Enterprise Way, North Bretton, , PE3 8YQ. Tel: 01733 331433. Email: [email protected] Date: Monday 8th October 2018

Principal News letter

Congratulations to our Students; Fizza Karim, Sabaah Waheed and Aamina Abbas, who were all presented with GCSE Attainment Awards at the Annual Peterborough City Education Awards evening on the 26th September 2018. All three Students achieved 10+ GCSE passes and were mentioned in the “Muslim News” GCSE roll of honour.

Our newly appointed Deputy Head Girl, Hannah Houghton, won the prestigious ‘Community and Integration work’ Gold Award, presented by , of Peterborough Cathedral, to celebrate the 900th Anni- versary of the City Cathedral. This was a huge honour for Hannah, her family and for Iqra Academy.

Hannah believes immensely in community integration and works closely with the schools chosen charity ‘Chil- dren of Adam’ to promote community cohesion. Hannah has represented the school at numerous events city wide. For example, the Peace and Tolerance event at Peterborough Cathedral, as well as the Inter-faith event which took place at the Town Hall. Hannah will be presenting at the Peterborough Cathedral Trust’s event “Forward Together” at the Peterborough Cathedral in October.

As part of Iqra Academy students continued Charity work in the community, they all sent gifts to The Queens- gate Gift Tree, in partnership with Spurgeons Children’s Charity. The Gift Tree donates gifts to a Child that would not normally have a Christmas. Around a quarter of children in Peterborough are living in poverty. These generous gifts from Iqra Academy make a huge difference to many families at this time of year.

Hannah led the School in raising £345.73 in one day, for the Penny Appeal’s Gambia Orphanage Project. Hannah works closely with the Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT) through which they are trained to become environment ambassadors, so that they can educate the wider community on Environment issues. Hannah also participates in other environment related schemes such as recycling and energy saving schemes. They are developing links with the senior citizens of the city where they visit people on a regular basis. Some students work with the Police service on issues such as crime prevention and reporting crime.

Hannah leads the School in working with the Charity ‘Metal’ together with the London based arts organisation Magic Me to bring an exciting new project for women across Peterborough that will explore ‘Decorum’. The project will explore if Decorum differs between generations. Where different generations of women adopt, celebrate or rebel against behaviours that may have been familiar to their Mothers or Grandmothers.

Hannah also worked on ‘PROCESSION’ which is a national project designed to unite and inspire women from all walks of life in a celebration of what it means to be a woman today and to acknowledge the power of vot- ing. Iqra is working with women in cities across the UK to create a banner celebrating the 100 years of the fe- male vote. This banner was part of a large procession in London on 10th June 2017. Hannah is a volunteer at The Lantern Initiative, where she has helped out with organising community mental health events. She has utilised her social and communication skills to welcome guests and mingle at these events.

Our new weekly Qirat Club is now running every Monday and Tuesday lunch time, hosted by Qari Muneer, to encourage our students to recite tilawat. We are looking to enter our students into local Qur’an competitions. We have welcomed Qari Muneer from Faizan-e-Madina to Iqra Academy as a staff member. As well as running the Qirat club he will be leading Zuhr Jamaat on Mondays and Tuesdays at the School.

Alongside the Qirat club we are running an after-school Madrassah. This will run from Monday-Thursday from 3pm – 4pm term time only.

The after-school Madrassah will cost £1 each day. As a Community School, Parents and members of the Community are of fundamental importance, to support the schools drive for improvement. The Schools Parents Forum, ‘Friends of Iqra,’ Chaired by Parent, Mrs Safura Houghton will again meet at 11am on Thursday 11th October 2018. Everyone is invited.

Below are some diary dates for you to note:

• Monday 8th October – Football Away v QKA • Tuesday 9th October – Football Academy, Gladstone • Wednesday 10th October – Combined Cadet Force • Thursday 11th October – 11am Parents Forum, ‘Friends of Iqra’ Meeting. • Thursday 11th October Football Home v Nene Park • Thursday 18th October Football Away v Jack Hunt • Friday 19th October – Careers visit to University Centre, Peterborough • Monday 22nd October to Friday 26th October 2018, Half Term. • Monday 5th November – Year 10 Start of Work Experience weeks • Thursday 15th November – Year 9 at World Skills UK at NEC. • Wednesday 19th December 2018, Term Ends for Students. • Wednesday 2nd January 2019, Staff Training Day • Thursday 3rd January 2019, Term Starts for Students. • Monday 4th February 2019 – Mock Exams Year 10 & 11 • Tuesday 5th February – Unite the Union, Careers visit • Tuesday 12th February – Unite the Union, Careers visit • Wednesday 13th February – Take your Child to work day. • Monday 18th February to Friday 22nd February 2019, Half Term. • Friday 1st March – Year 11 at NEC Birmingham, Careers Show. • Friday 5th April 2019, Term Ends for Students. • Tuesday 23rd April 2019, Staff Training Day • Wednesday 24th April 2019, Term Starts for Students • Monday 6th May 2019, May Day Bank Holiday • Monday 27th May to Friday 31st May 2019, Half Term. • Friday 19th July 2019, Term Ends for Students. • Monday 22nd July, Staff Training Day.

Warm regards, Dr Michael Wright - Principal