Herbert Thompson Primary, Cardiff

Herbert Thompson 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 407 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

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

Of its pupils, 9% have additional learning needs (37% in 2020/21); 27% are learning English as an additional language; and 45% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 47 pupils (Reception) to 59 (Year 3).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £5,411 per pupil, against £3,886 in 2021-22. It carried forward £48k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its October 2022 inspection summarises Herbert Thompson Primary like this:

"Herbert Thompson Primary School places high priority on pupil well-being and developing pupil aspirations for the future. The headteacher leads compassionately and is ably supported by the whole school team who provide a vast array of bespoke support to promote the success of every pupil. Teachers and leaders across the school place high priority on identifying individual pupil needs and they use this to carefully plan and provide support for all pupils including those with barriers to learning or with additional needs. There is a continuous focus on individual pupil improvement, which is highly impressive. This is a strength of the school."

"As a result, most pupils make strong progress in many areas of learning from their individual starting points. Nearly all pupils show great pride in their school and enjoy undertaking roles of responsibility such as when older pupils act as “Learning Friends” to younger pupils. Across the school all pupils feel safe, valued, and emotionally well supported. They engage well with their learning and show high levels of perseverance when faced with challenges. The school welcomes learners from the local area and wider world and ensures that they develop a strong sense of belonging to the school community."

"When the youngest pupils join the school, they often need a lot of support to learn. The school meets their needs successfully so that, after a relatively short time, they enjoy learning and begin to make good progress in all aspects of their development. The school provides a range of stimulating opportunities for pupils and families to learn and benefit from. The school’s edible garden motivates pupils to grow their own vegetables and the school’s pay as you go shop enables the whole community to benefit from fresh, reasonably priced produce. This effectively supports the school’s drive to reduce the impact of high costs of living on pupils and families."

Estyn made 3 recommendations: (1) Improve the approach to teaching so that pupils can apply their numeracy skills across the curriculum / in real situations; (2) Refine provision to enable pupils to exercise more independence in their learning; (3) Continue to refine curriculum planning to ensure that pupils have suitably authentic opportunities to develop their learning.

Next scheduled Estyn inspection or visit: 5 October 2026 (Core).

In its own words: "Respect/Barch - We listen to each other and treat everyone the way we would like to be treated; keeping hands, feet and unkind words to ourselves. Care/Gofal - We are helpful and considerate, showing kindness to others and looking after our surroundings. Security/Diogelwch - We look after each other and keep ourselves and others safe."

From the headteacher's welcome: "I am delighted that you have taken the time to find out more about our wonderful school. I would be delighted to answer any questions and share more about life at Herbert Thompson. As we proudly celebrate our centenary year, we reflect on 100 years at the heart of the Ely and Caerau community."

The nearest other state primary schools to Herbert Thompson Primary are Fairwater Primary School (0.3 miles), Millbank Primary School (0.5 miles), Windsor Clive Primary School (0.6 miles) and Trelai Primary School (0.6 miles).

The nearest railway station is Waun-gron Park Rail Station, about 920 metres away (roughly a 12-minute walk).

13 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Bowling Green (opposite), 80 metres away.