The academic program at Al-Hijra Academy prepares students for the challenges of the next level. Ultimately, students are poised to be successful during high school study. We meet or exceed all Ontario elementary education requirements. Literacy involves communication and understanding in English.
Beginning in kindergarten, students learn about the world through reading, talking and discussing, and express themselves through oral and written work. At Al-Hijra Academy our focus is also Arabic language in addition to English. The nature of Al-Hijra primary years is geared towards building a strong Islamic foundation.
Numeracy in kindergarten involves counting and identifying numbers. As students progress through the grades they learn all of the mathematics required for high school level work. An important feature of Al-Hijra Academy is that mathematics is a required subject through to graduation. Teachers work hard to integrate mathematics into other subject areas, so that students understand how mathematics is not only theoretical, but also practical.
Second language instruction is important for the Al-Hijra Academy program. Students are introduced to Arabic language in kindergarten. French is added in later grades. At all levels, specialists teach our second languages. Scientific discovery is important from kindergarten, where students begin their learning by understanding their senses.
Science topics are discussed in the context of big ideas in the primary years program, and through subject area study from Grades 5 to 8. The school has excellent track record in science subjects, and many teachers have science backgrounds. Every year the children prepare science projects to participate in school science fair competition. The winners from school science fair qualify to participate in regional science fair held by University of Windsor. Our students have won medals at this competition consistently.
Al-Hijra Academy looks at the roles of the individual in society through religious study, right from kindergarten. Social studies topics often connect to science, Islam and mathematics. Students engage in research that leads to report-writing, debates, and speech competitions. Often, the content is related to real issues that are occurring in the world at the time. In all cases, academic subjects encourage critical thinking. Often this is accomplished through inquiry – asking questions of increasing complexity.