Peter Lea Primary School, Cardiff

Peter Lea 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 289 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

38% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 7% have additional learning needs (10% in 2020/21); 4% are learning English as an additional language; and 28% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 21 pupils (Reception) to 41 (Year 6).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £6,633 per pupil, against £4,075 in 2021-22. It carried forward £114k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its March 2026 inspection summarises Peter Lea Primary School like this:

"Peter Lea Primary School provides a caring and inclusive environment where pupils and staff thrive. Leaders place a strong emphasis on building positive relationships and promoting well-being, creating a culture of mutual trust and respect. Staff work closely with pupils and their families to identify barriers to learning and adapt provision effectively. This ensures that nearly all pupils, including those with additional learning needs (ALN), feel safe and make strong progress from their starting points. Staff benefit from collaborative professional learning opportunities that support the strong and consistent quality of teaching across the school."

"They have high aspirations for themselves and their pupils and use their professional knowledge well to ensure equitable access to the curriculum for all groups of pupils, including those affected by poverty and those with ALN. A well-designed curriculum and systematic approaches to developing skills ensure that pupils build their literacy, numeracy and digital skills effectively. The school’s innovative approach to developing pupils’ social, emotional and moral understanding supports them to develop empathy, tolerance and respect. Through the daily ‘Criw’ group sessions, pupils also develop a strong sense of identity and belonging. The school promotes the Welsh language appropriately."

"However, there are too few opportunities for pupils to use Welsh outside of lessons. The school is well-led and benefits from an effective model of distributed leadership and the support of a knowledgeable governing body. Leaders and staff reflect thoughtfully on their work and use robust self-evaluation processes to identify strengths and priorities for improvement. Although leaders monitor attendance suitably and promote the importance of regular attendance, overall attendance levels remain too low."

Estyn made 2 recommendations: (1) Improve pupils’ opportunities to use Welsh outside Welsh lessons and around the school; (2) Improve pupils’ attendance, particularly for those pupils eligible for free school meals.

The nearest other state primary schools to Peter Lea Primary School are Danescourt Primary School (0.5 miles), Pentrebane Primary School (0.5 miles), Ysgol Gymraeg Coed-Y-Gof (0.5 miles) and Fairwater Primary School (0.6 miles).

The nearest railway station is Danescourt Rail Station, about 630 metres away (roughly a 8-minute walk).

19 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Peter Lea Primary (outside), 120 metres away.