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Glasgow's Calderwood Lodge 'going in right direction'

January 31, 2013 11:47
Glasgow school’s pupils reaching out in harmony (Photo: Robert Ormerod)

ByJennifer Lipman, Jennifer Lipman

4 min read

Parents, teachers and councillors have expressed confidence that they will succeed in "fitting a Jewish school into a hole designed for Catholics".

Three months after Tony Tankel quit as the head of Calderwood Lodge's parent council amid a dispute over whether the 50-year-old school was officially seen as denominational or not, the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council believe there is now "widespread agreement about the direction of travel".

The headteacher, East Renfrewshire Council and the new head of the Parent Council have all now accepted unequivocally that the primary is not "non-denominational… with a Jewish ethos", as Mr Tankel argued, but denominational, as the Rep Council always maintained.

The distinction is important because under Scottish law at denominational schools the appropriate religious body has the right to approve a specific supervisor of religious instruction and oversee religious staff appointments.