Calderwood Lodge Primary School

Denominational Jewish primary school in Glasgow, Scotland. It is openly Zionist

Calderwood Lodge Jewish Primary School
Motto
Established	1962
Type	Denominational primary school (voluntary-aided)
Religious affiliation(s)	Orthodox Jewish
Headteacher	Miss Jacqueline Dunn
Address	Waterfoot Road, Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire G77 5GP; formerly 28 Calderwood Road, Newlands, Glasgow G43 2RU (1962–2017)
City	Glasgow
County	East Renfrewshire
Postcode	G77 5GP
Country	Scotland
Enrolment	~150 (primary) + nursery places
Gender	Co-educational
Age range	–
Website	[Official school site Official school site]

Calderwood Lodge Jewish Primary School is a denominational (voluntary-aided) Jewish primary school in Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire, on the southern edge of Glasgow, under the authority of East Renfrewshire Council. Founded in 1962 under the joint auspices of the Glasgow Zionist Organisation and the Glasgow Board of Jewish Education, it is the only Jewish school in Scotland and provides education from nursery to Primary 7, combining the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence with Orthodox Jewish studies.

The school has a very low proportion of Jewish pupils in recent years, reflecting the small and declining Jewish population in Greater Glasgow. Most places are filled through placing requests, and the school is open to children of all faiths, though it maintains a strong Jewish ethos.

History

Calderwood Lodge opened in 1962 in a detached house of that name in the Newlands area of Glasgow. The house, 28 Calderwood Road, overlooks Newlands Park and lies within the City of Glasgow, not in Giffnock. As the roll grew, an extension was built. The original house survives and has since been converted into flats. It was the first Jewish day school in Scotland: proposals for a Jewish school in Glasgow had been made since 1909, and an attempt "by Glasgow Zionists to found their own Hebrew language school in 1911 foundered because of problems of funding and accommodation". According to Scotland's Jews, the community history by Kenneth Collins published by the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, "A Jewish primary school, Calderwood Lodge, was finally established in Glasgow in 1962, under the joint auspices of the Glasgow Zionist Organisation and the Glasgow Board of Jewish Education."

A survey of Jewish schooling in Britain published in the Jewish Journal of Sociology in July 1964 described a schools system that "owes its existence to the Zionist Movement", and counted "four of these schools in the Greater London area, one in Leeds, one in Glasgow, and one in Westcliff-on-Sea, which are affiliated to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland". The Times Educational Supplement reported in 1998 that the school "was founded in 1962 by the Glasgow Jewish community and the British Zionist Federation", and The Times of Israel wrote in 2017 that it was "founded originally in 1962 by the Zionist Federation". The 2023 Scottish Parliament motion marking the school's 60th anniversary, lodged by Jackson Carlaw, says only that it was "originally established by the Jewish community" and "initially run by the Glasgow Board of Jewish Education", and does not mention the Zionist organisations.

Calderwood Lodge was initially an independent school and was taken into the state system in 1982. It was run by Strathclyde Region from 1982, by Glasgow City Council from 1996 and then by East Renfrewshire Council. Although the school stood in Glasgow, East Renfrewshire Council ran it, and in January 2014 the council's education vice-convener, Paul O'Kane, said that "our Jewish school community has long expressed the desire to relocate to East Renfrewshire, where most Calderwood Lodge pupils live". In August 2017 the school left Newlands for the new Faith Schools Joint Campus on Waterfoot Road in southern Newton Mearns, which it shares with St Clare's Primary School (Catholic) and a nursery; the campus was built with £17 million of public funding. The Times of Israel reported:

Bishop John Keenan is half of the religious authority for a unique education project in Scotland. There, two primary schools, one Catholic and one Jewish, share a purpose-built campus. “I think,” jokes Bishop Keenan, “that the relationships here have gone beyond interfaith dialog. As far as I can see, the dialog is in the bricks.”

St. Clare’s Catholic Primary and its Jewish counterpart, Calderwood Lodge, are housed in a brand-new building in the Newton Mearns suburb in the south of Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city. Plans were in the works for four years to open what is thought to be an international first, where two religious schools share the same premises.

The two schools are halfway through their first term and will open formally on November 8, in a ceremony due to be attended by both Keenan, who is the bishop of the Diocese of Paisley, and Britain’s chief Orthodox rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis. The project grew out of an educational and municipal coincidence: Calderwood Lodge, founded originally in 1962 by the Zionist Federation, switched school districts after a municipal boundary change, and came under the authority of East Renfrewshire Council.

