Ninian Park Primary School, Cardiff

Ninian Park 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 541 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

34% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 5% have additional learning needs (22% in 2020/21); 70% are learning English as an additional language; and 93% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 58 pupils (Year 3) to 84 (Year 6).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £4,706 per pupil, against £3,557 in 2021-22. It carried forward £110k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its June 2025 inspection summarises Ninian Park Primary School like this:

"Ninian Park Primary provides a welcoming, multi-cultural learning environment that promotes important values of equity, respect and inclusion. The headteacher leads with passion and commitment to support the needs of families and the wider community and, as a result, pupils and their families feel supported and cared for. During their time in school, most pupils, including those with additional learning needs (ALN) and English as an additional language (EAL) make suitable progress in their learning and well-being. Most pupils develop their oracy skills effectively so that they become confident speakers by the time they leave school. Many pupils develop their reading, writing and mathematical skills suitably. Teachers provide regular opportunities for pupils to develop their Welsh language skills, although this is often at a basic level and pupils do not build on these skills progressively."

"The quality of teaching varies across the school. In the most effective lessons, a minority of teachers share clear learning intentions that are understood by pupils and develop effective questioning to support and extend pupils’ understanding of the skills and knowledge they are developing. However, overall, teachers’ expectations are too low, and they do not plan learning activities that challenge and build on pupils’ skills progressively. Leaders use a range of evidence to identify the school’s strengths and areas for development. They plan suitable professional development to develop staff subject knowledge and skills. However, leaders do not evaluate the quality of teaching and its impact on learning well enough."

"As a result, improvement planning often focuses on activities to be completed and does not address weaknesses in teaching well enough. Leaders work effectively with parents and the wider community to provide valuable workshops that help parents develop an understanding of the school’s curriculum and how they can support learning at home. Leaders create effective partnerships that help support families. For example, they arrange translation services to help ensure that activities are accessible and meet the needs of the diverse school population."

Estyn made 3 recommendations: (1) Improve the quality of teaching and ensure that all staff have high expectations of what pupils can achieve; (2) Strengthen self-evaluation processes to focus more on the quality of teaching and its impact on learning; (3) Improve standards in Welsh.

From the headteacher's welcome: "We are a busy but friendly school, with lots going on. Please feel free to contact the school direct with any queries you may have. We are an English medium, community co-educational school. We are at the heart of our community with nearly 50 languages spoken by our talented pupils."

Coming up: an open day on Monday 21 December 2026. Check the school's website before you go, as dates can change.

The nearest other state primary schools to Ninian Park Primary School are St Patrick's R.C. Primary School (0.3 miles), St Paul's C.I.W. Primary School (0.5 miles), Grange Town Primary (0.6 miles) and Kitchener Primary School (0.7 miles).

The nearest railway station is Grangetown (Cardiff) Rail Station, about 400 metres away (roughly a 5-minute walk).

11 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Ninian Park School (outside), 30 metres away.