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Al‑Noor Secondary School for Boys — Opening Soon (Date TBC)
Serving families in East London and the London Borough of Redbridge
Al-Noor secondary school update
Al-Noor Foundation purchased the 3-acre Newton Industrial Estate in Chadwell Heath for the sum of £4.4m. Our intention was to establish a Voluntary Aided secondary school on the site and retain part of the site as a Waqf.
We were encouraged by the temporary planning granted by Redbridge to relocate the then Al-Noor Independent school from our Green Lane for 18 months. This gave us the breathing space to construct our brand new £8.5m VA primary school in Goodmayes.
We have submitted two consecutive applications for a secondary on the Newton Industrial Estate. Despite being among the shortlisted Voluntary-Aided applications, the Department for Education (DfE) highlighted significant long term planning concerns on our NIE site.
We are therefore in the process of considering all future options on the site and will keep you updated with any progress we make with our plans. Any Qard Hasan our donors have with us is safe, and we ask Allah to immensely reward everyone who has donated or loaned money for this project. Further updates will be provided when we have more information.
Akhter Raouf
Chief Executive Officer
Al-Noor Foundation
Al‑Noor Secondary School for Boys — Opening Soon (Date TBC)
Serving families in East London and the London Borough of Redbridge
Assalamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
By Allah’s grace, Al‑Noor Foundation is preparing to open Al‑Noor Secondary School for Boys — a new independent Islamic school for ages 11–16. Our opening date is not yet confirmed and remains subject to the completion of planning, staffing and regulatory steps. We will publish firm dates as soon as they are agreed. In the meantime, we warmly invite you to register your interest so you can receive admissions news and key milestones first.
Al-Noor Secondary school update
In 2015, the Al-Noor Foundation achieved a remarkable feat by being awarded the first Muslim voluntary aided primary school in East of London. This was a momentous accomplishment for the community, as it provided free education for an Islamic school in Ilford, East London. As a prerequisite for the proposal’s success, we needed to find a temporary location for the existing primary school whilst the new school was being built. Therefore, we embarked on a project to acquire the Newton Industrial Estate, with two main objectives in mind.
Firstly, we aimed to relocate the primary school to the Newton Industrial estate for a period of two years. Secondly, our long-term plan was to seek approval from the London Borough of Redbridge to establish a Government-funded secondary school. After housing the primary school for two years, we successfully opened the new voluntary aided school on Green Lane in Goodmayes. This enabled us to apply to the Department of Education for a secondary school.
Our application was strengthened by the fact that there is a scarcity of available land for secondary school places in Redbridge, a concern recognized by both the Local authority and the Department of Education. However, they raised apprehensions regarding the site’s proximity to the A12 and its potential impact on traffic in the surrounding areas. We were aware of this concern from the outset, and although it posed a challenge, we believed it could be overcome. We submitted two applications for a secondary school, but unfortunately, both were unsuccessful.
Al-Noor Foundation has always aspired to establish a secondary school and in addition to making two unsuccessful bids for a new Voluntary Aided school we have also looked in detail at the independent school option both in terms of initial capital cost as well as the ongoing running costs, both of which amount to considerable sum. After possessing the Newton Industrial Estate for seven years, the Board has concluded that it is unsustainable for us to retain the site. The community, which has generously provided over £4 million in Qard Hasana loans, has rightfully requested the return of their funds over the years. We are proud to state that Alhamdulillah, we have not delayed the repayment of anyone’s loans thus far. This commitment reflects our core values of integrity and ensuring timely refunds.
Consequently, we have concluded that a secondary school will not be a viable proposition on the Newton Industrial Estate. Instead, we are exploring alternative options to maximize the financial returns for the community from the Newton Industrial Estate while continuing to pursue the establishment of a secondary school in the future.