Ethos and curriculum

The school integrates secular education with Hebrew and Jewish studies. Jewish Studies (including Hebrew, Torah, Jewish history, festivals, and ethics) are administered by the charity Calderwood Jewish Education. The school promotes values of respect, inclusion, and community, and is supervised by local Orthodox rabbinic authorities.

Current situation

As of 2025, the school has approximately 150 primary pupils and a nursery with morning/afternoon sessions (total capacity around 80 nursery places). The proportion of Jewish children is now very low, with many pupils coming from non-Jewish families through placing requests. The school continues to serve the remaining Jewish community in Glasgow while operating as an inclusive denominational school.

People

• Sora Jacobs (Kodesh/Jewish studies teacher, senior classes) — April 1995 to October 2010 (15 years); worked closely with successive headteachers to enhance the school's Jewish atmosphere.

Staff

Senior Leadership Team (2025)

Name	Role
Miss Jacqueline Dunn	Headteacher
Mr Robson	Depute Headteacher
Mrs Thomson	Principal Teacher
Rabbi Rubin	School Chaplain

Previous staff

Previous Headteachers and Senior Staff

Name	Role	Approximate tenure	Notes
Dianna Wolfson	Headteacher	~1976–1998	Served 22 years; retired June 1998; interviewed in TES Scotland about the school's role in Glasgow's Jewish community.
Ruth Levey	Headteacher	Late 1990s–early 2000s	Mentioned in 2000 reports appreciating council support for Jewish ethos.
Christine Haughney	Headteacher	Pre-2010s	Advised incoming staff on cultural/religious norms (e.g., not shaking hands with the rabbi).
Jim Duffy	Acting Headteacher	2006	Temporarily seconded from St Cadoc’s Catholic Primary; non-Jewish; wore yarmulke during tenure.
Marion Carlton	Headteacher	Circa 2010s	Led during 2017 shared campus move to Newton Mearns.
Lisa Corr	Headteacher	Circa 2018–2021/2022	Served over three years; took leave September 2021; position advertised 2022.
Margolit Borowski	Principal Teacher of Jewish Studies	Circa 2010s	Provided Jewish studies resources and guidance to new non-Jewish heads.
Diane Hecht	Primary 2 Teacher	Circa 2000	Featured in Herald Scotland discussing religious ethos.
Sora Jacobs	Kodesh (Jewish studies) teacher (senior classes)	April 1995 – October 2010	Taught for 15 years; enhanced Jewish ethos in collaboration with headteachers.

The school used to be run by Calderwood Jewish Education a Scottish charity which closed down in 2012. Its resources were then passed to the Glasgow Jewish Community Trust.

TES report

The Times Education Supplement notes:

After 22 years as headof Calderwood Lodge, Scotland’s only Jewish school, Dianna Wolfson retires this week. She takes Eleanor Caldwell on a tour of her school.

Friday afternoon at Calderwood Lodge Jewish Primary School in Glasgow is always a special time. For 12 pupils in Primary 7 it was even more special because at 5.15am the following Monday, they would be setting off on a week-long trip to Israel. For them, Glasgow was going to Israel, while for the eight left at home, Israel was coming to Glasgow.

The children going to Israel with two of their Hebrew teachers were ready to see the sights in Jerusalem, learn more about their faith, visit both the north and south of the country, meet their pen friends and have fun. Those in Glasgow were set to embrace Israel at home, with activities including a visit to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition at Kelvingrove and a chance to try some Israeli (chalah) baking.

Calderwood Lodge is the only Jewish school in Scotland. Housed in a magnificent villa overlooking Newlands Park on the south side of Glasgow, the primary school was founded in 1962 by the Glasgow Jewish community and the British Zionist Federation.

It was taken over in 1982 by Strathclyde Region, moved to Glasgow City Council in 1996 and since last year has been administered by East Renfrewshire. After “an uninterrupted relationship” with Calderwood Lodge since 1963, first as a parent and for the last 22 years as headteacher, Dianna Wolfson retires at the end of this term...

“I’m proud to say that many of our pupils are achieving a National Certificate Module 1 in Hebrew by the end of Primary 7,” Mrs Wolfson says. “Many of the children also belong to Jewish youth groups or have strong family links, and go to Israel for the summer, which improves their command of the language greatly.”

