education in an Islamic environ-ment.” Winners of the individual awards included the Primary School Teacher of the Year, Zaheera Navlakhi of Al-Noor Primary School in London - who remarked, ”I believe that the awards are important because it is vital the Muslim schools and teach-ers get recognised for all the hard work that they carry out on a daily basis. It has in some cases become second nature to attribute second rate standards to Muslim independ-ent schools, however this is not the case. There are high standards which should be recognised through organisations and awards such as AMS across the country.” - and Shahid Ahmed from Mazahirul Uloom London, who added, “I would like express my gratitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala for giving me the blessings to become a teacher. I also would like to thank AMS for creating a conference where the Muslim schools could come and benefit from each other”. The awards were the highlight of the annual conference, which is the largest gathering of Muslim schools in the UK. Almost 50 schools were represented at this year’s event, which took in speeches from former AMS UK chairman, Dr Mohamed

Paradise Primary School was awarded the prestigious School of the Year award at the AMS UK Conference and Awards Ceremony at Madani High School in Leicester on 24 March 2012. PPS, based in Savile Town, Dewsbury, submitted an exceptional application which included testimonials from local authority figures, parents and the local community which helped it rise above the impressive nominations from other schools. Chair of Governors, Najam Sheikh said, “We really put a lot of effort into the entry, so we were really happy that we were shortlisted. Even at this point though, we were not very confident that we will win, because of the out-standing competition that we were up against.” When asked about the importance of the Muslim Schools Awards, Najam added, “This a fantastic event. It pro-vides the opportunity for unsung he-roes to be recognised and also pro-vides a learning opportunity to all the attendees to see best practice and come away with the intent to apply it to their own institutes. It is an excellent networking event and it always gives us extra strength and motivation to make a more concerted effort on increasing opportunities and going the extra mile in delivering an outstanding

The winners of the Muslim Schools Awards -Main Picture: Najam Sheikh, Lukman Patel, Abdul Aziz Patel and Faruk Pandor of Paradise Primary School;

Top Row: Amina Raouf and Arif Abdurrahmaan; Middle Row: Zaheera Navlakhi and Shahid Ahmed; Bottom Row: Foziya Reddy and Usman Mapara.

JUST REWARDS R A J A B 1 4 3 3

M A Y 2 0 1 2 S U M M E R T E R M

FEATURES

CHAIRMAN’S

NOTES

(Page 2)

ACTIVITY

LOG

(Page 2)

HUB REPORT

(Page 3)

UPCOMING

EVENTS

(Page 5)

BULLETIN

BOARD

(Page 10)

www.ams-uk.org

Mukadam and former Manchester Islamic High School for Girls stu-dent, Arzoo Ahmed, who has re-cently completed her Masters at Oxford University. Attendees also participated in workshops led by renowned edu-cationalists such as Mohammad Akram Khan-Cheema and Sheikh Ahmed Babikir.

Dr Mukadam addresses the conference

MUSLIM SCHOOLS AWARDS 2012

Non-Teaching Staff of the Year Primary: Amina Raouf Secondary: Arif Abdurrahmaan Teacher of the Year Primary: Zaheera Navlakhi Secondary: Shahid Ahmed

Transformational Leadership Award Primary: Foziya Reddy Secondary: Usman Mapara School of the Year Paradise Primary School

Assalamu Alaikum Wa

Rahmatulaahi Wa Barakatuhu

P A G E 2

The AMS UK Executive Committee (ExCo) convened at the Central Office for the final time ahead of the Annual General Meeting in July. This year’s AGM will see the election of new ExCo members who will make up the 12 person body responsible for governing AMS. The ExCo is made up of representatives from AMS UK member schools . An elected member will serve a term of three years before their place is up for re-election. Each year, elections for four places are held. Following the election, the ExCo will vote for the office bearers of AMS UK, - Chairman, Vice Chairman and Treasurer - before assigning each member to one of the four sub-committees - School Services; Representation; Finance & Fundraising; Voluntary Aided & Free Schools. In addition to the Executive Committee members, AMS UK also co-opts further members who contribute to the ExCo and a sub-committee but without voting privileges. If you want to attend the AGM either as a candidate or an observer, please see the back page of this newsletter for details about the event or email exco@ams-uk.org.

EXECUTIVE DECISIONS

ACTIVITY LOG

A L - M A D A R I S

CHAIRMAN’S NOTES As schools enter the vital phase of exams in this academic year and students and teachers busy themselves with preparation, it was great to be reminded of the amazing work going on behind the scenes at our schools at the

2012 AMS Conference & Awards Ceremony. The conference and awards ceremony was the high-light of the year for me, meeting many of the schools that make up AMS UK. The recurring theme from all the award winners being that the awards were really an achievement for the whole school. Every shortlisted nominee was praised by those nominating them for the efforts made in going the extra mile for the school and students they serve. Currently, AMS UK is working on its calendar of events for next year. Among other programmes, we will be hosting two weekend-long headteacher

conferences in the Autumn term, insha’Al-lah, and a wall planner will be sent to schools very soon . Finally, I would like to remind you of our AGM which is taking place on Saturday 14th July in Birmingham. This is your chance to influence AMS UK as we will be holding elections for various positions on our execu-tive committee. If you are a part of one of AMS UK’s member schools I would urge you to get involved and participate in your or-ganisation, as we saw from the AMS Awards our schools are enriched with talented and committed individuals who care very deeply about the education of our community. Ashfaque Chowdhury chairman@ams-uk.org

