By Monica Gibson

A NEW school which brings together the Catholic and Jewish faiths on one campus has opened in East Renfrewshire.

The £17million faith schools’ joint campus in Newton Mearns is now home to two primary schools – St Clare’s Primary and Calderwood Lodge – as well as a non-denominational nursery class.

East Renfrewshire Council has delivered the innovative joint campus – hailed as a world first – to provide the required increased provision of Catholic education in the area and also to relocate the current Calderwood Lodge from its previous base in Newlands.

Councillor Paul O’Kane said: “While both St Clare’s and Calderwood Lodge will undoubtedly benefit from the fantastic individual learning environments, it is the shared areas which most excite me.

“By sharing ideas and knowledge, all our pupils at this new joint campus will enjoy an enriched learning environment.”

The joint campus includes features such as a shared central amphitheatre and outdoor obstacle trails.

Two sports pitches, first-class ICT facilities, art, science, music and drama areas are also included.

The campus took around 270,00 hours to complete, with around 90 staff on site daily.