STRICTLY PROHIBITED:

ChocolatesSweets & crispsFizzy drinksGlass bottlesFast foodFood that needs to be warmedupNuts and sesame seeds(including seeded burger buns)

POSITIVELY RECOMMENDED:

Fruit & Fruit JuiceSandwichesCheese/fromage frais/yoghurtCarrots/salad vegetablesWater

The School OfficeThe Al Noor school office is a busy place full of action! The office staffdeal with day to day queries such as absences & lateness, parental en-quiries, children feeling unwell and most of all accidents.The staff are extremely dedicated in maintaining the smooth running ofthe school. To make it more efficient we have listed a few helpful re-minders for parents:Reminder – The school office regrettably does not take phone calls be-tween 1-2pm. You will be put through to voicemail where you can leavea message during this time each day.Absence- If your child is sick or unwell please phone the school so wecan let the child's teacher know. Please also email a note to ab-sences@al-noorprimary.co.uk or write a note. Absent notes shouldclearly state the child's NAME & YEAR.Child Sickness - If your child suffers from a bout of vomiting , pleaseallow 48hrs before sending them back to school jazakAllahu khair.

School uniform reminderOur school uniform is compulsory. Itconsists of a navy blue sleevelesspinafore and shirt with pyjamas forgirls and a navy blue thawb withpyjamas for boys. Pinafores andthawbs can only be purchased fromthe premises of the school supplier,Islamic Impressions retailer on Il-ford Lane, Ilford.School Uniform in Cold WeatherDuring winter, or whenever theweather is colder, pupils can wearthe following garments under thestandard school uniform to keepwarm:Plain, collar-less, navy or white,long or short-sleeved tops underthe thawb (boys) or pinafore (girls)

In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. We praise Him and seek Hisforgiveness. May peace and blessings be sent upon His final messenger, the Prophet Muham-med, his noble family, his companions and all those who follow them in righteousness, Ameen.

As-salamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh!

Safar 1435December 2013EDITORH.Dalmar

The school was delighted to receive an invita-tion to send the school choir, Sawt ul-Noor, to areception in celebration of 'Eid al-Adhah withthe Deputy Prime Minister.

A contingent of Sawt ul-Noor put a lot of enthu-siasm and energy into frequent rehearsals withUmm Anisah to prepare themselves for the bigday.

Together with Umm Raihan, Year Four teacher,they (Zahra Mirza, Hasanah, Safiyah, Hafsa,Fatima, Anfal and Khadeejah from Year Six,Aisha from Year Five and Khadeeja andRahhma from Year Four) travelled by mini-buson the evening of 6th November to AdmiralityHouse in Whitehall to sing school favourites:

God is the Light (by Yusuf Islam), Flowers arered (by Harry Chapin) and an adapted version ofZain Bhikka's Wonderful World.

After well-received performances the DeputyPrime Minister Nick Clegg, spoke with themand showed his appreciation for their efforts.

Pupils were evenmore delighted toreceive a person-ally hand writtennote from him afterthe event to thankthem - a veryt o u c h i n g a n dwarmly appreci-ated gesture fromthe Deputy PM andleader of the Lib-eral Democrats,who, quoting fromone of the songs,described them as‘star-like priceless jewels’ and ‘pitch perfect!!

Al-Noor Primarycelebrates 'Eidwith Deputy PM!

Pupils are due back to school at the usual time on Thursday 2nd January 2014.Please note school will be closed on Monday 6th January ’14 for an INSET day.

Editorial team for this edition: H.Dalmar & S.Butt and classes two to six. With specialthanks to the school council: Basima Patel & Umar Sattar yr 6, Abu Bakr Majid & Aisha Mirzayr 5, Elias Kheyar & Amena Shafiq yr 4, Haneef Khan & Hafsah Khan yr 3, Ayesha Ali & Ab-dul Mojeeb Mohammed yr 2.