Trainings & Events Date Venue Attendees

Annual Headteachers Conference Mar 2012 Hilton Garden Inn, Luton 55

Conference & Awards Ceremony Mar 2012 Madani High School, Leicester 250

Pastoral Care Apr 2012 Birchfield Ind, Girls School, Birmingham 65

Assessment for Learning Apr 2012 Gatton Primary School 30

Meetings / Activities Date Venue AMS

Representative

BBC - The Big Questions: Is Religion Good For Children?

May 2012 Bristol Haji Idris Mears

Independent School Standards Consultation - Working Group Meeting

May 2012 London Arafat Hingora

A list of events organised by AMS UK and meetings attended.

Haji Idris speaking on The Big Questions

Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu “

“

Wassalam

P A G E 3 S U M M E R T E R M

HUB REPORT The AMS UK hub co-ordinators’ plans for the 2012-13

academic year.

“It will be our priority to develop capacity within our schools through an extensive CPD support programme we are planning to deliver. The priority for next year will be to ensure that each

and every member school benefits from our INSET programmes and we serve as many schools as possible, insha’Allah. We have planned to provide programmes for Senior Lead-ers on school development, SENCO training, Workskills Certified programmes, Subject Net-work Meetings, a range of cross-phase Insets and a new series of Muslim Teachers Pro-gramme which will be tailored to develop understanding of Islamic education, knowledge, and skills to better equip Muslim teachers to work in Muslim schools.” Usman Mapara (South Hub Co-ordinator) south@ams-uk.org

“We are pleased to say that the Midlands hub will be hosting three large events in 2012-13. Aside from our first National INSET Day in the Midlands, we will also be having two regional events

which we hope will attract a significant number of teachers from both the East and West Midlands.” Hasina Varachia (Midlands Hub Co-ordinator) midlands@ams-uk.org

“The North Hub has been liaising with schools in Lancashire and Yorkshire to plan a programme for 2012-13. We will have 4 twi-light sessions throughout the academic year which, insha’Allah,

will be run twice - once each in Lancashire and Yorkshire. We feel this will allow schools from all over the North Hub to attend our events without travelling long distances or missing a session. From the feedback received during the consultation period, we have designed a programme that deals with relevant issues - without being drawn into long, full-day lectures - that we hope many schools in the hub will be on board with. Our main aim is to have the schools operating as a network to ensure we are all working together.” Haroon Asghar (North Hub Co-ordinator) north@ams-uk.org

SOUTH HUB

MIDLANDS HUB

NORTH HUB

P A G E 4

Students, staff, gover-nors and parents at Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School were cele-brating after Ofsted rated the school as ‘outstanding’.

Tauheedul, a Specialist Humanities College, is the only secondary school in Blackburn to be given the top rating by Ofsted. Inspectors spent two days at the beginning of May, ob-serving lessons and talking to parents, staff and students.

Naeema Hasan, Head Girl at the school, said: "Its fantastic news for everyone involved at the school. It’s very exciting to be given the highest rating – all of us are busy planning a big party to cele-brate."

The achievement is one of several acco-lades the school has received this year.

A L - M A D A R I S

MODEL CHILDREN Budding architects at the Manchester Muslim Preparatory School were given a chance to flaunt some of their artistic talent at an Islamic Architecture competition that brought in more than fifty entries, comprising of models, pictures, poetry and art pieces that celebrated some of the greatest historical icons in our heritage, from the ‘Kaaba’ to a ‘Mud Mosque’ in Mali.

Pupils at the Prep School were given a period of eight weeks to produce an item of their choice based on Islamic Architecture, with the incentive being afternoon high tea with Mrs Ali, the Head Teacher, for winners from each year group .

BLACKBURN GIRLS SCHOOL ‘OUTSTANDING’

AGAIN

Tauheedul Islam High School for

Girls received their second

‘Outstanding’ grade in two years.

To nurture children’s imagination, creativity and inventiveness, pupils at Noor Ul Islam Primary School in London are busy preparing for an Art/Design & Technology exhibition this term. Pupils are being inspired by Muslim inventions and their impact on our lives today. A competition will be held for the best effort as well as an Art/Design & Technology exhibition on 30th June 2012 and on the day all the children’s work from each class will be displayed for the parents and the local community to ad-mire and possibly buy. There will also be a short film showing how the children created their models as well as a documentary about Muslim inventors and their inventions. Noor Ul Islam headteacher, Mohi Uddin Ahmed said, “This event will help create more awareness amongst our local community about Muslim inventors and their valuable in-ventions. It will also give an opportunity for our school to build more positive relationships within the local community.” This is an open event where everyone is invited. If you would like to attend or contribute towards this event in any way please feel free to contact Noor Ul Islam Primary school on 0208 558 8765 for further details.

