Message from Maulana Maksud (MBE) (Director of Education)

Alhamdulillah, our journey started in 1993 with the opening of Balham Preparatory School (‘Balham Prep’) at the Balham Mosque premises with 8 children and 3 members of staff. It was a concept that was not familiar to the community at that time. It was the first of its kind in South London. During the early years, our priority was to gain the confidence and trust of the parent community and equip ourselves with the expertise required to manage our school. The passion and commitment towards excellence was there from the beginning, but we also needed the skills, the people and the resources to achieve an exemplary standard and to be successful as an educational organisation. Over the years, pupil numbers increased and Balham Prep School became a fully-fledged primary school, including nursery provisions for 3-4 year olds. Thereafter, with the continuation of parental support, the educational provision extended to secondary students. Due to lack of space, the secondary pupils moved to the Tooting Islamic Centre premises. And then in the year 2000, our first group of students sat their GCSE exams. Whilst our work was expanding, we built a good relationship with Wandsworth Council. Through continuous engagement and collaboration with the local council we were able to establish Gatton VA Muslim Primary School, in 2004, with our students moving to the new premises in the spring of 2006. Due to a surge in demand, we established the Orchard Primary School in 2003 at the Memon Centre. The school moved to its current location in Streatham Hill in 2005; and subsequently, with the support of Lambeth Council, Orchard became a VA school in 2006. The Trust is well known in South West London and across the Muslim education sector. We have achieved this with Allah’s help and I strongly believe our success has only been made possible through the high level of collaboration, commitment and dedication of the trustees, governors, head teachers and all staff across our institutions. Throughout this period, we have been blessed with amazing people who have worked tirelessly and contributed to the development of our work. Some are still with us, some have left and some are no more. May Allah reward everyone and be pleased with all. One incident that gives me immense pleasure and continuous motivation is that at one conference (Madinatul Uloom- Kidderminster) my dear Sheikh and mentor Hazrat Moulana Yusuf Motala (may Allah shower upon him His mercy) asked me to share the success of the work of Al-Risalah Education Trust with all the scholars and imams in attendance. I spoke in detail of our work and our positive engagement experience with the local council in the opening of our VA School.

Al-Risalah is an Arabic phrase meaning ‘the message’. By message we mean the values that are derived from the Qur’an (the noble book sent by Allah SWT) and the Sunnah (ways of the Prophet PBUH). That is the core of our identity as an institution, what we stand for and everything we do in our work is to ensure that the values of the Qur’an and Sunnah are at the forefront of our hearts and minds.

The best part of working within the education sector is working with children. My best memories are of the times I spent teaching. One thing I’ve learnt is that a teacher should never give up on any student. They all have talent and have the potential to develop into a good person and be successful. I once received a letter from a student who encountered some difficult moments at school. She wrote a lovely letter thanking and appreciating the work we did with her. It's moments like these that makes us realise the impact of the work we do. Every child is unique and special in different ways. In my current role, I don’t get to work closely with students, but I still get to interact with students across all of our schools.

The importance of imparting and receiving a good education is universally agreed upon. The very first verses revealed to our dear Prophet PBUH (peace be upon him) in the Holy Qur’an from Surah Al- Alaq (The Clot) emphasizes the importance of education. Allah SWT commands his Prophet PBUH to, ‘’Read in the name of your Lord…. who has taught how to write (with a pen)… and taught mankind that which they knew not’’. The Prophet PBUH said: “Seeking knowledge is mandatory on every single individual”. Another example of the importance of education is highlighted by the fact that one of the first things Allah SWT did with Prophet Adam was to teach him the name of things, and only thereafter was he presented to the angels. There is a saying in Arabic that education imparted in young age is like something which is engraved on a stone. When something is engraved on a stone it doesn’t disappear; it lasts and it becomes a permanent fixture. In our schools, the religious and non- religious curriculum are covered during the school day. We aim to allocate an hour daily for the religious curriculum. During this hour the basic tenets of Islam, Qur’an, Fiqh (the theory or philosophy of Islamic law), Islamic history, and other topics are taught. Our staff and children have time allocated to offer their daily afternoon prayers. School assemblies reflect our religious ethos with due regard and support for promoting British Values. Faith education most importantly is about ethos and values; the values of respect, friendship, neighbourliness and honesty. We equip our students to become good people, not just in their interactions with Muslims, but with everyone. Islam is not just about rituals related to worship. It’s also about the conduct of a person and treating others like you would want yourself to be treated. That’s what faith education is all about, it’s about being a good person, and the education we provide supports our students to be able to learn about this from an Islamic perspective and put these values into practice in their daily lives. Imam Bukhari’s (May Allah shower upon him His mercy) approach in narrating our beloved Prophet’s sayings in Sahih Bukhari – Book of Imaan confirms this point. Most children who attend faith schools do so because their parents recognise the importance of a value- driven, high performance, broad and balanced approach to education, which leads to a better-rounded individual. It’s this experience that we aim to provide for our students.

We have over 22 languages spoken and our schools cater for students from all backgrounds. We have students from across the globe - the Indian subcontinent (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi), North Africa (Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian) and other African communities (Somalian, Nigerian, Eritrean and Ethiopian) as well as British, European and Middle Eastern communities.

Our next aim is to enhance our secondary school provision. We’ve managed to do this for our primary schools. Similarly, we would like to provide free education for secondary students. We intend to commence this work and engage with our community, local council and the DfE to see how this can be achieved. We request that our community makes dua for this project and support us to achieve this goal. We would also like to engage more with our alumni network. Alhamdulillah, we have some of our alumni teaching at our schools. Some have come for work experience and we some alumni who are even on the governing body of our schools. We want to grow this so that there are opportunities for more ex-students to get involved in running career programmes and coming to our schools to share their career journeys and inspire the next generation to follow in their footsteps. I pray that Allah SWT accepts our efforts and that our work continues to flourish and our legacy continues.