Monday 23rd - Fri 27th SeptemberInternational Cultural Heritage Week

Monday 30th Sept - Friday 4th OctBlack History Week

Monday 7th - Friday 11th OctoberHajj Week

Wednesday 9th OctoberYear 6 students visit to Avanti PrimarySchool

Monday 21st - Friday 25th OctoberNational Parents’ Week

Thursday 24th OctoberParents’ Evening

Saturday 26th OctoberParenting Conference

Thursday 31st OctoberYear 5 trip to Thames Barrier

Wednesday 6th NovemberEid Reception with Nick Clegg

Wednesday 13th NovemberYear 1 trip the Museum of Childhood

Monday 18th - Friday 22nd NovemberNational Interfaith Week & National Bully-ing Week

Monday 18th NovemberEid Reception (Sawt Al Noor) Labour PartyHeadquarters

Friday 22nd NovemberYear 3 trip to Hampton Court Palace

Monday 25th NovemberReception/Year 1 Coffee Morning

Thursday 28th NovemberYear 2/Year 3/Year 4 Coffee Morning

Monday 2nd DecemberYear 5/Year 6 Coffee Morning

Thursday 5th DecemberYear 4 Trip to the Natural History Museum

Wednesday 11th DecemberYear 6 trip to Islamia Primary School

Friday 13th - Sunday 15th DecemberYear 6 Retreat to Gilwell Park

Monday 16th DecemberYear 5 trip to the Science Museum

Tuesday 17th DecemberReception Trip to the Discover Centre

Friday 20th DecemberFathers’ Networking Event

insha’Allah...

Friday 28th February 2014Parents’ Evening

Thursday 6th March 2014World Book Day

Monday 17th March - Friday 21st MarchNational Science Week

Put the date of the nest Qur’ancompetition into your diary now!Join parents, teachers, friends &

family to celebrate pupil memorisa-tion of the Magnificent Qur’an!

Friday 28nd March 2014—Mayfield School

In a big bowl, crack 11 eggs. Mix well until well beaten.Add seasoning, chilli flakes and salt. Mix well.Add milk and mix well until beaten into the eggs.Spread evenly over the casserole. Cover in Clingfilm and leave

overnight in the refrigerator.

Cooking:

In the morning, cover the dish in aluminium foil and pop into theoven Gas mark 4 for 45 minutes. Than uncover and cook for 15minutes.

You know it’s ready when you stick a knife into the casserole andthe liquid is white/clear-not eggy colour.

Once you make it the first time, get adventurous! Change the layers-trysome wilted spinach or smoked salmon or add some sliced salami.Most importantly, enjoy with your family at breakfast time!

Managed to snap a picturebefore it was eaten up!

Erum Rashid, Umm Sumayyah

Coffee Mornings ‘Hot Breakfast Casserole’Recipe

Ingredients:1 packet of slightly defrosted hash browns1 red pepper

1 packet of beef or chicken sausages500g sliced chestnut mushrooms1 jar of black olives1 packet of mild cheddar1 packet of red Leicester cheese1 jar of jalapenos11 eggs

½ teaspoon red chilli flakes½ teaspoon saltLots of crushed black pepper1 cup whole milkButter

Preparation:

Butter the large rectangle casserole/roasting/baking dishGrate the defrosted hash browns into the dish. Spread evenly. Con-

tinue grating until the depth is 2 cm.On a hot pan (no butter), cook the sliced chestnut mushrooms until

all the water has come out. Drain on kitchen paper and presswith kitchen paper to remove excess water. Otherwise yourcasserole will be soggy.

Evenly spread out the cooked chestnut mushrooms.Slice and cut the red pepper into tiny cubes. Spread evenly over the

mushrooms.Slice and cut the sausages into tiny cubes. Cook on hot pan (nobutter) for 2-3 minutes. Spread evenly over the pepper.

Slice the black olives. Spread evenly over the sausages. (I used ½ ajar)

You can put some sliced jalapenos on the dish-the amount youwant depends on your taste buds!

