Al-Qalam Academy

Grade 6 Grade 6

This is 2nd year for Abdul Hadi to be in school alhumdulilha I'm very pleased with his progress. I was very nervous at the beginning of the year due to certain reasons but thanks to Mrs Kulsum Saleh who put me at ease along with other staff members. I appreciate your efforts that you put into each child. They are gaining worldly knowledge along with our values of Islam. Thank you all for working patiently with all our children. May Allah reward you for your hard work.

Asalamulik sister's your hardworking your kindness with kids

We have had both of our kids attending this school for the past few years and are very grateful for the teachers and staff at this school. They do an excellent job with the kids.

Alhamdulilah my son's been attending for 4 years and I have loved seeing all teachers and staff doing their best to keep kids focused on learning as well as having fun. I really admire the commitment of Ms. Kulsoom as principal and buddy that kids can reach out to without hesitation. My son likes all his teachers and enjoys going to the school to learn not only curriculum but moral values that we enforce at home.

I was forced to attend this school from 6th-8th grade. During that time I became depressed but other than that the school education is horrible. I don’t remember a single thing I was taught. During 8th grade we went through many teachers leaving and coming, along with the principal changing. There was also a scandal where the owner of Darul Huda, Mr.Hammadi, if I remember correctly had stolen money from the school/mosque. He blamed the principal for this stuff and said many horrible stuff about her. She along with a few other teachers were the only good ones, I’m not sure if they still teach there though. $500 a month went to nothing in this school. When I transferred to a public high school, they lied on my transcripts and said I took Algebra 1 which I was supposed to take but the teacher was actually trying to teach us Pre-algebra. At one point in this school, teachers had started to track the girls PERIODS because they weren’t praying. This was an invasion of privacy and crossing boundaries but anytime students tried communicating these issues, they would not listen. This school has also tried to suspend me and my friend for walking to the mall AFTER school had ended. They didn’t let us go a field trip either when this happened. I hate this school and no girl or boy should be put here to suffer and not gain a proper education. I’ve also heard that there were many mistreatments for elementary school kids, like being hit or because of skintone. These little kids have no way to defend themselves either which is so heartbreaking. Why would you willingly send your child to an environment full of people that don’t have the proper teaching education nor any certificate that says they could teach kids. Not to bring discrimination b ur as a fellow South Asian girl I know how the older generation of women are and how they discriminate and have favoritism and how they hit kids. Also, some of these reviews I have read are from my past classmate that weren’t able to get out of the school, they were forced to give the 5 star reviews because while I was attending many students gave it a 1 star which the staff noticed and got mad at us for. Thank you if you have read till the end. Please send your kids to better private schools. Trust then when they tell you something bad about this school. I’ve seen many girls come out of a private religious school, not religious at all.

My experience with this school has been nothing but bad. Some of the students act more mature than their own teachers. In the past there was an arabic teacher who used to teach children in elementary school, she would make the kids cry and pressure them. The current principal is not experienced. She was a fifth grade teacher and suddenly became the principal. She never trusted her own students and had serious favoritism issues. She blames students that aren't at fault. And the science teacher says bad things about students behind their backs and creates unnecessary drama. This school makes the kids do VAVA even though it is not allowed and tells us not to tell anyone. There is also continuous bullying in the school. The teachers are aware but take no action to stop any of it. They do not listen to both sides and are very biased towards certain kids. The school asks for a lot of money but don't put any of it towards the school. The high school is all girls but regardless of this school being an "all islamic school" there have been LGBT+ occurrences in the past. Despite all of the issues in the school, the Quran teacher was very professional. She was nice to all the students and she was very good at her job.

The school has gone through many great changes in the last few years. I have been working here for 3 years now, and have seen its evolution. I enjoy coming to work every day, and sharing in the mission of teaching our future generations with the other wonderful staff members. Everyone works very hard and is dedicated to the same ideals: Sharing the love of Allah with staff, faculty, parents, and those we come in contact with; educating in Islamic values, and providing an education that meets department of education standards for the state of Virginia. I am glad that my own kids, get to be taught by a loving community and learn about Islam. Even though school is not the same this year because of Covid-19, staff is dedicated to keeping things moving with online sessions and fun assignments and projects for our students. If you want your children to be able to access a great education, while learning about Islam, and for a great price, then this is a school I would recommend to you.