How Jewish is the Only Jewish School in Scotland?

Published: 
Nov. 9, 2012

Source: Haaretz

 

In the fourth and final installment in his series on Jews north of the English border, Anshel Pfeffer writes about Calderwood Lodge, the only Jewish day school in Scotland and the focus of much communal pride - as well as concern and a growing measure of controversy.

 

He writes:

"Calderwood Lodge, this year celebrating its 50th anniversary, is an interesting barometer of the current situation and future prospects of Glasgow's Jewish community. The school has 149 pupils up to the age of 12, and another 30 in its preschool classes. These numbers don't seem to bode well for the future of the community. There are no official statistics, but community leaders estimate that around 80 percent of Glasgow's Jewish children attend Calderwood Lodge. Further dampening these numbers is the number of non-Jewish pupils at the school, rumored to be as high as 30 percent, though the school's management will not divulge the precise number.

 

The path Calderwood Lodge has been forced to tread has been similar to that of other Jewish schools in northern England and other places where shrinking provincial communities have had to face similar dilemmas and accept non-Jewish pupils to ensure their schools' survival. In some of these "Jewish" institutions, Jewish children are now a small minority, while in Glasgow at least, they can at least describe their admissions policy as "inclusivity."

 

Read the entire article in Haaretz.

Updated: Nov. 13, 2012
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