Grate 200 g of mild cheddar and 200g of red Leicester cheese.Spread evenly over the dish.

Assalamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi dear parents,pupils and supporters. I pray that you are all in thebest state of Iman, Islam, Ihsan, health and happinessameen!

I write this after the end of another hectic term at theschool, after once again seeing off smiling children atthe school gate, shaking hands with past pupils andembracing departing staff members. As I sit hereattempting to tackle the top of a pile of unfinishedpaperwork i recall again that my job at the school, thejob of each staff member here, is to make a significantdifference to every child and every parent and everyvisitor, staff member, volunteer, neighbour and pas-serby. I know I often trot out oft repeated catchphrases that can sound hollow at times. I remind my-self that frequent checking of one’s niyyah is key toavoiding this. RasulAllah, salAllahu ‘alayhi wa sal-lam, as we all know said‘...Verily actions are but by their intentions...’It is through the reflection over one’s intention,through the bringing of Allah to heart and mind thatwe are able to transform the mundane and habitualinto the rewarding and exceptional, even if we cannotchange its exterior appearance. So as I remind myselfof this, I would like to remind you too, so we can allbenefit and have our deeds change from caterpillar tobutterfly!

On a another topic, yesterday when the school was atlunch, Mayfield Secondary closed for their end ofterm and Christmas break. Whilst students were head-ing home, one of them, a girl, in perhaps year eight ornine, was knocked down by a black cab on the roadoutside our main door. In her joy at school term end-ing and in her excitement of going out on the townwith her friends, she ran into the road without thinkingwhen she heard a friend call her from across it. Thank-fully she was not badly hurt -though she hit her headand broke her leg. I spoke to pupils today to remindthem to take care when crossing the road. We re-flected over what we could learn from the incidentthat Almighty Allah had put under our noses. Werealised that people lose the ability to see the biggerpicture and take in what’s around them when they areoverly emotional whether overjoyed, depressed or in afit of anger. In that intense state of agitation, theirfield of vision narrows to just the focus of their emo-tion and they become blinded to all else, howeverimportant, and thus they make mistakes, injure them-selves or even commit sins. Please remind your chil-dren to always cross the road safely too!

I know that parents only choose Al-Noor Primary fortheir children because they love Allah and His deenand want their children to experience Iman and submitto Him. I am certain they desire that their childrenlearn the deen, work hard, behave well, develop selfdiscipline and excellent Akhlaq. At times though theywe are not the best examples for our children andmake choices to behave in a less than exemplary

manner. For example when we are in a great hurry andunder pressure. The school and our neighbours andother road users see this every day in the way someparents drop off their children. Neighbours have re-ported parents parking over driveways and droppedkerbs, parents stopping in the middle of the road todrop off children, parents not giving way to others orblocking traffic from passing down Colinton Road ona daily basis. It seems that when we are under pressurewe stop thinking of Allah’s pleasure and His watchingof us, our vision narrows to think only of ourselves,forgetting the bigger picture and the wider struggle tosecure ourselves for a day on which no excuses willbe accepted, when our deeds will be laid bare.

Selfish behaviour has consequences in the world tooof course, for ourselves, our children, our families, theschool, the Muslim community and to the cause ofda’wah. Today for example, many years of hard workbuilding good relationships with our neighbours wasundone by the actions of one parent. Each day thebehaviour of parents too who feel they are in toomuch of a hurry than to park elsewhere and walk tothe school, erodes away the good will other parentsand school partners build up through work like thepositive change campaign and through parking con-siderately at great difficulty to themselves.

We have over a hundred parents who drop and pick-up children to school each day, most by car. Theycannot fit on the road in front of the school, eventhough they all come and go over half an hour in themorning and at hometime. This is also the case withthe four hundred or so families whose children attendGoodmayes Primary next door, just as it is the casewith every school in the country. My words are di-rected as much to me as they are to you, as I ask my-self, when we are promised great reward and Allah’sRidhwan for being selfless and doing good to others,why do we find it so difficult to do?

