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Issue: Summer 2016
1. Hajj Week
Islamia Pupils Shine with Amazing SATs Results The 2016 key stage 2 SATs were the first test papers to assess the new, more challenging national curriculum which was introduced in 2014. The pupils and teachers at Islamia Primary School worked extremely hard to prepare for what was always going to be the most challenging SATs papers to date. Pupils attended extra booster classes before and after school, booster classes in the holidays and dedicated classes every Saturday. The hard work paid off as results show that pupils at Islamia Primary School performed significantly better than schools in Brent and schools nationally.
The year started with a themed week on Hajj. Pupils explored the different aspects of Hajj during lessons and in assemblies they learnt about the different stages of Hajj including being in state of Ihram. Pupils also decorated their classroom doors and performed plays.
2. Eid Celebrations with the Community
GPS Scaled Score Average
Reading, Writing and Mathematics (combined): Islamia: 68% Brent: 53% National: 53% Difference: +15%
Islamia: 107 National: 104 Difference: +3
Reading (Achieved Expectation) Islamia: 72% Brent: 63% National: 66% Difference: +6%
Maths (Achieved Expectation) Islamia: 88% Brent: 74% National: 70% Difference: +18%
Reading Scaled Score Average Islamia: 105 National: 103 Difference: +2
Maths Scaled Score Average Islamia: 106 National: 103 Difference: +3
GPS (Achieved Expectation) Islamia: 86% Brent: 75% National: 72% Difference: +14%
Writing (Achieved Expectation) Islamia: 95% Brent: 73% National: 74% Difference: +21%
This year, the headteacher decided to share our Eid celebrations with the local community. Staff prepared food and decorated the school canteen. Guests included the Mayoress of Brent, the Vicar of Saint Anne's Church, our Brent School advisor, representatives from the Queen’s Park Residents Association (Qpara) and our neighbours. The evening was filled with speeches, laughter and delicious food. To celebrate Eid, pupils dressed in beautiful traditional clothing and ended the week with Eid parties.
5. Parent Introduction Meetings We held separate parent introduction meetings for each year group. All meetings were very well attended. The meetings were led by the parallel class teachers and the Senior Leadership Team (incl. the Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher, SENCo and RS Coordinator). Parents were given an opportunity to meet the class teachers, to understand the new curriculum and assessment without levels, to go through the home school agreement and familiarise themselves with the additional facilities and services that are on offer at the school.
3. Mosaic Mentoring Graduation Our Year 6 girls celebrated successful completion of Mosaic’s primary school mentoring programme at a prestigious graduation ceremony, held at the offices of international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright LLP. The events saw pupils from five primary schools, includng Islamia Primary School, congratulated on their successes by keynote speakers Shami Chakrabarti CBE (Director of Liberty, the British civil liberties advocacy organisation) and Jenny Garrett (author of ‘Rocking Your Role’).
Shami, Jenny and the audience of business leaders, mentors, teachers and parents then heard direct from pupils about their positive experiences from the programme, which aims to raise aspirations among young girls through female mentors from professional backgrounds acting as role models. Shami Chakrabarti CBE said: “I was so pleased to attend this special event and hear first-hand from pupils about how they have built their confidence and started to map out career paths thanks to Mosaic’s fantastic mentoring programme.”
4. Colin Nell Football Freestyler Visits Islamia Professional Football Freestyler Colin Nell was invited to the school as part of the schools Eid celebrations. He was inspirational, funny and dazzled the children with his skills and his charm. A great show and speech which transcended football freestyle to focus on aspirations and how to be successful in a fun and informative way.
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6. Black History Week & Exhibition
The school took part in the national Black History Month (BHM) by holding its very own Black History Week. The aim was to promote knowledge of black history, culture and heritage and to explore the positive black contributions to British society and awareness of black people in relation to their cultural heritage. Pupils learned about key black figures in both modern and Islamic history. We also had a Caribbean theme on our lunch menu, with Jerk chicken and rice served to our pupils. Pupils’ work was showcased through an exhibition which opened to parents and local residents.