Hebrew study continues alongside French, which children begin to learn in P6 as part of the national scheme for modern languages in the primary school. She says that the visiting teacher of French was “absolutely thrilled” with the standard of French in the school.

Not all members of staff at Calderwood Lodge are Jewish. Depute head Maureen Blacklaw, for example, says that she did not seek out Calderwood for any particular reason: “I really liked the school when I visited it and was delighted to have been offered the post. I just feel I’ve been embraced by the faith.”

P23 teacher Dinah Tennent followed in her mother’s footsteps in becoming a teacher at the school. “As a non-Jewish person,” she says, “I’ve learned so much about my own religion through learning about Judaism. I can now really see where Christ comes from. I greatly admire the absolute commitment the children in the school have to their faith.”

Nor are all the pupils Jewish. Approximately 10 per cent come from other faiths including Catholic, Protestant and Muslim. “I don’t like quoting numbers like this, because the non-Jewish children are just part of the whole school community,” Mrs Wolfson says.

“They all come on board with the school’s own Jewish-based programme of religious and moral teaching. Parents of other faiths are often looking for a school that appreciates the value of religion and they find this quite a caring school,“she says. “After all, a lot of Jewish values are shared with Islam and Christianity. We’re all decent people who can look beyond the simple differences in ways of worship.”

The children who come to Calderwood are drawn from the 6,500-strong Jewish community in greater Glasgow. How much the children’s experience of being at a Jewish school influences their observance of the faith in later life varies, Mrs Wolfson says.

“We can do so much in school, but it really depends on lifestyle in the home. In families where there is perhaps not such a strong religious ethos (possibly where one parent is not Jewish), I think the school offers the children an equilibrium. On leaving Calderwood, there are inevitably some children who are leaving behind a lot of Jewish observance.”...

This year, Israel’s 50th anniversary has provided an extra celebration. In addition to activities on the day itself, P7 pupils have done a project and prepared a database about Glasgow people, particularly those with associations with Calderwood Lodge, who have gone to live in Israel. The school has put on a special celebratory end-of-term production, which included a traditional Israeli line dance. A “Happy Birthday Israel” banner in Hebrew takes pride of place in the school hall...

On the walls of the entrance hall, the familiar school mission statement, “To encourage the children to work to their full potential in a happy, stimulating, caring, (Jewish) environment with an effective home and school partnership”, is lined up beside Calderwood Lodge’s own distinctive mission statement in Hebrew from Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”.

Zionism

The school itself reports:

This year Calderwood Lodge is working alongside UJIA to mark Mitzvah Day. The Pupil Council are collecting non-perishable food items to be used to make Welcome to Glasgow packs for asylum seekers. Goods collected in school will be given to the UJIA.

According to the JC in 2018:

UJIA’s Joanna Hyman cites the partnership between Calderwood and an Israeli school and the participation of a dozen Scottish teenagers in Israel tours this year as evidence of the community’s Zionist credentials.

TES reported in 1998:

Friday afternoon at Calderwood Lodge Jewish Primary School in Glasgow is always a special time. For 12 pupils in Primary 7 it was even more special because at 5.15am the following Monday, they would be setting off on a week-long trip to Israel. For them, Glasgow was going to Israel, while for the eight left at home, Israel was coming to Glasgow.

The children going to Israel with two of their Hebrew teachers were ready to see the sights in Jerusalem, learn more about their faith, visit both the north and south of the country, meet their pen friends and have fun. Those in Glasgow were set to embrace Israel at home, with activities including a visit to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition at Kelvingrove and a chance to try some Israeli (chalah) baking.

After an informal introduction in nursery, the 200 pupils at Calderwood begin to learn Hebrew in P1. At this stage they make up their own prayer book with only pictures representing the main prayers. Formal reading and writing lessons begin in P2 and in P3, pupils get their first real prayer book. A concert with Hebrew song and drama celebrates the event. Study of the language continues until P7. “I’m proud to say that many of our pupils are achieving a National Certificate Module 1 in Hebrew by the end of Primary 7,” Mrs Wolfson says. “Many of the children also belong to Jewish youth groups or have strong family links, and go to Israel for the summer, which improves their command of the language greatly.”

Although Calderwood Lodge was taken over by the local authority in 1982, it remains a Zionist school today. It collaborates with the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA), Maccabi, Mitzvah Day, the Scottish Jewish Youth Alliance (SJYA) and other Zionist groups. (The SJYA is itself a collaboration between Glasgow Maccabi and UJIA Scotland, both Zionist organizations.) The school also marks Israeli Independence Day (Yom Ha’atzmaut) and the “liberation” of Jerusalem (Yom Yerushalayim)—their term for the illegal occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967.