The future of the school is at stake, the reputation ofIslam and the Muslim community is at stake: pleasepark and walk to and from school even though you arein a hurry and have so much else to attend to. Pleasebehave courteously on the road and on the footpathstowards neighbours, road users and passersby. Pleaseset an example for your children to live by when youare old and grey and when you are in need of theirgood deeds on a grave day about which there is nodoubt.

‘By (the Token of) time, Verily Man is in loss, Exceptsuch as have Faith and do righteous deeds, and (jointogether) in the mutual teaching of Truth, and of Pa-tience and Constancy.’ (Surat-ul-’Asr)

May Ar-Rahman protect all those who are departingshortly on convoys and all those who are suffering,ameen. I hope you all have a very pleasant break andlook forward to seeing you all next term.Was-salamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullah, Umm Anisah

WaterWater is a very important part of our life. It is found covering nearly three-quarters of theEarth’s surface. Water can be found in three different states; solid, liquid and gas. Solidwater is frozen and known as ice. The word ‘water’ refers to the liquid state of water. Whenwater heats up, it turns into vapour, a form of gas.

The need for waterEvery living thing needs water. Human beings cannot survive for long without water. In fact,we can survive much longer without food than without water to drink. Ever wondered why adrink of water quenches our thirst better than any other form of juice or drink? It is becausethere are some nutrients and minerals dissolved in the water naturally.

Plants and trees will not grow without water. Plants “drink” water as well by absorbing itthrough their roots. Minerals and other nutrients enter the plant with the water. When weeat plants, some of these same nutrients give us energy to run, play and think. Allah (swt)mentions in the Holy Qur’an:

It is He Who sends down water (rain) from the sky, and with it We bring forth vegetation ofall kinds, and out of it We bring forth green stalks, from which We bring forth thick clus-tered grain. And out of the date-palm and its spathe come forth clusters of dates hanginglow and near, and gardens of grapes, olives and pomegranates, each similar (in kind) yetdifferent (in variety and taste). Look at their fruits when they begin to bear, and the ripe-ness thereof. Verily! In these things there are signs for people who believe. (Surah al-Anaam 6:99)Marine life cannot survive without water and animals like otters who find their food in thewater will have nothing to eat.

The water cycleWhen water is boiled, or the sun heats the surface of a body of water, its molecules canabsorb enough energy to evaporate into the air—that is, to become a gas called water va-pour. Up in Earth’s atmosphere, water vapour cools and collects into clouds.When enough clusters of cloud particles stick together, they tumble back down to Earth as

Dear Diary,Good morning! Its break-fast time, it’s taking ageswe’re hungry! Yay it’shere!After we get ready, we’regoing to do a leap of faith!We’re so excited!We walked for so long toget there, but we’re finallyhere.Leap of faith completed!We’re all so muddy but itwas so much fun! I onlywent half way up but Istill had to jump off.Now it’s time for Zuhr,lunch and parents comingto pick us up.We all said salaam to eachother, got our suitcasesand headed back home.This was the most amaz-ing trip ever!

Haleema Bhatti, Year 6

Some of the smoke went inour eyes but it was reallyfun! Oh, it’s our last nightat Gilwell Park. Now it’stime to pray isha.Umm ‘Isa called outLIGHTS OUT – time tosleep! Will write more to-morrow insha’Allah.

Dear Diary,We just arrived andsaid salaam to ourparents. Umm ‘Isatold us where ourrooms were, then weprayed and went toour beds. Off tosleep!

Dear Diary,Just woke up andnow it’s time forFajr. Then we readsome Quran, brushedour teeth and gotchanged. Umm Taz-kiyah called us downfor breakfast – this isthe best trip ever!Just had jam toasts,yummy! Now it’stime for room check– run, run, run guyslet’s clean our rooms.Time for our activi-ties! Zip wire and seesaws; it was reallyfun!In the evening, wehad a campfire. Itwas amazing!

