St Matthew's Primary School is a 3–11 mixed

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primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, England. It is non-denominational, and catering for 615 pupils with an affiliated after-school kids’ club. The school was established in 1963, though there have been various schools on the site since 1836. It is a feeder school for

Parkside Community College Parkside Community College is a secondary academy school with 600 places for children aged 11–16, situated in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. It is part of the United Learning Cambridge Cluster, along with Parkside Sixth, Coleridge Community Colleg ...

History

The first schools on the St Matthew's site were the Barnwell National schools for boys, girls, and infants, opened by the Old Schools in 1836. At the time the site was on the eastern edge of a rapidly expanding

. The infants’ school was on East Road, the boys’ and girls’ schools accessed through Schoolhouse Lane (off East Road). National schools were founded by the National Society (founded in 1811), which had the aim of founding a Church school in every parish in England and Wales. The Old Schools was a trust founded in 1704 which at the time managed most of the schools in Cambridge. Previously these were

dame schools Dame schools were small, privately run schools for young children that emerged in the British Isles and its colonies during the Early modern Britain, early modern period. These schools were taught by a “school dame,” a local woman who wou ...

, but from the early 19th century the trust adopted a policy of supporting

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schools. From the 1870s, the newly established St Matthew's parish had a complex history of different schools’ sites and movement of pupils between them. There were four schools opened: Norfolk Street infants in 1875, York Street boys in 1878, Norfolk Street girls and Sturton Street infants in 1883. The Barnwell schools were enlarged and rebuilt towards the end of the nineteenth century. In 1900 (at which time the

school leaving age The school leaving age is the minimum age a person is legally allowed to cease attendance at an institute of compulsory secondary education. Most countries have their school leaving age set the same as their minimum full-time employment age, thus ...

was 12) there was an average attendance of around 700 boys, girls & infants at Barnwell National, and 680 at the St Matthew's schools in Norfolk Street, York Street, and Sturton Street. Barnwell boys’ school was occupied by the army in the First World War but restored to use afterwards. In 1931 the Barnwell boys’ and girls’ schools were reconstituted as St George's Senior School. The pupils at the infants school were transferred to St Matthew's School, and the seniors at St Matthew's Norfolk Street and York Street schools were transferred to St George's (the juniors remaining). In 1933, the Norfolk Street girls’ and York Street boys’ were amalgamated. Under the

1944 Education Act Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Six ...

St George's became East Road

secondary modern A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usually ...

school. In 1963, East Road school was closed, being replaced by the current St Matthew's primary school, with the infants and juniors being transferred from the Norfolk Street and York Street schools, leaving St Matthew's the only school remaining in the Barnwell area (the Norfolk Street schools survive today as a private house). The site has now been extensively redeveloped, with much of the surrounding terraced housing being demolished (along Norfolk Street, Caroline Place, and Broad Street), and Schoolhouse Lane being incorporated into the school site. The main entrance is now from Norfolk Street (Caroline Place), with other entrances off Broad Street and Flower Street. 2012–13 saw the school extended from two-form intake to three-form intake, with the addition of a new 12-classroom 3-storey building facing East Road. During construction, a number of skeletal remains were discovered, and subsequently excavated by Oxford Archaeology East, from what had been the cemetery of a Baptist chapel.

References

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

, A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 3, 'The city of Cambridge: Schools', 1959 * Kelly’s Directory of Cambridgeshire 1900 (London: Kelly’s Directories Limited, 1900) * Ordnance Survey 25" County Series (1:2500) map of Cambridge, Revised Edition, 1927 (sheet XLVII) * Schools Collection, Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies, Shire Hall, Castle Hill, Cambridge
Cambridgeshire Admissions Booklet 2009/2010
Cambridgeshire County Council

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Matthew's Primary School Educational institutions established in 1836 Educational institutions established in 1963 Primary schools in Cambridgeshire Schools in Cambridge 1836 establishments in England 1963 establishments in England Community schools in Cambridgeshire