Rashidun Newsletter Issue 3: July 2017

NEWSLETTER July 2017

Illustration by Rashidun student, Nabil Ahmed, Whitechapel

Welcome to the third edition of Rashidun’s bi-annual newsletter. Keeping you upto date with progress, recent developments and announcements.

FOCUS ON MUSLIM CHARACTER As part of furthering Rashidun’s commitment to providing an education that nurtures Islamic character we have made some major advancements with our curriculum and training this year. Continued on page 11...

Rashidun in Barking and Enfield ENFIELD

BARKING During Induction Day, children enjoyed a selection of arts and crafts activities including, making posters about Ramadan and The Five Pillars of Islam.

Route 42, A Thematic Study of Imam An-Nawawi’s 40 Hadith

Classes at our Barking and Enfield branches (our newest schools) have taken off with a flying start alhamdulillah. When we see that students are looking forward to coming to Rashidun and have established good friendships, we know that they have settled well in the classes. After initial assessments and target setting we are now able to focus on making progress in Qur’an recitation and memorisation. For most children, Arabic language has also been an added area of fun learning and they are responding to it well.

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ENFIELD

ENFIELD

Barking and Enfield off to a flying start!

It was a good boost to embedding Rashidun’s ‘community’ ethos that the year ended with a fun Eid party. Children and parents got a good chance to socialise. We are all looking forward to next year and are keen to take the Barking and Enfield schools from strength to strength.

The Enfield Deen and Education Trust (EDET) has supported Rashidun’s establishment at Ark John Keats academy last year.

EDET also run other community services such as Jumu’ah, Eid prayers and seminars.

Our initial class numbers are also due for a healthy increase in September with an increase in new applications on the waiting list and more staff joining the team. We ask the community for their support and prayers that the Barking and Enfield schools continue to grow in this way.

BARKING

BARKING

Spotlight Name: Ajmal Bari Age: 17yrs Current Education Level: A-Level

LIFE AFTER RASHIDUN

I started attending Rashidun in 2012 and since then, alhamdullilah I can say that I have benefited from an excellent Islamic education. I’m currently 17 years old, studying for my A level examinations with hopes to study medicine at university. As a young Muslim born, raised and educated in North London I’ve watched how so many other young Muslims my age have been deprived of a good Islamic education. From a young age, going to school I have seen how a lack of a good Islamic education can unfortunately lead to abandonment of faith in the teenage years. I consider myself privileged to have been able to attend

Rashidun and study my deen. From a young age, my parents and Islamic teachers have helped instil Islam as a core part of my lifestyle and I can definitely say that it has benefited me in many aspects of my day to day life. Over the past two years I’ve been working with Rashidun as a teaching assistant at the Whitechapel weekend classes, assisting the learning of Rashidun’s younger students. I’ve found this to be a particularly valuable experience as I feel that teaching Islam helps me to remain close to the deen and give something back to the community that first taught me. I was recently offered the role of editor to the Rashidun newsletter which I’ve gladly accepted. InshaAllah, as the new editor I look forward to working on delivering a high quality publication to inform parents and students of the amazing achievements of the Rashidun community. As a teaching assistant, I look forward to continue working alongside some of my old teachers to assist the learning of Rashidun’s next generation of students.

Here is some information about what the GoodBook challenge achieved in the years 2014 and 2015:

YEAR

AMOUNT RAISED

NET RAISED

YEAR

2015/16

£12,137.50

£7,462.75

320

2014/15

£17,662.45

£12,206.45

284

These following areas of expenditure are far beyond what we as a school are able to afford on our standard budget from student fees.

The GBC has enabled us to make this investment!

The GoodBook challenge has been capturing the imaginations of parents and children for the past three years now. Alhamdulillah, due to the GoodBook challenge hundreds of Rashidun students have read a wide variety of books on the Quran stories, the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and other fictional stories covering Islamic morals. In addition, countless chapters of Qur’an and duas have been recited.

Aunties, uncles, neighbours and even school friends both Muslim and non-Muslim have been made aware of the importance that we place on reciting and learning about the Qur’an.

Rashidun is a non-profit organisation which means that all revenues are invested back into development and educational projects considerable costs have been incurred to get us to where we are now. The school has ongoing overheads from its investments in development and growth to meet its ambitious vision for educating the future generation of Muslim children in Britain.