I have selected a couple of water experi-ments you can carry out at home withsome help. Have a go at them and remem-ber to let me know how it went. Have fun!

Water Molecules on the Move

What you'll need:

A clear glass filled with hot water

A clear glass filled with cold water

Food colouring

An eye dropper

Instructions:Fill the glasses with the same amount

of water, one cold and one hot.Put one drop of food colouring into

both glasses as quickly as possi-ble.

Watch what happens to the food col-ouring.

What's happening?If you watch closely you will notice that thefood colouring spreads faster throughoutthe hot water than in the cold. The mole-cules in the hot water move at a fasterrate, spreading the food colouring fasterthan the cold water molecules whichmover slower.

Water all around usWater on the Earth can flow above the ground in a stream or river. It can run underground, too.And water can also be frozen into large glaciers. Whichever form it is in, it can be a powerfulforce, changing the shape of the land as it erodes mountains and carves valleys.A large population of people around the world, however, do not have access to clean water.We, therefore, not only need to be grateful to Allah for this great blessing but also need to doour bit for the planet by saving as much water as we can.

Umm Fatima

Escaping WaterWhat you'll need: A glass of water An empty glass Some paper towels

Instructions:Twist a couple of pieces of paper

towel together until it formssomething that looks a little like apiece of rope, this will be the'wick' that will absorb and transferthe water (a bit like the wick on acandle transferring the wax to theflame).

Place one end of the paper towelsinto the glass filled with waterand the other into the emptyglass.

Watch what happens (this experimenttakes a little bit of patience).

What's happening?Your paper towel rope (or wick) starts get-ting wet, after a few minutes you will no-tice that the empty glass is starting to fillwith water, it keeps filling until there is aneven amount of water in each glass, howdoes this happen?

This was followed byThe Gingerbread Man story.

We learnt how to make a gin-gerbread man and discussed

what a biscuit smells like andthe ingredients that areneeded to make one.

At the end each child was ableto decorate their own biscuit.

Reception class have recentlybeen learning about traditionaltales and that they were notwritten in books but told fromone generation to another. We

started off with the storyGoldilocks and the Three

Bears, where we were able tomake our own porridge.

Children have been looking at resolving conflicts as apart their SEAL topic:getting on and falling out. At the end of the unit, children were asked to

produce friendship magazines full of ideas on how to make and keepfriends. Some magazines also included an advice page for the readers with

real life friendship scenarios.

Facts about the barrier Made in March 1982 Protects London from

flooding Has 9 gates Covered with metal

strips Pushes water to the

bottom while the bar-rier

YEAR 5 TRIP TOTHE THAMESBARRIER

On Thursday the 31st October, ourfabulous Year 5 class went on atrip to Thames Barrier because wewere learning about water in ourGeography topic.

We learnt how important the bar-rier is to London and when andwhy they put the barrier up.

We got to look and see the barrierup close and we watched a filmabout the barrier and it’s history.

We had a great time and learnt alot!

Aisha Mirza, Year 5

Today we bid farewell to two amazing members of staff; Rujina Khatun (Umm Zay-nab) and Sara Bhatti (Umm Ibrahim). We make du’a that Allah accepts their ef-forts and hard work and that He opens the door to many new and wonderful op-portunities. Ameen!

Here are a few words from our respected staff.

Umm Zaynab: Teaching at Al-Noor has been an amazing experience. I have beenblessed to have worked in this school and have the privilege to teach some ofyou. I have met some of the most incredible, hardworking and dedicated children,who thoroughly enjoy learning. It has been a fantastic experience to see you pro-gress into inspiring individuals. I pray that you have every success in life. Finally,I want to thank all staff and parents for your continued support and handworkthroughout my time here.

