miles away in a straight line.

11 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Almond Grove (opposite), 80 metres away.