MONEY WAS SPENT ON: CURRICULUM AND INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT: • Qur’an progress tracking database • Online memorisation helper

RESOURCES: • Library books • Curriculum books • Classroom projectors • Multimedia equipment

SUPPORTING STUDENTS: • Rashidun subsidises student fees and does not let cost be a prohibiting factor for any child to get an adequate Islamic education.

• In 2015/16 we subsidised the fees of 87 Rashidun students that’s nearly 20% of students.

• £13.4k of student fees subsidies.

UPCOMING INITIATIVES: • Muslim book library at Rashidun schools • Media clubs

Learning Practical Prayer!

TAYAMMUM WORKSHOP

CLASS 5 LEARNING WUDHU

WHITECHAPEL Year 5 are learning about Tayammum. Zahir and Imtiaz are showing the class how to perform tayammum.

WHITECHAPEL

STEPS OF SALAH

Students from year 5 are doing a wudhu practical, followed by a Salah practical with the year 6 boys and hifz class.

CAMDEN With Ramadan fast approaching Year 4 are working on their Salah model and summarising the key steps through a story board to help them refresh the steps of Salah.

SALAH PRACTICAL

WHITECHAPEL ENFIELD

The boys from year 5, 6 and hifz class are having their Salah practical.

Muslim Kids Need To Have Fun Together Over and above everything, Rashidun’s educational priority is the development of Islamic values and identities within our students.

This is essential in preparing our children for the challenges to their faith in future life and the challenges can be overwhelming.

Growing repercussions of this have been seen in the recent decades. Developing balanced individuals with mature faith is done by facilitating a student centred learning environment and creating a vibrant community that is built around ongoing relationships between parents, teachers and students. ‘Caught’ education is what children learn from their social and physical environment. The influence of environment on children’s learning, especially values and identity, is undeniable and this is constructed greatly from their social circle. Children will be more open to accepting Islam as a culture to live by, if they can relate to it in their own terms.

As parents, it is important that we allow our children to build friendships and relationships with peers inside Islamic settings; where friends and colleagues share a common experience of the Islamic ethos provided by the school. This is not the same as receiving Islamic cultural experiences from the immediate family nor is it the same at their state school even though their school friends may be from Muslim families. We need to:

Intracultural Socialisation

‘let kids be kids’ inside the Madrasah setting and let Madrasah be a place where they can entirely be themselves. At Rashidun, we hope that students’ relationships formed in Madrasah are ones that can endure beyond their experiences here. Such that, in their teenage years, when they chose to reach for their mobile phones and send a message or share their thoughts using social media, it is involving like-minded friends with a shared view of the world - an Islamic worldview.

Rather than being at risk of influence from alternative sources and the influences of friends of opposing or non-complementary mind-sets. In contrast, our children should be set on a life-pattern to be a positive influence on others, and their social lives should be rooted within a supporting network of caring friends to catch them before they fall.

In recent years Rashidun has been trying hard to create more opportunities for this outside the classroom setting such as outdoor learning activities, social gatherings and school trips. There have been sleep-overs, games nights, football tournaments, community projects, and the introduction of Muslim scouts. School trips are an opportunity for children to spend time with each other and their teachers outside the traditional classroom setting giving them the chance to bond and to see that it is possible to enjoy other things while maintaining an Islamic ethos. Unfortunately the uptake with School trips has sometimes been low and students choose not to participate for various reasons. Understandably, sometimes cost may

be the prohibiting factor (so cheaper activities have been arranged e.g. trampoline park, picnics). For others it is that they have been there before. Sometimes, parents have said: ‘That’s not what we send our kids to Madrasah for…’. Sadly, for some parents the objective of sending their children to Madrasah is limited to learning the recitation of Qur’an and nothing else. For others, it is to make their children grow up to be ‘good Muslims’. But to bring-up good Muslims, we need to appreciate that the education of our children entails so much more than classroom instruction. It is equally what is ‘caught’ that is important as much as what is taught.

We hope that we have the backing of parents by ensuring that they prioritise attendance to these events as much as they do to our regular classroom activities in the future and that our wonderful teachers continue to volunteer their personal time to help make these things happen. Ameen.

Character Building Trips Tree Tops Soft Play

On the 7th May 2017, our younger children of reception, Class 1, and Class 2 attended an end of year trip to Tree Tops Soft Play. Treetops play area is a multi-layered soft play centre for children and a colourful, exciting, entertaining and educational space, all in one.

Flippin’ Out!

Class 4 and Class 6 enjoyed a great day out at Flip Out Trampoline Park. Even the teachers couldn’t resist the urge to “flip out” with the kids.

