Gaer County Primary School was built between 1949-53 by Johnson Blackett FRIBA, architect to Newport Borough Council and the contractors were D.H. Broad Ltd of Worthing and J.H. Herbert & Son of Newport. The school formed part of the extensive surrounding Gaer Estate development, which was also designed by Blackett - both estate and school won the 1951 Festival of Britain Award of Merit, and also, in the same year, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government Medal. The school provided accommodation for approximately 480 children within twelve classrooms: originally nine classrooms were intended, but another three were added during construction. The prominent sloping site was strikingly used to advantage, providing classrooms and playgrounds on two levels, with the lobby and assembly hall forming the central spine. The school was planned before stringent Government regulations on layout and design were carried out from 1951, retaining the characteristic `finger-plan' based on corridors to give cross-ventilation and lighting: this echoed Government thinking following the Butler Act of 1944, which gave rise to a huge expansion in school building under constrained post-War economic circumstances.

The plan consists of two parallel classroom ranges which are terraced on the sloping site. The walls are faced in hand-made brown brick and there are flat roofs with deep anti-glare overhangs. It's construction is mostly steel-framed with precast concrete roofs made in situ and it has steel window frames. The rear elevation of both classroom ranges, illustrates the corridor-based planning of the school, with their full-length flat-roofed corridor ranges and narrow row of windows above providing continuous top-lighting for the classrooms.

Gaer Infants and Gaer Junior schools merged c.2014 and a new Foundation Phase teaching block was built in 2016-2017, bringing Foundation Phase and KS2 pupils together.

Source:- Cadw listed buildings, NJR 11/11/2008.

Updated December 2021.