Umm Ibrahim: It is with a heavy heart that I leave Al-Noor, however Al-Noor willalways have a special place in my heart, one which will never fade bi'idnillah. It iswith the grace of Allah that He allowed me to join such a vibrant, outstandingschool MashAllah. I will miss everyone at the school, Umm Isa whom I have sharedmy entired Al-Noor experience with, I have so much to thank her for, Umm Anisahjazakillahu khairan for hiring me! If I were to mention everyone I think I will takeup all the space so I just leave it at this. I thank Allah for allowing me to be apartof its legacy. Take care all at Al-Noor InshAllah I will see you soon!

Our fantastic student council members have brought many ideas to the meet-ings about what they wish to implement in the school - insha’Allah we will seethese changes come about as the year progresses. Our student council mem-bers have worked so hard and diligently this term masha’Allah! Jazakumullahukhayran!

Year Two: Abdul Mujeeb, Ayesha AliYear Three: Haneef Khan, Hafsah KhanYear Four: Elias Kheyar, Amena ShafiqYear Five: Abu Bakr Majid, Aisha MirzaYear Six: Baasima Patel, Umar Sattar

Year 1 were visited by a paramedic as a part ofour topic. It was a very exciting day for us be-cause we learnt so much about the role of theparamedics and we even went inside an am-bulance! We were also visited by two GPs whohas brought some models to show us how thebones inside our bodies look like and lots andlots of stethoscopes so we could all listen toour hearts. We have also learned about thedangers of medicines and why it is importantnot to take any medicine that belongs to some-one else.

There are many moments I could describe to you all.Some of those moments are:My group of students realising they would rather facea millipede (being a herbivore) than a meat eatingcentipede!Seeing wonder in their eyes as they learned that crabsshed their exoskeleton as they grow bigger.The light in their eyes as they used their knowledge ofarachnids to build their very own spider.Seeing their confidence as young scientists. Studentswere looking at the skull of different animals that theywere given and used their knowledge of different typeof teeth to work out who the animal was and whetherit was a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore.

How We Made Our Bread

1. First, we put in a packet of yeast with water and waited around 5 minutes for thescum to form.

2. Second, we added 750g of flour and a teaspoon of salt and stirred until all theflour was mixed with the watery yeast.

3. The mixture started to form a dough so we started to knead our dough until it wasvery soft.

4. We placed our dough back into our bowl and let it prove for an hour.5. When we came back to see the dough, it doubled in size! So we started to shape

our dough.6. We added in some extra ingredients, like chocolate chips and cinnamon powder to

make our breads extra special.7. Finally, we put our dough in a bread tin and put it in the oven for 40mins.8. When it came out of the oven, it smelt delicious and tasted even better!

We got the chance to make bread twice! We made our bread into a twisty shape for ourfirst try. The finish was good but our second try was even better because we evaluated itand discussed how we could make it even better. We took into consideration some otherideas, which made our second try even better.

I enjoyed it because it was a nice and fun experience and I learnt a lot of things.

Hanifah Jalil, Year 5

Parents - you will be happy to know that the childrenconfidently justified their conclusion with successduring presentations to the whole group. All of themwere eager to answer questions and impressed theworkshop leader with their knowledge.The conscientiousness of the students to pray theirzuhr/asr.Having fun practicing for the timestable competition-Abdullah, Sumayyah and Zayd certainly impressed.We all had a wonderful time and I know that I wouldlove to attend another school trip in the future inshaallah.WSAWith Kind Regards and Best WishesErum Rashid

Assamui-alaikum to everyone!On Thursday, I was fortunate to accompany Umm Rai-han and the Year 4 class to a trip to the Natural HistoryMuseum. Not only did the children have so much funand learned a lot, but so did the adults! Masha allah,the children really impressed me with their behaviourthroughout the trip and their presentations; with themanalysing the evidence and using it to provide a con-clusion during the 'Cutting Edge workshop.' It cer-tainly revealed a class of budding scientists.There are many moments I could describe to you all.Some of those moments are:My group of students realising they would rather facea millipede (being a herbivore) than a meat eatingcentipede!Seeing wonder in their eyes as they learned that crabsshed their exoskeleton as they grow bigger.The light in their eyes as they used their knowledge ofarachnids to build their very own spider.Seeing their confidence as young scientists. Studentswere looking at the skull of different animals that theywere given and used their knowledge of different typeof teeth to work out who the animal was and whetherit was a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore.