Mayhem Laser Tag

Whitechapel weekend Class 7, go to Mayhem Laser Tag.

Head Chat

ANNOUNCEMENTS End of 16/17 Holiday Dates

Ustadh Abdullah - Head of Rashidun Being a part of Rashidun’s growth and development is a matter of immense pride for me. These are very exciting times. There is so much happening yet so much left to do!

We strive to make Rashidun a caring organisation concerned with nurturing our potentials for excellence as individuals and as a community. Carrying this ethos with students, parents and the school team. In a new chapter next year, we hope to be able to focus on bolstering our training provision to take our teacher standards to even higher levels. Watch this space…

Ustadh Zillur - Head of Whitechapel 1 At Rashidun we’re always trying to get the parents involved as much as possible and this year we’ve launched something called ‘The Homework Drive’ . This allowed Rashidun parents to experience the atmosphere of our classes first hand without any barriers. The objective behind this workshop was to open the doors for parents to show them the importance of homework and the impact of it directly in the classroom.

Ustadh Badr - Head of Camden

We believe that it is important to involve more parents like yourselves in your children’s learning journey and making you feel as much a part of Rashidun as your child does. Alhamdulillah, I have already spoken to some parents who have agreed to lead a parents committee where they will play an active role in raising your concerns and thoughts, but most importantly take leading in various projects and initiatives which are in the pipeline. Inshallah, we will soon be announcing our Parents committee.

Ustadh Mohib - Head of Tottenham 1 We have seen a great positive change in our students in their attitude towards learning. We hope to enrich our students with good mannerisms that are in accordance with the Qur’an and Sunnah.

Ustadh Fakhrul - Head of Whitechapel 2

This year alhamdulillah our students have been involved in various community and charity projects. Class 4 and 5 have raised money for the poor and needy in Palestine and Syria, whilst Class 6 visited the old and sick in Royal London Hospital, distributing gifts and cards. We have also worked closely with National Zakat foundation who have delivered assembles to our students.

Ustadh Noorul - Deputy Head of Whitechapel 2 Alhamdulillah, Our KSM online System has proven to be a pivotal tool for us as a central platform which manages all school activities from admin to monitoring student’s progress and even a merit system to reward students for their hard work. It is a great tool to use to plan your child’s homework. Inshallah KSM will get even better with everyone’s participation.

Ustadh Abdul Basir - Head of Tottenham 2

By the will of the Almighty, I am delighted to have returned to my closest branch, where I was raised in my childhood, this time on a journey to lead education in the community; with aims to drive, and raise the standard of learning and its development; by making it motivating, exciting and enjoyable. I really look forward to the branches success for many years to come inshaAllah.

Weekends: 30th July – 2nd September 2017 Weekdays: 27th July – 4th September 2017

October 2017 Holiday Dates Weekends: 28th – 29th October 2017 Weekdays: 23rd – 26th October 2017

Dec/Jan 2017/18 Holiday Dates Weekends: 30th – 31st December 2017 Weekdays: 25th December 2017 – 4th January 2018

Summer School 2017 This year, Rashidun’s Whitechapel campus will be hosting the summer school from 31st of July to 11th August. If you are interested in attending and would like to submit an application, then visit the Rashidun website at rashidun.org/summer-school.

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COURSES FOR PARENTS

ENROL NOW

WHITECHAPEL, CAMDEN & ENFIELD

BARKING

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BARKING

The reception class enjoying a lesson about colours in Arabic.

Here, the children are learning to pray Salah in congregation. They were taught how to do wudhu via flash cards.

Each child is then taught what to recite when praying, following the teacher step-by- step.

ENFIE LD

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The whole class were learning about Surah Fil, so they were put into groups and made elephant masks. At the end of class, all the children gave a show and explained the Surah to their teachers.

ENFIELD

Snapshot of Attendance & Punctuality FROM DECEMBER 2016 - JUNE 2017

Everyone at Rashidun is committed to your child’s progress.

Our school management system gives us the ability to take attendance during the lessons using laptops or our mobile phone app and keep accurate and live records. Parents can also access the records and view performance from home.

Over time we will collate our attendance and punctuality data

100 75

79

87

86

89

85

to show month by month performance for each school. We will also be able to use this to set targets and work towards them.

Alhamdulillah, many students have 100% attendance. We would like to bring the attendance of all students up to that standard too inshaAllah.

