Scottish Catholic Observer

The Catholic St Clare’s Primary and the Jewish Calderwood Lodge have made their home at the new £17 million development in East Renfrewshire, where they also share the campus with a non-denominational nursery class.

The shared campus was built as part of of East Renfrewshire’s multi-million pound investment in their school estate, as well as to cater for a growing demanding for Catholic education and to relocate Calderwood Lodge from its former location.

Calderwood Lodge also has a significant number of Muslim pupils, and the new location means the school is closer to Scotland’s largest Jewish population, with around a quarter of the Jewish community in Scotland living in Newton Mearns.

“While both St Clare’s and Calderwood Lodge will undoubtedly benefit form the fantastic individual learning environments, it is the shared ideas which most excite me,” said the council’s convener of education, Paul O’Kane. “By sharing ideas and knowledge all our pupils at this new joint campus will enjoy an enriched learning environment.”

“The bringing together of these Catholic and Jewish primary schools on a single campus is a momentous initiative,” said Anne Marie Absolom, headteacher of St Clare’s Primary. “It delivers a powerful message to the wider community that two different faiths can work in close co-operation whilst retaining their own unique identity.

“It’s an exciting venture that East Renfrewshire can rightly be proud of. “We are looking forward to both schools working closely together to the benefit of our children and the wider community.”

“The design of this fabulous new campus has been based on feedback from parents and representatives from both faith communities and I know it will provide us with a fantastic learning environment,” added Marion Carlton, headteacher of Calderwood Lodge. “It will give excellent opportunities for shared learning and interaction amongst all the pupils and staff.

“Bringing together these two faith communities on one campus is creative and innovative and I have no doubt we will all reap the benefits from this approach.

“We are all so excited about getting started in our new home.”

The shared Faith school campus features a joint central ampitheatre, outdoor obstacle trails, two sports pitches, ICT facilities, and art, science, music and drama areas.

“This significant investment in our school estate has delivered facilities which will provide for our young people for many years to come,” said East Renfrewshire’s environment convener, Alan Lafferty. “The work of the design and project teams to deliver these projects to such a high standard is to be commended.

“All pupils, staff, parents and wider school communities will benefit hugely from these impressive facilities.”

Upon completing their primary education, St Clare’s Primary pupils will transfer to St Ninian’s High School, with Calderwood Lodge pupils will continue to go on to Mearns Castle High School.