Student body

• In 1998: Nor are all the pupils Jewish. Approximately 10 per cent come from other faiths including Catholic, Protestant and Muslim. “I don’t like quoting numbers like this, because the non-Jewish children are just part of the whole school community,” Mrs Wolfson says.
• In 2017: A significant proportion of pupils at the Jewish primary school are Muslim.

• In 2018 Calderwood’s Jewish ethos is applicable to all its pupils, which means that the 48% of children who are not Jewish still learn Hebrew and attend Jewish subject lessons. [4 may 2018]

So there appears to be a 10% decline in Jewish kids per five years.

Funding

Donors	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	Total
Glasgow Jewish Community Trust	2,929	2,100	3,220	1,650	0	0	500	6,100	16,499
Total	2,929	2,100	3,220	1,650	0	0	500	6,100	16,499

The Glasgow Jewish Community Trust's accounts for the year ended 31 December 2025 record grants to Calderwood Lodge of £13,129 from restricted funds (2024: £6,500) and £5,000 from unrestricted funds. The Queens Park Charitable Trust gave Calderwood Lodge £3,750 in its year to 30 November 2025 (2024: £1,000).

Inspection, 2025

Inspectors from Education Scotland visited the school in October 2025. The report, published on 20 January 2026, graded all four quality indicators (leadership of change; learning, teaching and assessment; ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion; raising attainment and achievement) "very good". It praised "the welcoming, nurturing, caring and highly inclusive ethos" and said "Staff work very effectively with parents and partners to embed the Jewish faith in the life and work of the school." The summarised findings recorded a roll of 129 children, all admitted through parental placing requests from several local authorities. All children from P1 to P7 have two Ivrit (modern Hebrew) lessons a week, and the report noted "strong partnerships with the school Rabbi and the Scottish Jewish Youth Alliance". The headteacher has been in post since 2022.

Parliamentary recognition

Jackson Carlaw, the Conservative MSP for Eastwood, lodged a members' business motion for the school's 60th anniversary in October 2023; it was debated in the Scottish Parliament on 22 November 2023. The motion said the school was "originally established by the Jewish community in a detached house, Calderwood Lodge, in the Newlands area of Glasgow" and "initially run by the Glasgow Board of Jewish Education", before being taken over by Strathclyde Region, then Glasgow City Council and finally East Renfrewshire Council. It noted that Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi, would attend the anniversary event. Carlaw lodged a further motion on 20 January 2026 congratulating the school on its inspection report.

Calderwood Jewish Education

Calderwood Jewish Education, the body that administered Jewish studies at the school, was Scottish charity SC012937. It was registered on 16 November 2004, reported income of £125,456 for the year to 31 July 2010, and was removed from the register on 2 June 2012.

Commentary

In December 2024 David Miller wrote an article for the Islamic Human Rights Commission journal The Long View arguing that British Jewish schools have a "Zionist ethos – as opposed to a simply Jewish faith ethos". Miller cited Calderwood and King David High School in Liverpool as schools in areas of declining Jewish population with "significant numbers of Protestant, Catholic or Muslim pupils", where "there is a Zionist ethos – as opposed to a simply Jewish faith ethos". Citing the Times of Israel, he wrote that the school "was first set up in 1962 by the Zionist Federation, a strong clue to its orientation". He quoted the 1998 TES report on Israel's 50th anniversary celebrations and its "Happy Birthday Israel" banner, and traced the change in the intake from "approximately 10 per cent" of pupils from other faiths in 1998 to "up to two thirds" Jewish in 2012 and 52% Jewish in 2017. The 2023 parliamentary motion, by contrast, describes the school as founded by the Jewish community and run at first by the Glasgow Board of Jewish Education.

In October 2026 the writer Nate Bear published an article on his Substack newsletter ¡Do Not Panic! arguing that more than half of the UK's mainstream Jewish schools say they teach children to "love Israel", and that this was "possibly breaching UK government rules against the promotion of partisan political views in schools". Calderwood Lodge appears in the list of schools linked from Bear's article.

Resources

• Calderwood Lodge Primary School Handbook, November 2019

See also

• Jewish Schools in the UK

External links

Official school website Glasgow Jewish Representative Council page