Year 1 visited the Museum ofChildhood on the 13th Novem-ber 2013 as a part of our topicwork in school. Children learnedabout the history of teddy bears,made teddy bears masks, and en-joyed being detectives, lookingfor the old toys on their tasksheet.

They also tried on old shoes anddress up clothes, some even putup a puppet show for the teach-ers. However the highlight ofthe visit was the rocking horse.

Our students, from Reception all the way up to Year6 were asked to find out some information abouttheir culture and family backgrounds as apart ofInternational Cultural Heritage Week. Some chose touse books and the internet to collect some informa-tion, whilst others chose to interview a relative toget some interesting information from them.

We were shown some spectacular PowerPoint pres-entations, told incredible stories and took a virtualjourney to various parts of the world.

This gave our children the opportunity to look intotheir family background, understand more abouttheir culture and native homes as well as learnsome amazing things from their relatives.

Children were asked to wear clothing from theirculture on the last day of International CulturalHeritage Week - some also brought in some arte-facts and delicious food to share with their classes!

It was truly an amazing week masha’Allah.

Year 4 have been learning about Habitats in science. Theyspent some time making their own little habitats

masha’Allah. They used various materials and texturesand used card as their base.

Year 3 went on a school trip to Hampton Court Palace. Wesaw Henry VIII’s crown, it was big and made out of gold. Ithad lots of real jewels on it too! We saw Henry VIII’s gar-

den, it had funny shaped trees, a fountain and even amaze!

Another room we saw was King Henry VIII’s kitchen. Therewas one room for all these items: pies, fresh vegetables,

meat and eggs. There was a real fire in Henry VIII’s kitchen!It was a very fun trip.

Umaymah Asim, Year Three

You’re about half way through your training masha’Allah! What made you want to become a peer media-tor?

Ayesha: I want to help other people in their conflicts, gain reward and make the school a better place.Maryam: The opportunity to help people and get reward from Allah.Aishah: I like solving problems and helping my teachers and other children.Ibraheem: It’s a good opportunity to help other people and it is a responsible job.

What are some of the key features of being a peer mediator?

Ayesha: They should be respectful and have good manners towards the people who have the conflict.Maryam: To get people to stop fighting and helping others to solve their problems.Aishah: To solve problems, tell the truth, be respectful and to keep the situation confidential.Ibraheem: To take responsibility for carrying out the agreement.

What types of things have you learnt in your training so far?

Ayesha: How to respect each other when you’re having a conflict.Maryam: The role of a peer mediator and how they help to solve problems.Aishah: We’ve been looking at ground rules and doing role plays. We have been looking at emotions and feelings.Ibraheem: We do lots of role plays.

Has there been a situation where you have had to put your peer mediator skills to use?

Ayesha: No, not yet.Maryam: Not yet.Aishah: Yes, there was a girl who was left out and wanted to play with a group of girls. She had an argument with themabout what to play, so I helped to sort their problem out.Ibraheem: Yes, two boys were fighting and I stopped them and helped them.

Besides helping others, how do you think being a peer mediator will help you as an individual?

Ayesha: It will help me in my later life, so I will know what to expect from other people when they are angry or upset.Maryam: It will help me to improve my listening skills.Aishah: It will help me to be a good person and help solve problems myself.Ibraheem: These skills will help to improve my own behaviour.

