Thornhill Primary School, Cardiff

Thornhill 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 412 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

11% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 6% have additional learning needs (10% in 2020/21); 8% are learning English as an additional language; and 21% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 39 pupils (Reception) to 59 (Year 2).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £4,665 per pupil, against £3,593 in 2021-22. It carried forward £54k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its October 2022 inspection summarises Thornhill Primary School like this:

"The pupils at Thornhill Primary thoroughly enjoy coming to school and make notable progress in their social skills. There is a feeling of mutual trust and respect between the pupils and the staff. Pupils know that adults in the school care for them and that they can turn to them at any time when they face challenges or have difficulties. Senior leaders have worked hard to create this culture and it plays a key role in ensuring the very positive attitudes the pupils have towards their learning. Pupils’ behaviour across the school is exceptional. The school has established a strong team over time which enabled them to deal with the impact of the pandemic well through community engagement activities from a distance."

"The wellbeing of the pupils and their families became an important focus of the school and through weekly family activities, continued to foster these strong links. The headteacher and staff have continued building on these activities which has impacted on nearly all pupils returning to school safe and well. These regular engagement activities such as Craft-a-noon’s for the Grandparents and their grandchildren, Father Reading Every Day (FRED) and the Schools’ Out Dads Out (SODA) club develop the pupil’s tolerance, respect and confidence skills successfully which is very evident in and around the school’s setting. Most pupils make sound progress across the school, particularly those with additional learning needs (ALN). Nearly all pupils develop effective speaking and listening skills and use these well when discussing with each other and with adults alike. The provision for pupils’ personal development is effective and overall, the school’s curriculum offers a suitable range of learning experiences."

"However, teachers’ expectations of what the pupils can achieve, particularly the more able, are low and pupils are only beginning to contribute to how and what they learn. The pupils do not always receive the opportunity to use their literacy, numeracy and digital skills across the curriculum often enough. Across the school, opportunities to develop independent learners is inconsistent. The school has suitable processes to monitor the quality of teaching and learning and its provision. An example of this is the school’s work to improve pupils’ reading which has been successful and led to improvements in the provision and the progress pupils make. However, improvement processes have not been rigorous enough to identify all key areas for improvement."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Improve the effectiveness of school improvement planning; (2) Ensure that teaching across the school challenges all pupils, particularly those who are more able; (3) Develop younger pupils’ independence and creativity, particularly when using the outdoors; (4) Plan purposeful opportunities for pupils to develop their literacy, numeracy and digital skills across the curriculum.

The nearest other state primary schools to Thornhill Primary School are Ysgol-Y-Wern (0.8 miles), Llysfaen Primary School (0.8 miles), Christ The King R.C. Primary School (0.8 miles) and Llanishen Fach Primary School (1 mile).

The nearest railway station is Lisvane & Thornhill Rail Station, about 520 metres away (roughly a 7-minute walk).

6 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Briarmeadow Drive (before), 30 metres away.