Gwenfo C.I.W. Primary, Cardiff

Gwenfo C.I.W. Primary 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 227 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

10% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 11% have additional learning needs; 3% are learning English as an additional language; and 17% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 24 pupils (Reception) to 30 (Year 1).

Estyn's report on its October 2024 inspection summarises Gwenfo C.I.W. Primary like this:

"Leaders and staff provide a warm, welcoming environment where pupils and their families feel supported and cared for. The headteacher is committed to the values of the school and works closely with the community to develop positive relationships. These relationships are used effectively to establish networks of support that broaden opportunities for pupils. Across the school, teachers provide beneficial interventions to support pupils’ emotional health and well-being. Teachers and support staff work effectively to develop bespoke action plans and activities for pupils with additional learning needs (ALN), and these have a positive impact. Overall, most pupils make suitable progress based on their starting points. They develop accuracy and fluency in their reading skills, and enjoy reading books from a range of authors. Most pupils develop suitable writing skills."

"Across the school, pupils make good progress in mathematics. However, there are limited opportunities for pupils to use these skills in their work across the curriculum to the standard they are capable of. The school is making appropriate progress in implementing Curriculum for Wales. There are increasing opportunities for pupils to develop an understanding of their locality and the world around them. The quality of teaching varies across the school. In the most effective lessons, teachers provide purposeful learning activities. They ensure that pupils understand the skills they are developing and there is appropriate challenge for all learners. However, in a few classes, older pupils do not always follow instructions well enough and do not understand what they need to do to be successful in their learning."

"Teachers’ use of feedback to support pupils’ learning is inconsistent. Leaders and governors allocate suitable resources to develop the school’s learning environments. The outdoor areas are developing well and provide engaging spaces that motivate and enthuse pupils. However, leaders and governors do not have robust enough arrangements in place to manage the school’s significant deficit budget. Leaders monitor pupils’ attendance appropriately. However, rates of attendance remains too low, especially those for those pupils with ALN and pupils who are eligible for free school meals. Leaders develop suitable self-evaluation and monitoring process to identify the schools strengths and areas for improvement. However, leaders tend to try to address too many priorities at the same time and this limits the progress of improvement work."

Estyn made 5 recommendations: (1) Improve self-evaluation, monitoring and improvement planning to ensure that the focus is on the most important areas in need of improvement; (2) Ensure that teaching and feedback provide pupils with the right level of support and challenge; (3) Improve the curriculum to ensure that there are purposeful opportunities for pupils to apply their literacy and numeracy skills across the curriculum; (4) Improve pupils’ attendance, especially for those eligible for free school meals and with additional learning needs (ALN); (5) Improve the financial management at the school.

The nearest other state primary schools to Gwenfo C.I.W. Primary are Pencaerau Primary school (1.6 miles), Hywel Dda Primary School (1.7 miles), St Fagans C.I.W. Primary School (1.7 miles) and St Andrews Major C.I.W. Primary School (1.9 miles).

The nearest railway station is Dinas Powys Rail Station, about 2.3 miles away in a straight line.

2 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Station Road (before), 80 metres away.