Overall Schools Attendance In %

90

50 25 0 20

Overall Schools Lateness In %

15 13

10 5

8

8 2

1

0 Whitechapel Weekend

Parents! To avoid getting on the lateness register and receiving early morning calls from the administrator please bring your children in on time and inform us of any absences.

Whitechapel Weekdays

Camden

3

Tottenham Weekend

Tottenham Weekdays

Enfield

Getting Creative!

WHITECHAPEL The Year 6 Girls Islamic Studies class have been creating props for their presentation on Prophet Musa AS. They have created a well and cradle, a sign “ No baby boys” and a staff which turns into a snake.

WHITECHAPEL

TOTTENHAM

The children are preparing props for their end of year role play - 'The Boy And The King’

TOTTENHAM

TOTTENHAM Waahid Ithnaan Thalatha are the Arabic numbers for 1, 2 and 3.

A fun and exciting way for 5 - 6 year olds to learn the Arabic numbers by creating these colourful chatterboxes. Not only do they learn the numbers, but they also have fun with each other as they learn.

RESEARCH:

CHARACTER EDUCATION

Rashidun Schools recently participated in a research project into the educational strategies for Tarbiyah (upbringing) of Muslim children and the perceptions of Muslim teachers. The study was conducted in the form of interviews and textual studies which was also carried out amongst teachers of other Muslim supplementary schools.

This area of research is greatly needed in the Muslim schooling sector. It will provide a greater understanding of the ideal educational theories and classroom strategies for making our Tarbiyah most effective. It will also give a deeper insight to the challenges, in terms of skills and experience, faced by our Muslim teachers; of varied educational and training backgrounds, so that we can look to creating training provisions that are tailored to their specific needs.

Mohammed Abdullah, the head of Rashidun Supplementary Schools, recently submitted a research paper for a Masters Degree in Islamic Education to the Markfield Institute of Higher Education based on this field work. In the near future, we hope to benefit more from this research as Abdullah builds on this progress in upcoming studies.

TRAINING: Last April, we delivered dedicated training for character education to our teachers in all of the Rashidun schools. Teachers got to prepare and deliver engaging activities under the supervision of peers and specialist trainers. The training day was an eye opener for many teachers on what the future possibilities are in terms of getting children excited about community engagement, personal development and social action.

Rashidun will incorporate a specialised curriculum from Ilm 2 Amal as a pilot across three of its larger schools from September 2017 and aim to roll it out to all schools in September 2018 inshAllah. Parents should notice a distinct difference, from their children being involved in more regular and focussed character education activities that are more student centred. More community engagement, out of classroom learning and family activities are also things we can look forward to.

Rashidun in The Community

Care Home Visit

Shoebox 4 Syria Our older girls class took the initiative to participate in the Shoe box for Syria appeal. All our students made and filled their own boxes to send to the children of Syria. We should always help those in need and take the month of Ramadan to do this more and gain rewards, inshaAllah.

A visit for the Rashidun Year 6 girls to Esther Randall Court, an extra care residential home for the elderly. The girls enjoyed exchanging stories and learning about the value of giving time to the senior members of our community.

"I'm glad we spent time with the residents because some of them have no family to visit them" - Zubeda Ahmed, Student

Bake Sale Trip to ELM The boys from year 5, 6 and hifz class are having a guided tour of East London Mosque. They are learning about the history of the mosque and the services it offers to the community.

The Class 6 girls decided that a bake sale full of goodies to take home and treat oneself at iftar would be the perfect way to achieve this. The students had great fun together and enjoyed practically learning a way to help the ummah. The girls furthered this initiative by choosing to ensure the £135 raised was a ‘Sadaqah Jaariyah’ (ongoing charity) by donating towards trees and a water tanker in Palestine.

Litter-Picking with MADE WHITECHAPEL 80 Greenfield Rd, Whitechapel, London E1 1EJ T: 02073776677 / 07483811125 CAMDEN Camden School For Girls, Sandall Rd, London NW5 2DB T: 02073776677 / 07483811112 Our older students from Class 8 and 9 took part in a litter picking event in collaboration with MADE.

TOTTENHAM 115 Clyde Rd, London N15 4JZ T: 02073776677 / 07483811114

MADE is an organisation that inspires and enables young British Muslims to serve society and the environment through social action. Our students were really inspired by this and took to the streets of East London doing their bit.

ENFIELD Ark John Keats Academy, Bell Ln, Enfield EN3 5PA T: 02073776677 / 07483811127 BARKING Barking Abbey School, Sandringham Rd, Barking IG11 9AG T: 07484791865