9. Anti-Bullying Week
7. Visit from South African School Principals
We were honoured to receive a visit from two school Principals from Durban, South Africa. They visited classes, took a tour of the school and spoke with staff.
During National Anti-Bullying Week, the school raised awareness about bullying and ensured all children were reminded what bullying is and what to do if they are being bullied. All staff received Anti Bullying training and the school has now become a core member of the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA). We have also installed a new 'Friendship Stop' in the playground to help ensure that pupils always have someone to play with in the playground. Some teachers have also received Behaviour Intervention Training from Kidscape. During the end of the Autumn term, all teachers delivering a structured programme (five lessons over the five weeks) which equipped pupils with skills to improve peer relationships, increase confidence, and reduce bullying behaviour. Pupils also performed plays during assembly to ensure that Islamia Primary remains a Bullying free school.
10. Anti-Islamophobia, E-Safety and Prevent Workshop for Parents
8. Islamia Pupils Run Cross Country
Our school’s top runners, including both girls and boys, took part in a cross country running competition along with other Brent schools. The pupils performed very well with one of the boys reaching the top 10 and one of the girls reaching the top 20. This demonstrates the growing strength of fitness and sport provision at Islamia Primary School.
We organised an Anti-Islamophobia, E-Safety and Prevent Workshop for parents which was very well attended. This join event with the Islamia Girls Secondary School and Brondesbury College for Boys, provided parents with key information and practical tips on how to keep their children safe whilst using public transport and using the Internet (incl. social media). It also highlighted the real threat of radicalisation and extremism and encouraged parents to speak their children and to present the correct understanding of Islam which is opposed to terrorism and harming anyone.
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11. Year 6 Careers Advice
Our PSA organised for a former student of Islamia, who is a Dentist and Lecturer at UCL, to speak with the Year 6 pupils about a career in Dentistry. The pupils were given an opportunity to ask questions about studying Dentistry and life as a Muslim female Dentist..
14. Parent Coffee Mornings
12. Children’s Interfaith Literature Conference
This year, we held Parent coffee mornings twice a week (every Tuesday and Friday) to give additional opportunities for parents to meet their child’s teachers informally. Coffee mornings were organised in year groups on a rotation so parents from each year group were able to attend a coffee morning every three weeks. These informal sessions facilitated improved communication between teachers and parents and strengthened their partnership. Our Year 3 pupils took part in an Interfaith literature conference involving four primary schools (with over 200 children), from Muslim, Christian and non faith background. The conference was. organised by the local interfaith centre with the aim of build links between schools of faith and non-faith background. The theme was ‘Building Friendships’ and involved each school singing a song of friendship to the other schools and produced a hand of friendship from each child with a message was attached to a tree. Each child produced three questions which they asked of a child from another school so as to get to know each other. The event also involved mixed groups taking part in a series of creative writing workshops led by Children’s author, Antony Lishak and Storyteller, Jumana Moon.
13. School Values This year, we launched the six values of Islamia Primary School which are closely connected with the government’s British Values (Respect, Love, Honesty, Striving, Patience and Sharing). We explored a different value every half term through weekly assemblies and circle time. Pupils were encouraged to share how they had demonstrated each of the values and were recognised through teachers awarding Class Chart points.
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15. Prophet ‘Isa (AS) Week
During the final week of Autumn term, the school held its annual Prophet ‘Isa / Jesus (AS) themed week where pupils were taught about the life of Prophet ‘Esa /Jesus (AS), Maryam / Mary (Mother of Prophet ‘Esa / Jesus) and the Qur’anic chapter of the Family of Imran. During assemblies, pupils performed plays re-enacting stories about the Prophet ‘Esa /Jesus (AS) and quizzes were held every day after Dhuhr prayers.
