From the start of the 2017/18 academic year, Calderwood will move to state-of-the-art premises in Newton Mearns, in the heart of Glasgow’s Jewish population.

In a pioneering venture, it will be joined on its new site by a Catholic school. Calderwood will have its own classrooms but the schools will share facilities such as the gym and playground.

The information meeting was chaired by Evy Yedd, co-president of the rep council, who retired as a Calderwood classroom assistant last year.

Headteacher Marion Carlton guided parents through the transition plans, assuring them that the only difference for their children would be learning in a more pleasant environment.

Moshe Rubin, Scotland’s senior rabbi and the school chaplain, spoke on the religious aspect and officials from East Renfrewshire Council were on hand to answer additional questions.

Speaking afterwards, Mrs Yedd —whose five children attended Calderwood — stressed the communal importance of the school, where Jewish and a significant number of Muslim children learn and play happily side by side. All pupils participate in prayers and learn Ivrit.

“Calderwood Lodge has always been our jewel in the crown,” she said. “It’s vital to continuity. If there was not a Jewish primary school, we would lose families.

“There is evidence families come here from the Highlands and Aberdeen so their children can attend Calderwood.”

It was also an attraction to Jews from other countries considering moving to Glasgow for employment reasons.

Further encouragement for the future was the Jewish take up for the Calderwood nursery, currently attended by 36 children, which will also move to the new site.

Around 60 per cent of the 154 pupils in the school are 
Jewish.