IT was with interest that I read of Glasgow City Council's decision to retain Notre Dame High School in its current state. I have to confess to a degree of nostalgia for it since it is the school which my mother, sisters, and numerous relatives attended.

The fact that the full Labour Group on the council has seen fit to overturn the recommendations of its Education Committee is a beacon of hope for those of us who find ourselves threatened by the proposals for other schools. We in the Cleveden Action Group, fighting for Cleveden Secondary, have to date believed that the views of the community were being ignored by the council.

Perhaps, however, we should never have felt so negative. After all, Frank McAveety, whom many have considered a sell-out and an apologist for the Archdiocese, has himself welcomed the thoroughness of the debate! Apparently he looks forward to ''working in co-operation with the community to build on the success of the school''. If this is not music to the ears of parents then what could be?

It naturally follows that there will be a full reconsideration of the plans for the other threatened schools: after all, co-operation with the community demands nothing less. Further, I am confident that the council was deaf to any sectarian arguments which may have been advanced and made its decision purely on educational grounds.

I look forward shortly to echoing the comments of the Archdiocesan spokesman, ''We're pleased that the party has kept a successful school in its present status''. And as the spokesman for the Muslim parents has said, ''Why fix something that's not broken?''

Why indeed?

Paul Coyne,

6 Baronald Gate, Glasgow. May 28.

Catholic travesty

PATRICIA McKeever's phrase ''humanism with hymns'' very aptly describes the travesty which nowadays purports to be a Catholic school education (May 30).

Consider for example Glasgow's Notre Dame School for Girls, whose right to continue as a single-sex establishment has just been confirmed, thanks in no small measure to pressure from Muslims both near and far, whose daughters contribute some 200 pupils to the school roll.

In The Herald of February 14, Margaret Westwater, Notre Dame School Board chairwoman, openly admitted that ''Contrary to what many people think, the pupils are taught Christianity and tolerance of other religions and cultures, they are not taught Catholicism''.

When subsequently challenged on that prepared statement, she made an abrupt U-turn claiming that the faith was indeed wholly imparted in the school.

By now the liberal RE ''toothpaste'' was well and truly out of the tube, and no amount of huffing and puffing could ever put it back. That this amazing feat was even attempted, however, serves to illustrate the lengths to which some ''Catholic educationalists'' are prepared to go in their defence of the indefensible status quo.

Ronald J MacDonald,

82 Stirling Drive, Bishopbriggs.

May 30.

Too much religion

BASHIR Mann claims he has a ''right'' to State funding to educate his children according to the principles of Islam (May 25), but what of my rights? I am one of the one in three who claim no religious affiliation and yet no provision exists either in State or private sector for the education of my son according to my beliefs.

At the State nursery my son attends the minister visits about once a week, a not inconsiderable amount of time considering the State nursery provision is only two-and-a-half hours per day. The prospectus for the primary school in my village devotes an entire A5 page to religious and moral education but only five lines to the teaching of mathematics. There is also an appointed Christian chaplain.

The school is next door to the church and the children are taken to services at different times during the year. These points are not confined to my local school alone; this happens in every State school.

I do have the right to take my child out of religious education lessons, but in a small school this would cause him unnecessary isolation and may well be impractical. The ''rightness'' of Christianity and the respect shown for those with religious faith is all-pervasive; there is very little respect for the religion-free viewpoint.

Far from central funding being available for the support of denominational schools be they Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or Jewish, religion should be taken out of schools altogether as it is in most of Europe and North America.

Religion should be taught at home, in the place of worship (what else is Sunday School for?), or in private schools for which the parents pay. Otherwise, let all the children be educated together, whatever their hearth gods.

R J Abbott,

Ochil Villa, Main Street,

Freuchie, Fife.

May 25.