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16. Qur’an Celebration Day
19. Jared Loach Delivers Creative Writing Workshops
Pupils took part in the annual Qur’an Celebration Day which was hosted by Iqra Primary School in South London. The purpose of the event was to provide an opportunity for Muslim schools to connect and celebrate the Qur'an. 10 schools from across London took part in the event and recited Qur’an, performed plays, recited poetry, sang nasheeds, and delivered reminders on the theme of the Qur’an. The event was organised by Nida Trust.
Story teller, poet and writer, Jared Loach, delivered creative writing and poetry workshops to most of the classes. Pupils found the workshops very engaging and were able to produce some brilliant pieces of work.
20. VIP Pizza Parties
17. Christmas Assembly
Mother Christine, the Vicar of Saint Anne's Church, led an assembly for pupils to provide them with the Christian perspective on Prophet Isa / Jesus as well as the meaning and traditions observed during Christmas. Pupils were taught about the values that are promoted during Christmas and also had an opportunity to dispel any misconceptions that are often associated with Christmas incl. Father Christmas.
At the end of every half term, the top three Class Chart point scorers were invited to an exclusive VIP party. These pupils were treated to Pizza, Cake, Ice-cream and some jokes. Every half term, around 40 pupils were treated to the VIP Party each half term to recognise good behaviour and work in class, focus in the prayer hall, discipline whilst lining up and demonstrating the school’s values.
21. Student Leadership
18. WE Day
A representative from Free The Children UK delivered a passionate assembly about a unique project called ‘WE Day’, which celebrates youth making a difference in their local and global communities. The assembly provided a valuable reminder to pupils of fortunate they are able to attend school every day. It was an inspirational assembly that encouraged our pupils to make a difference.
A large number of pupils were appointed as student leaders including the Student Council, Class Monitors and Masjid Monitors. The Student Council was made up of elected members who represented the views and interests of pupils in each year group. The Class Monitors were selected by class teachers to help encourage pupils in line up correctly and move through the school quietly. The Masjid monitors were appointed by the class teachers to monitor the behaviour of pupils during prayer times. Student leadership changed every term to encourage as many peoples to develop their leadership skills as possible.
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22. Seerah Week & Exhibition
As part of our commitment to helping the local community, we collected non-perishable food items and toiletries for Sufra Food Bank on two occasions. The food bank is based in St Raphael’s Estate and serves the local community with a food bank and soup kitchen. The yellow bins were placed by the school entrance and were filled in no time thanks to the generosity of the Islamia pupils and their families.
25. Anti-Bullying Workshop for Parents
As part of Seerah week, we celebrated the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Each class was allocated a different topic related to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) including: The Prophet’s (pbuh) appearance, the Prophet (pbuh) as a child, Truthfulness, Patience, Generosity, Bravery, Humbleness, the Prophet (pbuh) with children, the Prophet’s (pbuh) mercy and forbearance, humour and laughter of the Prophet (pbuh), the Miracles of the Prophet (pbuh) and the Prophet (pbuh) in correcting people’s mistakes. Activities included themed lessons, daily quizzes, special assemblies, storytelling, a Seerah exhibition, charity (food bank), storytelling, poetry and art competitions, lots of prizes and an exhibition of pupils’ work.
23. The World of Ibn Haytham
Parents took part in a workshop about Anti-Bullying delivered by Nadine Coventry from Kidscape, a national organisation that promotes Anti-Bullying in schools across the country. All parents were encouraged to attend in order to support them in identifying if their child is being bullied and to support them. Here are useful links that were referred to during the anti-bullying workshop: www.kidscape.org.uk, www.net-aware.org.uk
26. E-Safety Week
Our Year 5 pupils visited the Royal Society to join the UK closing event for the International Year of Light with ‘1001 Inventions and the World of Ibn Al-Haytham’ and experienced hands-on science workshops including: creating their own camera obscura, making their own 3D glasses, interacting with an optical illusions demonstration, playing the Ibn alHaytham digital game using Kinect motion technology and much more. They took part in the wondrous journey to the past, following the extraordinary life of Ibn al-Haytham to better understand theories of optics.
