Mary Immaculate R.C. High School, Cardiff

Mary Immaculate R.C. High 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 865 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

35% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 9% have additional learning needs (21% in 2020/21); 5% are learning English as an additional language; and 48% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 149 pupils (Year 11) to 183 (Year 10).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £6,133 per pupil, against £4,998 in 2021-22. It carried forward £190k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its October 2023 inspection summarises Mary Immaculate R.C. High School like this:

"Mary Immaculate High School is a warm and inclusive learning community where pupils and staff feel welcome and valued. Pupils enjoy coming to school and parents feel that their children are happy and well cared for, with strong provision for well- being and support. Through the well-considered Bridge provision and partnerships with outside agencies, the school provides strong and effective support for pupils’ well-being. The school has well embedded systems to improve attendance, but rates have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. All staff take pastoral responsibility for the pupils in their care. As a consequence, most pupils feel safe, respected and part of the wider school family. The headteacher, his senior team, staff and governors are passionate advocates for the school and the community it serves. Leaders have a heartfelt commitment to equity and build their priorities around how best to enable all pupils to participate and succeed, whatever their background and social context. This mission underpins the strong supportive systems in the school."

"The headteacher leads with zeal and vigour, driven by moral purpose. The shared vision and ambition for learners is realised and enacted by a highly effective leadership team. Staff, pupils and parents have played a role in building an engaging curriculum in Years 7 and 8. In Key Stage 4, pupils choose from a wide range of academic and vocational subjects, and benefit from a rich enrichment curriculum. Pupils also have access to helpful guidance and access to mentors from industry when planning their post-16 choices. Despite these strengths, from Year 9 onwards the breadth of the curriculum is too narrow within departments and across the curriculum. In addition, pupils have too few opportunities in lessons or around the school to develop their Welsh language skills. Teachers foster a warm and positive learning environment across the school. Staff benefit from a highly beneficial tiered and targeted professional learning offer designed skilfully to improve teaching and leadership."

"As a result, teachers deploy a range of helpful strategies to enable pupils to make progress. In the main these strategies are effective, but in a few instances teachers do not adapt them well enough to meet the needs of all learners. In addition, teachers do not always provide sufficient opportunities for pupils to improve their work. Leaders gather a range of evidence to evaluate the school’s work. Overall, they have a clear understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement. As a result, the school has sustained improvements in many areas of its work. Although leaders evaluate the quality of teaching, this is not focused well enough on its impact on learning. The school has set a deficit budget for this financial year due to rising utility costs, and agreed a budget recovery plan with the local authority."

Estyn made 3 recommendations: (1) Improve the quality and consistency of assessment; (2) Improve opportunities for pupils to develop their Welsh language skills; (3) Continue to strengthen processes for self-evaluation and improvement planning, ensuring that they focus sufficiently on the impact of the school’s work on pupils’ learning.

In its own words: "Mary Immaculate High School originally opened its doors in 1987 following the reorganisation of Catholic Education. Prior to this the school was named Archbishop Mostyn which had existed since 1963. Our Mission is to be a Catholic School which promotes positive relationships founded on the gospel values of respect, care, compassion and love."

From the headteacher's welcome: "Choosing the right school for the five years of secondary education is a very important decision. This will give you a real flavour of the atmosphere in school, along with a chance to see our excellent resources and facilities."

The nearest other state secondary schools to Mary Immaculate R.C. High School are Cardiff West Community High School (1.3 miles), Cantonian High School (2.2 miles), Fitzalan High School (2.3 miles) and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr (2.3 miles).

The nearest railway station is Waun-gron Park Rail Station, about 2.1 miles away in a straight line.

1 bus stop is within a five-minute walk; the closest is Mary Immaculate High School (opposite), 50 metres away.