We wish to foster and create young adults who are confident in themselves and in their abilities. Our teaching staff act as mentors for students to provide them with personal and academic support. Students are encouraged to partake in in-school and after-school programs, and in national and provincial contests to build their speaking skills and experience and to add to their academic portfolios to ensure they are eligible for academic scholarships in their post-secondary education.
Mathematics – Mathematics is subject directly linked to intellectual growth and a direct prerequisite for many facets of higher education. The Mathematics department at Al-Manarat Heights is dedicated to ensuring that the current malaise in mathematics is strategically avoided and a robust, comprehensive, and facilitated program is presented to all students. The students struggling are given supplementary aids to ensure their success and the excelling students are challenged enough to not stunt their progress. Students are exposed to the central components highlighted in the Ontario Curriculum: Number Sense and Numeration, Operational Math, Geometry, Data Analysis, and Finance. The students are given the tools to navigate each topic through basic knowledge and understanding, application, thinking and inquiry, and communication.
English – The English experience at AlManarat Heights is one of the most empowering and impactful aspects of the school. Students are positioned to not just practice but fall in love with the language Arts. Topics span reading, comprehension, writing, composition, spelling, media and digital Arts, etc. When the students enter middle school they upgrade their language Arts to Liberal Arts, training their elocution and rhetorical skills while learning to think and engage with literature. One doesn’t just take a liberal arts course at Al-Manarat, rather, they enter a world where meaning and truth come to life through the vehicle of language.
Science – Science at Al-Manarat Islamic School seeks to describe and explain the natural and physical world created and designed by Allah (swt). The main themes in Science within the Elementary Level include Life Systems, Structures and Mechanisms, Matter and Energy, and Earth and Space Systems. The fundamental concepts include Matter, Energy, Systems and Interactions, Structure and Function, Sustainability and Stewardship, and Change and Continuity. With hands-on learning, experiments, audio-visual aids, and student projects, scientific concepts are made more relevant.
Many concepts and ideas that Allah highlights in the Quran are incorporated into the Science Curriculum so that every time the students observe the science in nature, they appreciate the Creator who made such an all-wise design with precision.
Social Studies, History & Geography – Social studies (Grades 1-5) and history and geography (Grades 6-8) will enable students to become responsible, active citizens within the diverse communities to which they belong. As well as becoming critically thoughtful and informed citizens who value an inclusive society, students will have the skills they need to solve problems and communicate ideas and decisions about significant developments, events, and issues.
The fact Allah is the Master of all creation makes all of us the servants to Allah. This removes racism, discrimination and prejudice, and other forms of social illnesses. Students are exposed to recent Islamic history and the contribution of Muslim scholars to the world of geography in addition to the Ontario Curriculum Expectations.
French – Students learning French in Grades 4 to 8 will communicate and interact with growing confidence in French, one of Canada’s official languages while developing the knowledge, skills, and perspectives they need to participate fully as citizens in Canada and in the world.
Quran – As the central component of any Islamic School, the Quran course is one that is placed as a priority in every way. Studying the meanings of the Quran, its rules of recitation, its memorization and most importantly its love and reverence is the reason d’être of AlManarat Heights. Students learn the word-to-word meanings of the Quran, which is a proven method to get exposed to the language of the Quran and develop strong faith through discussions on the message of the Quran, Early Islamic History, the sacred tradition, etc.
Islamic Studies – The Islamic Studies subject is among the core subjects at Al-Manarat Islamic School. The Islamic Studies curriculum includes Tajweed, Memorization, Word-to-Word Meaning, Tafseer, Fiqh, History, Arabic Language, Pillars of Islam, Pillars of Imaan, Akhlaaq – Character Building and Seerah – Life of Prophet Muhammad PBUH. Students are taught to choose Islam as their way of life-based on their own thought. Issues pertaining to sexuality, cleanliness, puberty, origins of the Universe, atheism, and preservation of the Quran are also discussed in great detail based on the grade level. The goal of the Islamic Studies curriculum is to train the students to have a strong foundation in the fundamental teachings of Islam that can become contributing Muslim Canadians and practice their faith unapologetically. The Islamic Studies course also serves as a pre-requisite and co-requisite for the study of the Quran.
Arts – The focus of the Visual Arts program at Al-Manarat Islamic School is developing students’ ability to communicate their thoughts and feelings about works in the arts. The visual arts include a broad range of forms, genres, and styles that include the traditional arts of drawing, painting, printmaking, architecture, as well as commercial art, traditional and fine crafts, industrial design, performance art, and electronic and media arts. The visual arts curriculum is intended to help students develop their creativity, as well as the ability to communicate their understanding of the world around them through visual arts. In learning to express themselves in visual ways, students will sharpen their powers of observation, imagination, and invention.
