CALLS for Scotland's only state funded girls school to become mixed sex have been halted until a consultation in 2018.

But campaign groups on both sides of the argument about Notre Dame High School have vowed to fight on.

Parents at the co-educational Notre Dame primary school pressed Glasgow City Council to hold a consultation on letting boys into the secondary.

However, education bosses have said that will not go ahead and the issue will instead be looked at during a catchment area review next year.

While some parents, backed by Archbishop of Glasgow Philip Tartaglia, want the high school to become mixed sex, another group are firmly against the move.

Group Girls for Notre Dame said it hopes to preserve single sex education at the high school and is preparing for a campaign in 2018.

A spokeswoman for the group, made up of parents from Notre Dame and St Ninian's primaries, said: "In essence, we have won our campaign to keep the school as it is but this is just a reprieve and we know the issue will reoccur next year.

"We have won this battle but we haven't won the war.

"We want to preserve something really great and ensure that parents have as wide a choice of education options in the city as they can,giving parents who believe single sex education is best that choice..

"The council has said there is no educational benefit to making Notre Dame High School mixed sex and we agree.

"Educational benefit comes first and there is no benefit to changing the school's intake."

Girls from Notre Dame and St Ninian's primaries automatically go to Notre Dame High with a large number of placing requests coming from Corpus Christi Primary.

An email from Executive Director of Education Maureen McKenna to parents reads: "There is a need for us to construct an educational benefits statement.

"It would be challenging to construct an educational benefits statement which stated that pupils would attain better if the admissions changed given the performance of both Notre Dame High School and St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School."

Ms McKenna then goes on to talk about the rise in pupils numbers at schools across the city and says Notre Dame is reliant on "significant numbers" of pupils coming to the school through placing requests.

In early 2018 there will be a city wide consultation on catchment areas in Glasgow.

Ms McKenna adds: "Given the planning of this consultation and the fact that the school roll is increasing then my view is that we are not in a position to be able to take a paper to Committee seeking permission for a consultation on changing criteria as the educational benefit of this change is not sufficiently strong.

"I appreciate that this will be disappointing for you."

In response to the education director's email, the Notre Dame High School for All campaign group sent a letter to parents saying: "We will continue our campaign."

The Girls for Notre Dame spokeswoman said: "We hope that this will be a positive campaign on both sides and that it will not cause divisions in the school."

Chris Cunningham, City Convener for Education, Skills and Early Years, said: “Education officers have been in discussion with the associated parent councils but the legislation requires there to be a statement of educational benefit as part of that consultation and officers are concerned that at this stage it would be difficult to make such a case.

“We will be taking a report to Committee in early 2018 to take forward a city wide consultation on secondary school catchment areas and parents, and other interested parties, will have the opportunity then to express their views.”