We held our annual E-Safety week, which include Safer Internet Day, where pupils were reminded of the importance of being safe when using online technology (mobile phones, tablets, laptops, computers). The E-Safety week included a range of activities for all children including three lessons on E-Safety/Computing, an E-Safety competition, and special ESafety assemblies. A stall was held every day after school for parents containing a range of information about keeping children safe online. Parents were encouraged to bring along a mobile phone or tablet that their child has access to and we advised them on how to set security parental settings to help keep their children safe.
24. Collection for Sufra Food Bank
27. Achievement Assemblies
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Achievement assemblies were held in February and in July. Pupils received medals and certificates for outstanding achievement in all the subjects as well as behaviour, attendance and overall improvement. The highest Class Chart point scorers from each class were also awarded.
28. Quantum Theatre Visits Islamia
We had the Quantum Theatre performing at our school. Pupils from Year 4, 5 and 6 watched a theatre production called ‘Journey to the Bottom of the Garden’ and learnt about how plants grow. This production related to the Science curriculum Unit: Living things and their habitats.
29. Book Week & World Book Day
6 visited Middlesex University to take part in a Young Scientist competition. In addition, pupils took part in two Science competitions and also researched scientists and inventors who shared their birth date.
31. Year 6 Visit Young Scientist Competition
Four Year 6 pupils took part in the annual Young Scientist competition at the Higher Education Fair held at Middlesex University. The event offered a programme of activities which enables pupils to explore their knowledge and interests in a range of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects. The programme included interactive workshops, a series of demonstrations throughout the day and a fun competition.
32. 100% Attendance Assemblies
The school’s annual Book Week was packed with fun activities to help promote the love of Reading. We held a book fair every day in the school canteen giving pupils an opportunity to purchase books from the Travelling Book Company. On World Book Day, children and staff came into school dressed as a book characters. We held competitions including a minisaga where pupils wrote a story made up of only 50 words. There were also library visits, prizes for most prolific reader from accelerated reader and prizes for the best dressed character. The week also emphasised the importance of the Qur’an. Staff also took part in a play to promote reading which the pupils found particularly humorous.
We held our 100% Attendance Award assemblies to celebrate the efforts of pupils who have a record of 100% attendance since September. These pupils received special medals and certificates during the assemblies. We also awarded the class with the highest attendance from each key stage by awarding them special attendance cups and holding class parties.
33. Maths Week
30. British Science Week
Pupils took part in the annual British Science Week. The theme for this year was investigating and understanding the 5 different types of space based on Tim Peaks visit to Space. Pupils took part in a range of activities including carrying out interesting experiments in class, taking part in school based workshops by ‘Mother Nature Science’ and pupils from Year
During our annual Maths week, pupils took part in a daily Big Maths challenge, created their own Maths challenges for other people to solve, decorated their class room doors with their work, and took part in ‘CSI Maths’ workshops with an outside provider on Thursday. We also invited parents to take part in a parent workshop on ‘Maths Mastery’ giving parents an opportunity to carry out
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some Maths challenges and provide tips for supporting their children.
34. Shoebox 4 Syria
36. Islamia FC Win i7 Football Tournament
The Islamia Primary School football team took part in the annual i7 Football Tournament in Beckton, East London. The tournament involved ten teams from primary schools across London. The tournament linked with the school’s values of respect, love, honesty, sharing, striving and patience. After winning all of their group matches, the Islamia FC went on to win the semi-finals and the final. The Islamia FC was commended by the organisers for their skills and impeccable behaviour.
37. Early Years Parent Workshops Pupils supported the charity Shoebox 4 Syria which aims to send shoeboxes full of toys and gifts to the children of Syria in time for Eid. The idea was simple, pupils found a shoebox, filled it up with toys and gifts and labelled it with what age group it was for and then the shoe boxes were collected and sent to children in Syria.
