John Swinney 'personally addressing’ security of Scotland’s only Jewish school

John Swinney has said he is “personally addressing” some issues around security at Scotland’s only Jewish school. 

The first minister said he was “looking closely” at the safety and security of Calderwood Lodge Primary School following the antisemitic terror attack on Bondi Beach in Australia at the weekend. 

Conservative MSP Jackson Carlaw, who represents Eastwood – home to Scotland’s largest Jewish community – told the chamber that a former parliamentary aide of his, now living in the Wentworth constituency where the attack took place, had described the area as “the Eastwood of Sydney”. 

Carlaw said: “It is a community with a strong Jewish population, very familiar to him, to me, and to my own Jewish community in Eastwood. And it is precisely that reason that the atmosphere among the Jewish community has changed dramatically.  

“Australia, Sydney, Wentworth, was meant to be safe in the way that Scotland, Glasgow, and Eastwood are meant to be safe. But if it can happen there, they now fear it will happen here.” 

Carlaw told the first minister that parents of children who attend the school were children themselves during the Dunblane massacre and had that the event “burned fiercely on their memory”.  

He asked if Swinney could offer an assurance that he will ensure that Police Scotland look not just at places of worship, but also, “at this incredible, unique school, the only joint Jewish-Catholic campus anywhere in the world, so that Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic children who live, work, and learn in that school can continue to do so safely”. 

The first minister confirmed he was“very familiar with the circumstances” at Calderwood Lodge. 

“I have been looking closely at some of the issues in relation to the security and the safety of the school,” Swinney said. 

“I am aware of some issues about security, which I am personally addressing. I want to give Mr Carlaw the assurance that this issue is very much on my desk.” 

Attending a Chanukah event yesterday in Edinburgh, Swinney said members of the Jewish community told him that following the recent antisemitic attacks in Manchester and Sydney, Police Scotland had “increased engagement as a consequence” 

The first minister added that he also spoke with the chief constable of Police Scotland yesterday regarding security. 

Scottish Labour MSP Paul O’Kane described Calderwood Lodge as a “symbol of hope” and “a beacon of the resilience of the Jewish community in Scotland”.