When we first walked into Al Khair Primary School, we felt dejected and a little forlorn. We weren’t able to continue with our ‘Steiner’ education for all the children and decided to look elsewhere. This, my dears, is when Google becomes your friend and with the help of a search and then Google Map Navigation system, we found ourselves driving down a beautiful long driveway which opened up to a modest-sized playground and a stand-alone building. The structure looked well kept and clean and was adorned by the numerous apple trees in front. So far so good. We took a deep breath and walked in.

What we found were bare walls and a small waiting area but a headteacher with a big smile and a welcoming, inclusive philosophy. He assured me the walls wouldn’t be bare for long as they were updating a few of the notice boards and displays. Within a few weeks, I was glad to see some beautiful examples of artistic work and scientific discovery.

Now, some of you may wonder why we chose an Islamic environment over another to school for our children. Well, remember that 80% of the information you may already know about Islam from the media is negative most probably untrue. Now, think about a Catholic or Church of England school- you have the moral grounding, you may pray together, share stories from the bible together- that kind of thing. So, here our children will do a similar kind of thing, read the quran instead of the bible of course! And ultimately pray together. This school is a haven for our children for a little while, to help them and nurture them until they’re old enough to spread their wings and fly.

We decided to put our boys in and have been so happy so far with the love and attention the children have been given. To think that we didn’t even know this school existed up until a few months before we got them in is unbelievable. The headteacher has an outdoor learning policy, the fruits of which you can see in the photo above. The children are happy and safe and learning- What more could we ask for?

The problem now is that the parent charity Al Khair Foundation has now run out of funds and cannot continue to keep the school open and running.

We are now relying on the support, help and prayers of family and friends to keep the school open!

Please see below the message sent out to encourage people to donate, (even a small amount will make a big difference if we all do it!) to help keep our school open:

Asalaam Alaikum,

Dear ALL family and friends,

I am sending you this message on behalf of Alkhair primary school in oldbury.

Masha Allah Alkhair school has been running for the past 5 years through parent fees and generously through Alkhair foundation charity.

Due to Alkhair foundation finances they are unable to continue this great input and have decided to close Alkhair primary school from September this year.

As a result we have been requested to reach out to all our family, friends and the community to see if we can all work together and offer our support to help the school from closing.

Therefore I urge you to show your concern and intention in completing the form above and I also ask you to please forward this message to all your contacts to raise awareness.

Alkhair primary school is the only full time Islamic school within Sandwell.

The school benefits our children with good Islamic values and principles.

It would be a great loss to see the school close especially when it is already established and is already offering this excellent facility.

I would also like you to make dua for the school to remain open and to continue to have a positive impact on all our children and the generations to come.

Our success and reward is only with Allah.

Click here to donate!

PLEASE PLEASE consider donating to this worthy cause inshaAllah! We are also looking for individuals or businesses who can pledge to donate £1000 over the year! This is imperative if the school is to stay open this year…having more pupils registered at the school before the end of March will also help so please share as much as you can to raise awareness that this school exists!! The postcode is B68 8LR.

Here is the new and improved website:

akss.org.uk

UPDATE:

The school will now stay open:

We are so happy to announce that Al Khair School will remain open (Praise the Lord!), and an excellent result of the previous impending closure has meant that we are now fired up to make this school a pillar of the community.  I hope that all those who attend become beacons of light for the future generation, God-Willing.  Thank you for your continuous prayers, kind thoughts and support!

It has also recently received the Woodland Trust Gold Award! Well done to all involved. This is truly a testament to the hard work of the teachers and it has illustrated that Al Khair School is working hard to keep up the hard work with regards to the Outdoor Learning Policy. Fantastic news for all!

Since you’re here I have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the the7ofus.blog than ever but advertising revenues are non-existent. And unlike many lifestyle magazines, I haven’t put up a paywall – I want to keep my writing as open as I can. So you can see why I need to ask for your help. These posts take a lot of time and hard work to produce. It would be amazing if you could help fund me by donating a coffee a two to keep me going! Please press here to give.