35. Pupils Pass International Maths Examination Reception parents were invited to a series of workshops to help them support their child’s learning including phonics and writing.
Three pupils at Islamia Primary School: Hisham (Year 6), Kamal (Year 5) and Jasim (Year 4) passed the International Standard of Abacus Computation Proficiency Examination. The International Grading Examination (IGE) is a highly sought-after international programme. It is an examination organised yearly by UCMAS. This examination is conducted along with collaborations of the Chinese Zhusuan Association (CZA) and Global Abacus & Mental Arithmetic Association (GAMA). The IGE focuses on two important sections of the UCMAS program: The Mental Arithmetic and the Abacus. Well done to all three of the pupils or passing the examinations and to their parents for supporting them.
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38. Visit by Turkish University
Pupils took part in the Big Pedal 5-day challenge which involved encouraging as many pupils to ride to school for 5 days. A big congratulations to all those who took part and helped us secure 4th place (Brent) in the Big Pedal five day challenge.
41. Kingswood Residential Trip
We were honoured to receive a visit from Prof. Recep Senturk, the Dean of Fateh Sultan Mehmet University in Istanbul, Turkey. Prof. Recep visited classes, took a tour of the school and spoke with staff.
39. A-Life Health & Fitness Workshops
Year 6 pupils spent 3 days (2 nights) at the Kingswood Activity Centre in Kent, in order to develop their team work, communication skills, leadership, resilience and independence.
All KS1 pupils took part in two workshops, one about Health ad another about Fitness. The A-life coach set up a number of hands-on activity stations around the gym and split pupils into small groups. Pupils engaged with fun activities. Each activity station had its own topic, hands-on equipment to explore, an information board and an activity card. The Fitness workshop included a fun-packed, non-stop, fastpaced, sweat inducing session that motivated pupils to understand that keeping active is a vital part of staying healthy. The aim was to encourage children to choose active lifestyles and to help them realise that being active and choosing to participate in exercise can be a lot of fun.
40. Big Pedal 5-Day Challenge
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44. Voice of Peace Children’s Choir
42. Girls Interschool Football Tournament
30 pupils from our school took part in a new community based children’s choir called ‘Voice of Peace Children’s Choir’. The choir is made up of 50 children aged 7 – 12 and aims to empower young people through the medium of song in order to connect communities and to deliver a positive message of peace. This year, the choir performed at the Muslim Education Fair in East London and at the Muslim Lifestyle Show at the Olympia Exhibition Centre which was televised on a number of satellite channels. The choir was praised by the world renowned artist Sami Yusuf who they met at Olympia.
Our school hosted the annual Girls Interschool Football Tournament for the second time. Six other Muslim faith schools took part with the aim of providing equality opportunities for Girls to play competitive sport. Although our Girls team did not make it to the semi-finals, they played very well and enjoyed themselves immensely.
45. Continued Friendship with Jewish School
43. Model Solar system This year, we continued our ongoing friendship with the North West London Jewish Day School. Pupils and teachers from their school observed our pupils during prayer time and then worked with Year 5 pupils in mixed groups to produce a video introducing both schools. Our pupils visited the North West London Jewish Day School to complete similar activities.
Sana, Fizah and Hams (from Year 5) produced this wonderful model of the solar system as part of the ‘Out of this world (Earth and space)’ Science Unit.
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46. Launch of Female Chaplaincy service
We have launched a female chaplaincy service to provide free and confidential support to our mothers. The service involves providing pastoral care but also includes signposting mothers to other external agencies. The service has been extremely popular with the female chaplain now supporting a significant number of mother and their families within our school community.
47. Study Tour of Turkey
Earlier this year, the Headteacher and Deputy headteacher took part in a School Leaders’ study tour of Istanbul, Turkey. It was a unique study tour involving over 40 schools leaders who visited a range of Schools and Universities as well as Religious, Ottoman and Byzantine sites in order to broaden their understanding of School Leadership.
take part in the swimming on different days and all pupils work towards achieving a swimming certificate.