MAKING AN EXHIBITION

P A G E 5 S U M M E R T E R M

P A G E 7 S U M M E R T E R M

UPCOMING EVENTS

THE AMS UK SHIELD 2012: Thursday 28 June 2012 See page 12 for more information. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2012 Saturday 14 July 2012 Please contact Central Office at exco@ams-uk.org for information.

Paradise Pri-mary School in Dewsbury has taken on two new em-ployees on work place-ments. Ayesha Munir from Batley and Nafisa Rafiq from Heckmondwike, are both 19 and both hearing impaired. They are currently on the Moving On course at Kirklees College and spend four days a week in Kirklees College’s Dewsbury Centre learning about skills for working life. Nafisa and Ayesha spend every Mon-day supporting the teachers at Para-dise Primary School with support on their placement from Kirklees College support assistant Carol Sheard. Nicky Pearson, the work placement officer for Foundation Learning at Kirk-lees College, Dewsbury Centre said, “We were really pleased when Para-dise Primary School offered Nafisa and Ayesha work placements. This means that they get real work experience and interact with a range of people in a professional environment.

SPRING CLEANING The girls from Islamiyah School in Blackburn have begun a clean up campaign to tidy up the neighbourhood. Working closely with their Community Officer, Tracey True, the school is finding ways of building good relations with neighbours and local service providers. Addressing the litter problem outside the school is the first project in helping the local community and by incorpo-rating this campaign within their PE/Citizenship curriculum, they hope to carry out monthly litter picking sessions out-side the perimeter of the school and help-ing themselves on the way to achiev-ing an Eco School Award.

Tawhid Boys School in London put in a fantastic effort last month to raise over £4000 for the Gambia Appeal. The majority of the funds will be used for water wells to supply remote villages with clean water. The pupils were com-mended for their hard work and passion for helping the needy people around the world.

The students have raised enough to build a double class-room and a library as well as clinics.

May Allah SWT reward all for taking part.

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LEADING THE WAY The AMS UK Headteachers Conference and Training Event took place at the Hilton Gar-den Inn, Luton in February. 50 school leaders - comprising Headteachers, Deputy Heads and Governors - attended the event which saw a whole host of speakers and workshop leaders take delegates through a variety of topics relating to all aspects of school life, from financial issues and legal responsibilities to inspection management and schemes of work, as well as recruitment policies and school governance. Workshop leaders ranged from faces familiar to AMS UK such as Qari Mohammad Ismail and Tahir Alam to experts from the Associa-tion’s service providers such as Saqib Awan of KSM Online who develop school man-agement software and Philip Hodges of Hill Dickinson Solicitors. AMS UK Vice Chairman, Arafat Hingora said, “We felt that AMS should host an event like this, a day focussing solely on school leader-

ship, where heads can network, share good practice and be guided by experienced educationalists”. In the next academic year, insha’Allah, AMS UK will host two Headteacher Conference and Trainings - one in the north and one in the south - which will be weekend-long residen-tial events. Details of these events can be found on page 12 of this newsletter.

AMS UK Vice Chairman Arafat Hingora at the Headteachers Conference & Training

TRAINING DAY The Midlands Hub hosted its fi-nal INSET of the academic year in Birmingham in April. Over 65 staff, primarily female, arrived at Birchfield Independ-ent Girls School in Birmingham for the Pastoral Care workshop, lead by Suzanne Templeton from training company insetcourses.com. Topics within the session in-

cluded, Personal Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS) and Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL). The INSET was described by dele-gates as “eye-opening” and “helpful.

PO Box 14109

Birmingham

B6 9BN

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e: info@ams-uk.org

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Association of Muslim Schools

United Kingdom

AMS UK is a company limited by guarantee.

Registered in England and Wales no. 4929648, at the above address.

Charity Registration No. 1103996

DESIGN Wasim Riaz © Copyright 2012 The Association of Muslim Schools

AMS UK ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Date: Saturday 14 July 2012

Venue: Birchfield Independent Girls School 30 Beacon Hill Aston Birmingham B6 6JU Presentation of yearly and financial reports. Executive committee and office bearer elec-tions.

K E Y D A T E

If you would like to promote your products or services in Al-Madaris Newsletter, please contact the AMS team at newsletter@ams-uk.org

A M S U K E V E N T S I N 2 0 1 2 - 1 3

Saturday 6 October 2012 - Sunday 7 October 2012 Headteachers Conference & Training [South] Monday 15 October 2012 National INSET Day [North] Monday 29 October 2012 National INSET Day [Midlands] Saturday 24 November 2012 - Sunday 25 November 2012 Headteachers Conference & Training [North] Monday 7 January 2013 National INSET Day [South] Saturday 16 March 2013 Conference & Awards Ceremony

A M S U K M E E T I N G S I N 2 0 1 2 - 1 3

Saturday 8 September 2012 Executive Committee Meeting Saturday 15 December 2012 Executive Committee Meeting Saturday 2 March 2013 Executive Committee Meeting Saturday 22 June 2013 Annual General Meeting