Quran demands us to appreciate the creation around us and this appreciation is facilitated when the students indulge themselves in mimicking the nature’s design and understand how beautiful indeed is Allah’s creation.
Our team of dedicated and qualified Hifz teachers ensure that the students are focussed, well-mannered and goal oriented, they accomplish this not through punitive measures, but rather through gentleness and discipline.
Furthermore, the quality of one’s recitation is of non-negotiable importance. The teachers ensure that students memorize the Qur`an with the rules of tajweed (beautification and mastery in recitation) and are repeatedly go through evaluations to refine their recitation.
Our Hifz students are then integrated to our prestigious middle school program which ensures that they graduate middle school having mastered the academic content along with their Qur`anic memorization.
Embedding the seed of Imaan in the hearts of every student is accomplished through various activities throughout the day. During the morning assembly, the students recite the morning azkaar, duas for seeking knowledge, and recitation of Quran.
The Islamic Studies curriculum includes Tajweed, Memorization, Word-to-Word Meaning, Tafseer, Arabic Language, Pillars of Islam, Pillars of Imaan, Akhlaaq (Character Building), Seerah (Life of Prophet Muhammad PBUH).
Quran and Islamic Studies are taught as part of the core subjects allowing students to decipher the Quranic Text and understand other aspects of Islamic Sciences.
Dua Memorization is taught as a subject where students learn the Masnoon Duas, Daily Duas and Quranic Duas with translation and understanding. Students memorize over 50 duas every year.
Salah is a top priority for the Al-Manarat family. 20 to 30 mins of school time is allotted to perfect wudu, adhaan, Salah, azkaar and masjid etiquettes. After Dhur Salah, each student addresses the school for a 5-minute reminder on Quranic topics.
Every Friday, the powerful transforming Jummah Khutbahs are delivered by special khateebs. Friday is made as a special day with a special uniform and one hour is dedicated to learn and practice the etiquettes of Friday Prayers.
Academic Enhancements – Al-Manarat staff is trained to best manage the educational and emotional needs of students. Students’ education is enhanced by our academic and religiously intertwined curriculum to ensure that graduates of our school leave with a stable academic and religious career. The teachings of Islam are upheld in each part of our teachings at Al-Manarat.
Ontario Curriculum Infused with an Islamic Curriculum – Al-Manarat Islamic School strives to prepare our students with a high level of worldly and religious education. To achieve this, our staff instructs students to follow the guidelines of the Ontario High School Curriculum while integrating an Islamic curriculum as well. Students are taught to navigate the world not as educated and Muslim but instead as Educated Muslims.
A Comprehensive and Holistic Islamic Curriculum – Our Islamic curriculum instructs our students according to the teachings of the Qur’an, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s hadiths, and the guidance of Muslim scholars. Students are encouraged to view the world through an Islamic lens to help them build their futures both in this world and in the hereafter.
Tarbiyyah Based Long-Term Student-Teacher Relationship – We encourage our students to see Al-Manarat’s teaching staff not only as educators but also as mentors for their growth as young Muslims in the West. Our staff are encouraged to maintain long-lasting student-teacher relationships with Al-Manarat students to foster their educational growth as well as the growth of their imaan to ensure they become successful members of our society.
Provincial and National Contest Exposure – Our students are encouraged to partake in Provincial and National contests available to them to build their academic portfolio, which will help them in future endeavors throughout high school and in their post-secondary academic careers.
The teachers are trained to disseminate and educate in a manner that facilitates retention and understanding more than coverage and exposure. Among the different strategies for the facilitation of content are:
- Layering Approach – The students will be taught in 4 layers to facilitate retention and understanding. The 4 layers are Exposure, Competency, Consolidation, and Mastery. The goal is to allow the students to view the same content from different perspectives and depths.
- Student Focused Sessions – Low student-to-teacher ratio allows the teacher to give focused attention to each student and to recognize the exact issue that can cause a student to lag.
- One Classroom system – Each class will be in the same classroom for several years. This allows the students to be comfortable with their space and keep their settings changed so they may focus on the content more than the learning environment.
- Elongated time with teachers – Students will be spending years and years with qualified educators without feeling any sense of abandonment. For example, the same Math instructor for three years can do much more refinement than three Math teachers in three years.
As part of the holistic learning, students participate in clubs such as drama, reading, chess, knitting, calligraphy, lego and they cherish the company of their teachers and students in educational field trips.
To enhance the student experience, Al-Manarat conducts workshops and annual events that trains the students to convey the beneficial knowledge back to their community.