Year 3: Salahudeen Adil,Haneef Khan, MaryamLukani, Hafsah Khan

Year 4: IbraheemAli, Zain Butt, AmaaniPatel, Aishah Nadeem

Year 5: Huzaifah Im-rit, Abu Bakr Majid,Amarah Hosenee, AyeshaMahmood

Year 6: Abdullah Majid,Umar Sattar, ZahraMirza, Zaahra Kheyar

Once an interesting girl called Sarah was playingin her garden, when she found a strange sort ofhole covered with flowers and a rusty, old rain-bow key. She was curious to know what it was.So she followed the instructions on the key andcrept inside the hole. When she came in a lockclosed the hole. The heart key said to her, “clickme when you want to come out.” Sarah went to aclub because she was nine. Over there, she keptthinking about a funny special place. This wasthe place she was dreaming about!Saniyya Ur Rehman, Year 2

Once upon a time there was an energeticthief. He stole a car. Then the police camerushing and said, “what happened?” Athief stole our car. The police ran out andstarted looking for a car but they couldnot find the car. After searching theyfound the car in a gigantic tower. Afterthey got the car and they gave it back theylocked them up.Ismail Yusuf, Year 2

Jack and Jake

Once upon a time good Jack was driving his car but after a while bad, enormous and scary Jake crashed intogood Jack. Jack was very shocked because his car crashed into bad, scary and enormous Jake. Jake washappy because he wanted to crash Jack, Jake was a thief.

So Jack knew Jake was a thief so he rang the police. The police also knew where the thief lived. When thepolice entered Jake’s house no one was there. The police saw footprints leading into the garden. When thepolice went in the garden they saw someone in the shed so they went in the shed and saw Jake. Straightaway they arrested him and took him in the police car. The police car tyre was not working so Jake sharedhis car.Faiz Ali Butt, Year 2

The Girl and the Magic Bush

Once upon a time there was a mum, a girl and a butterfly. One day the girl’s mum told the girl to playin the florist. When the girl went to the florist she saw a sparkling bush but it wasn't a normal bush itwas a magic book with flowers, gold, sweets and plants on it. She picked them and started playing withthe butterfly in joy. She quickly went to her neighbour’s house and gave some things from the bush with-out asking her mum. She went home and told the truth about everything that happened. They had theirdinner.Fatima Imran, Year 2

The Police and the Cheeky Bad Mr Do

One day there was a police and a baddy. The police’s name is PC Plum. The baddy’s name is Mr Do. Mr Dostole a crystal. The police ran after him. Mr Do ran for his life. He ran into a police station. The police gothim and chucked him in prison.Muhammed Malik, Year 2

By Qasim, Aiema and Sumayyah 2013-12-17

We had to think of questions and answers and write them on somecard. We then walked around the class room and asked each othersome questions. Once we had answered them, we put our hands upto let others know we are ready to answer another question. Thewinner was the person who answered the most questions correctly.

We have really enjoyed learning about Tudor times, it’s been greatfun!!!

Since then we have also been working on writing reports about thedifferences between the rich and poor people in Tudor times. Wealso had fun designing and making sweet packaging for Design andTechnology, also based on the same theme. One of our favouritemoments during the past few weeks has been playing Quiz QuizTrade.

Hafsah

Year 3’s Remarkable ReportersThe past few weeks have been so exciting for Year 3. As part of ourtopic on Reports, we focused on the theme of Tudor times and linked it inwith History and Design and technology. We got to be news reportersfor a crime that had taken place at King Henrys’ Bakery. We even hadreal reporter badges and the classroom became our press room! UmmZaynab and Umm Muhammed, our teachers, dressed up as an eye wit-ness and the baker who had been robbed. As reporters, we questionedthem and wrote the answers on a note pad to use later for our posters andactual news reporter scripts.

We were told that we had to report the news as news reporters, part ofThe Tudor News Team. We used our posters to write our own newsreporter scripts. We would work in threes to present our news. Afterwe practiced our news script, we presented it to the class and we werefilmed. It was so exciting watching our news reports later.

Imaan, Aiema and Yusuf

Year 2 made a numberof careful drawings of

the natural objects theybrought in from home.Children chose one oftheir drawings to de-

velop into a design for acollage.