Islamic Schools in London - pros and cons

[Abuz Zubair]

as-Salaamu 'alaikum,

Let me take the liberty to post the first thread in these forums...


can brothers and sisters list the various Islamic schools in London, in particular those they send their children to, plus positive/negative comments.

wasalam

[noora256]

Islamia Primary and Girls Secpndary School.

Has grant mainained status for the junior school ,but not for the secondary which you have to pay for. In the secondary school they only like those who get extremely good grades or they did till a few years ago

[maulima]

Assalamu alaikum

Well don't have kids going to any schools in London ....however i do know of a few....Islamia, Brondesbury college for boys, Islamia girls school, Al Risaala, The Avenue, Al Muntada, Al Khair etc...

I would also be interested to hear what these schools are offerring etc.

So inshallah will be keeping a keen eye on this thread...jazakallahu khairun for starting it.

wasalaam

[WM]

The best Islamic school in London is without doubt Jami'at ul-Ummah. Once in Ramadan in alMuntada moqsue they gave a talk. Here are the good points about it:

- All of the teachers are graduates of Madinah Uni
- The Islamic Cirriculum was said by Ofsted to be the best Islamic cirriculum in the country.
- Students are taught the Qur'an and revise it thoroughly by early puberty.
- Students are taught fiqh, usul, arabic, tafsir, aqidah etc from this young age

http://www.jamiatulummah.org.uk/index.htm

[Abuz Zubair]

For Islamia secondary, how much do you have to pay?

How long do you have to wait to get your kids enrolled in primary school?

I would like to know more about The Avenue, InshaaAllah.

What matters is #1 the standard of secular and Islamic education, #2 environment (heard bad things about some islamic schools), and #3 fees.

Nice to know about jamiat al-ummah school. does anyone have kids going to that school?

It'll be interesting to hear from ppl who have first-hand experience/knowledge of the schools.

On a similar note, there are lots of parents who are not able to afford these Islamic schools. Is anyone into home education here?

wasalam

[abu imaan an-nepalee]

As-sallamu 'alaikum

You know I spoke to a brother ages ago whose sister attended the secondary school of Islamia, and he told me the sisters there are like many of the teenagers in other secular state schools.

They like their boy-bands, socialising stuff etc....But I guess there are other pros and cons.

I mean who would send their children to state run secondary schools unless they had to?

It is a tough call, May ALLAH Ta'ala guide us and our children to the truth and make us steadfast upon it! Ameen!

[umm_muthanna]

assalaamu alaykum,

i know that this topic was initially about islamic schools in london but i wanted to inquire about the "Salafischool" in birmingham (yes, the SP funded/runned one)... i went to their site and it seems like it hasn't been updated for a while, which makes me wonder, is the school still there?!

are there any brothers/sisters that have sent their children or know of people that sent their kids there? how was it like? it would be interesting to know more about it...

for anyone who doesn't know about this school, please see this link:
http://www.salafischool.com/index.htm

[nomad]

Assalamu alaykum,

The muslim schools in Luton are useless if you want anything more than useless.

salams nomad

[Intoodeep]

assalaamu alaykum,

i know that this topic was initially about islamic schools in london but i wanted to inquire about the "Salafischool" in birmingham (yes, the SP funded/runned one)... i went to their site and it seems like it hasn't been updated for a while, which makes me wonder, is the school still there?!

are there any brothers/sisters that have sent their children or know of people that sent their kids there? how was it like? it would be interesting to know more about it...

for anyone who doesn't know about this school, please see this link:
http://www.salafischool.com/index.htm

Well lets hope its closed down :)

btw the biggest gripe i have at the moment with islamic schools etc is that the curriculums are all self-made and need drastic improvements.

We need to have a sophisticated movement with some focusing exclusively on developing an islamic schooling/ homeschooling curriculum (look at how advanced the christian home schooling movement now is in the USA with 4 million children being homeschooled)

I know that there are some people developing suitable curriculums for muslims in the west (IFNA, learningroots.com, Zaytuna, Iqra etc) but the progress is painfully slow.

[Abuz Zubair]

Well lets hope its closed downLet's hope it remains established and Allah guides the owners to the truth... Muslims in Britain cannot afford to lose schools!

[abu imaan an-nepalee]

there are many muslims who have graduated with PGCE's in various subjects from Primary school to secondary, however there isn't as much work (that I have seen) to build up the infastructure within the muslim schools community. There is just not enough investment going into schools. There are always people looking to build masajid alhamdulillah, but we live in a situation now where people want up to 20 million to build th 3rd masjid in the community, yet who will come to the masjid with all the kids going wild in the streets with their bredruns from the locl high school?

wa ALLAHU Musta'an!

[abuzakarya]

As-salamu alaykum. I've got children coming up to school age and I dread the thought of it. With the possible exception of Al-Khair, all the Islamic schools in South London are rubbish. The standard of education is appalling, facilities are terrible, teachers are young and inexperienced and don't take this wrong but the staff is too female dominated. Hence, boys seem to get discriminated against and there are huge problems of bullying and racism. I haven't even got to the fees yet! In the long run, the prospects for these schools are bad and not just because of their poor standards; there is a government-led agenda which has wide popular support which is anti-religious school in general but especially anti-Islamic school. This agenda has support right up to the highest levelof government. Thus far, they haven't worked out an effective way of controlling them but eventually, these schools will be brought more into the mainstream in terms of their curricula. It is essential from the point-of-view of British society that schools churn out good little citizens whose first loyalty is to Queen and country so, like it or not, you have to face this reality.

[Muwahidah]

assalam alaikum warahmatullah wabarakatu

I know the subject was more focusing on London schools, however just wanted to make a quick point on Islamic schools in general.
I myself am based in the North, and to be honest there is jack didly here, whatever there is, is a farce. In order to send my daughter to an 'OK' islamic nursery we have to go out of town, which is still ridiculous as its not even up to the standards we would want. What we have to realise is just because we hear the word 'Islamic' doesn't mean all the children and their parents implement Islam, you should see some of the sisters dropping their children off, they come worse than non- Muslims in their dress-sense. So, even then you will have a constant battle. (don't get me wrong i'm not promoting state schools).

Unfortunately, however much we want due to a lot of reasons a lot of parents are unable to home school, I myself am one of them. This shouldn't however stop us from giving them supplementary sessions at home because like the brother mentioned the teaching standards are very poor across the board, with the exception of the odd one or two when it comes to Islamic schools.

[Abuz Zubair]

To be honest, no matter where you send your children, there are always good and bad apples. You would find this even in Muslim countries. The real education is at home, no matter where you send your children. Parents who do not have the time to spend with their children, often end up losing them to the school with whatever good and bad influences there may be.

[new_muslim]

Assalamu alaikum wh wb,
does anyone have more information on Islamia primary school and how to apply?Would you recommend it?
jazakallahu khairun.

[Ehsan]

Assalamu'Alikum,

I think we should defo. promote Islamic schools and try our best to send our kids to them. I currently work for One of the Islamic Schools mentioned and Alhudmullilah it is a very islamic environment and the students behave, most of the times, very well, Masha'Allah.

There are some schools however where I wouldn't recomend sending your children, due to there own beliefs and methods which are not according to the Quran and Sunna. I wont name them here on a public website as that wouldn't be fair.

Our own school has an open day, here is some information on our school:

http://forums.islamicawakening.com/showthread.php?t=7345

Do check out the documentary on the school on Islamictube.net insha'Allah.

Wa'Salam.