49. Pupils Raise Over £10,000 for Charity
This year, pupils worked extremely hard to raise a total of over £10,000 for different charities. The money was collecting through non-school uniform days, cake sales and money box appeals. Charities included Human Appeal and Islamic Relief.
50. Queen’s 90th Birthday
Pupils joined the Queen’s 90th Birthday celebrations by wearing paper crowns and ate traditional fish and chips for lunch.
51. Ramadan
48. Swimming
Year 3 and 4 pupils continue to take weekly swimming lessons at the local Jubilee Sport Centre. Both boys and girls
During the month of Ramadan, pupils were immersed in the remembrance of Allah and were taken through a unique spiritual journey. There were be a range of activities throughout the month which were fun and engaging, including competitions and quizzes.
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52. Art Week
As this year’s Art Week took place during Ramadan, the theme was ‘Islamic Art’. Each year group was allocated a separate project to work on throughout the week. We also ran a special competition where children created their own prayer mats. The winners of the Art competition are below.
53. Qur’an Competition Here are the winners for this year’s Qur’an Competition.
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55. Sports Days
We held three Sports Days this year (KS1, lower KS2 and Upper KS2) which were held in the playground (Reception and Year 1) and in Queen’s Park. The Sports Days included a carousel of fun activities that were led by our PE staff and additional coaches from Play Sport. Each pupil was placed in one of the Houses (Red, Blue, Green and Yellow). The Sport Days ended with races. Thankfully the weather was amazing, so the children had an great time.
56. Year 1 Visit to St. Paul’s Cathedral
54. Year 6 End of Year Play
Year 6 pupils performed the ‘Jungle Book’ for their end of year play. They spent a month rehearsing for the play which was performed in front of the whole school and parents during our Cultural Evening. During the amazing one hour production, pupils performed brilliantly and were dressed in wonderful costumes, bringing their characters to life.
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57. Reception Class Visit to Hampstead Heath
59. Reception Class Visit to Paradise Wildlife Centre
60. School Clubs This year, we have more than 15 clubs taking place each week. Here are some examples.
Knitting Club We have had endless fun teaching our pupils how to knit and seeing pupils registering term after term was a clear sign that we managed our goal of opening the door to a lifetime of creative joy. Our little knitters picked up the basic skills like Finger Knitting, using the Crochet Hook, they learned the Knit Stitch, made long chains using the French Knitting Tool and made little weaved carpets. We also had lots of fun making our own little pom-poms.
58. Year 1 Visit to Gordon Brown Centre
Cooking club Cooking club has been one of our most oversubscribed clubs. It was a joy to see the fun kids had making easy meals using basic tools and ingredients. We aimed to teach children about food sustenance and show children how easy it is to put a meal together. We were also very happy to receive testaments from parents who said their child would never eat that particular ingredient at home but after he/she prepared and cooked themselves they were happy to eat it.
Gardening Club
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Connecting with nature and growing your own food is one of the best pleasures in life. And we are proud that we managed to pass on this joy to a few that attended the gardening club this year. We had great fun being in the garden area and we didn't let the rain spoil our fun! We learned about the garden tools and its uses, learned how to maintain the garden and look after plants and talked about what plants need to grow. We also talked about the mini beasts we found in the garden and what they do which excited all the children. We managed to grow from seed many things again this year which was sent to our school from the Royal Horticultural Society. We planted tomatoes, peas, rocket, pumpkins and radish along wth growing water cress in small plastic cups then enjoyed eating the cress topped on scrambled eggs. We were also very blessed to harvest and taste the celery, chives and spring onions planted in previous years and to taste the sweet strawberries that grew in our garden.
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Islamia Primary School Address Telephone Fax Email
: 129 Salusbury Road London NW6 6PE, U.K. : + 44 (0) 20 7372 2532 : + 44 (0) 20 7372 2425 : admin@islamia.brent.sch.uk