St Matthew's Derriford

St Matthew's Derriford St Matthew’s is a CofE Primary Academy and is part of the growing family of schools from across Devon

This is the official page for St Matthew's Church of England Primary and Nursery Academy. The aim of this page is to provide an insight into school life and support our communication with parents.

We’re delighted to share the report from our recent Ofsted inspection. There is so much in the report that reflects the ...
03/10/2026

We’re delighted to share the report from our recent Ofsted inspection.

There is so much in the report that reflects the school we know St. Matthew’s to be – a welcoming, caring and inclusive school where children feel safe, are well supported and are encouraged to do their best.

We were particularly pleased that our Early Years provision was judged to be at the Strong standard, with inspectors describing children as “happy”, “flourishing” and “extremely well prepared for their next steps.”

We’ve picked out just a few of the words from the report to share below.

And the timing couldn’t be better – our Reception 2027 tours begin this Friday. If you’re choosing a school for your child, we’d love to welcome you to St Matthew’s so you can see it for yourself.

You can read the full report here:
https://stc-stmatthews.reactfiles.co.uk/uploads/key_information/10446728-St-Matthews-Church-of-England-Primary-and-Nursery-Academy-.pdf?t=1791018044?ts=1791022175

Every Child. Every Day. Let your light shine.

🎨🌈 Exploring Colour Mixing! 🌈🎨Our Reception children have been getting hands-on with colour mixing! The children painted...
01/10/2026

🎨🌈 Exploring Colour Mixing! 🌈🎨

Our Reception children have been getting hands-on with colour mixing!
The children painted their hands using the primary colours – red, yellow and blue. They then rubbed their hands together and watched carefully to discover what happened when the colours mixed.
They were excited to see which secondary colours they could create and enjoyed talking about their discoveries. We explored how red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and blue and red make purple.
There were certainly some very colourful hands and lots of smiles along the way!

🎨 Creating Faces with Natural Treasures! 🍂This week, the Reception children have been combining their learning from Art ...
29/09/2026

🎨 Creating Faces with Natural Treasures! 🍂

This week, the Reception children have been combining their learning from Art and Wild Tribe to create their own loose part faces! After learning about self-portraits and exploring the features that make each of us unique, the children used the natural treasures they discovered during Wild Tribe to represent different parts of a face.
They carefully selected sticks, leaves, conkers, pinecones and other natural materials to create eyes, noses, mouths and hair. This activity encouraged the children to look closely at facial features, make creative choices and explore different ways to represent themselves using the world around them.
We loved seeing the children’s creativity and individuality shine through in their natural self-portraits!

What an AMAZING day we had at our colour run today! A huge thank you to our incredible St. St Matthew’s PTFA Plymouth fo...
26/09/2026

What an AMAZING day we had at our colour run today! A huge thank you to our incredible St. St Matthew’s PTFA Plymouth for all of their hard work in making this happen

🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ KS2 Cross Country Event 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️What a fantastic day for our KS2 pupils at the cross-country event! 🌟Our childr...
24/09/2026

🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ KS2 Cross Country Event 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

What a fantastic day for our KS2 pupils at the cross-country event! 🌟

Our children proudly represented St Matt’s, showing fantastic determination, teamwork and, most importantly, great sportsmanship throughout the competition. We are incredibly proud of every pupil who took part and gave their very best.

🏆 Results:

🥉 Year 5/6 Girls Team – 3rd place
🥈 Year 5/6 Boys Team – 2nd place
🥉Year 3/4 Boys Team- 3rd place
🥈Year 3/4 Girls Team- 2nd Place

🥇 Nolan – 1st place individual (Year5/6)
🥉 Dylan – 3rd place individual (Year5/6)
🥈 Benjamin – 2nd place individual (Year 3/4)

A huge well done to everyone involved! 👏 Your hard work, perseverance and positive attitude made us very proud. Well done, St Matt’s! 💙🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

🍂 Learning through play in Tavy and Plym Class! 🍂What a wonderful time we’ve had exploring our provision this week…🔢 We’...
24/09/2026

🍂 Learning through play in Tavy and Plym Class! 🍂

What a wonderful time we’ve had exploring our provision this week…

🔢 We’ve been developing our early maths skills by subitising to 3, recognising quantities quickly without needing to count.

😊 We’ve explored emotions in our PSHE, using natural loose parts to create different emotion faces and talk about how we might be feeling.

💦 We’ve been building our gross motor skills as we used a variety of tools in the water tray, strengthening our muscles and developing coordination.

🍁 And, of course, we’ve been busy in our mud kitchen, creating some very yummy-looking Autumn recipes using natural materials!

Our Reception children have been busy taking their first exciting steps on their reading journey! During our Read Write ...
17/09/2026

Our Reception children have been busy taking their first exciting steps on their reading journey!

During our Read Write Inc. sessions, the children have been learning their first five phonics sounds. We’ve been looking at pictures that begin with each sound, practising our Fred Talk to blend words and learning special mnemonics to help us remember each sound.

We’ve also started learning how to write our sounds, carefully practising our pencil control and making sure we have the correct pencil grip. ✏️ We use our handy reminder: Nip, Flip, Grip! 👍

It has been wonderful to see the children growing in confidence as they listen, say, read and write their sounds. What a fantastic start to their phonics journey!

What a wonderful first Wild Tribe session for our Reception children!The children began their adventure by learning a ne...
15/09/2026

What a wonderful first Wild Tribe session for our Reception children!

The children began their adventure by learning a new tapping stick song, developing their rhythm and coordination as they tapped along together.

They then headed into the Wacky Forest to explore, discover and search for special natural treasures. Their mission was to collect some beautiful finds to create their very own nature bracelets.

What a fantastic afternoon of exploring, discovering and connecting with nature! We can’t wait to see where our Wild Tribe adventures take us next! 🌳💚

This year for the first time we have chosen Head Pupils from Year 6 who will represent our school in a variety of ways. ...
11/09/2026

This year for the first time we have chosen Head Pupils from Year 6 who will represent our school in a variety of ways.

Ten pupils applied for the role, and each demonstrated an impressive level of commitment, maturity and enthusiasm throughout. They had to write a formal application and then speak to the Headteacher and two governors about why they should be chosen. Each of them spoke eloquently about the behaviours that they modelled, what they loved about the school and what they would like to improve.

I would like to congratulate all of the children who took part. They should be incredibly proud of themselves for showing the confidence and bravery to put themselves forward. The quality of the applications, and speeches was exceptional, making the final decision extremely challenging. In fact, the standard was so high that, rather than appointing four Head Pupils as planned, we have decided to appoint six this year.

Congratulations to our new Head Pupils. We are really looking forward to working with them this year and making our school an even better place to shine.

We have had to change the date of our Saturday tour for Reception new starters for Autumn 2027. The new date is Saturday...
07/09/2026

We have had to change the date of our Saturday tour for Reception new starters for Autumn 2027.

The new date is Saturday 7th November.

Thank you.

Address

1 Peregrine Road
Plymouth
PL65FN

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 4pm
Tuesday 8am - 4pm
Wednesday 8am - 4pm
Thursday 8am - 4pm
Friday 8am - 4pm

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