Al-Karam Secondary School (1995-2014)
As Jamia Al-Karam moved from its small premises in Milton Keynes to the spacious Eaton Hall campus in Retford in 1995, it additionally launched its secondary school project in April 1995. Al-Karam Secondary School was a boarding school for boys providing secondary education at a high level coupled with an environment that was based on spiritual development as well as an ethos of Islamic values.
With the vision of the principal, Shaykh Muhammad Imdad Hussain Pirzada, and the dedicated leadership of the head teacher, Mr Shabbir Ahmed, hundreds of young Muslim children studied at the school with 330 of them reaching year 11 and completing their GCSEs at the school. During their stay, students benefitted from a high level of education based on the national curriculum with additional subjects of Arabic, Urdu and Islamic Studies. At the same time, they gained a true sense of their religious identity and understanding of their faith of Islam, far from any misinterpretation and extremism of any kind. Additionally, they became aware of their national identity and understanding of their role as being positive British citizens.
Students who successfully completed their GCSEs at the school continued on to further education at colleges and then higher education at universities around the country, and today they are good professional Muslims and positive contributors to society. Many of them have entered various professions qualified as doctors, solicitors, accountants, teachers, managers as well as other careers. Some of them continued their study in Islamic Sciences and so later also graduated from Jamia Al-Karam as young British Muslim scholars.
Al-Karam Secondary School continued its operation for nineteen years as a flagship project of Jamia Al-Karam. Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, its operation came to a close in the summer of 2014. During this period of nearly two decades, the GCSE as well as Key Stage 3 results of the school remained at the upper end of the Nottinghamshire county league tables. The school gained first position in the Nottinghamshire GCSE league table six times in its short history.
To honour the achievements of the students, the GCSE results over the years are listed below:
GCSE Results:
