Arkana College is a small independent primary school offering a unique educational experience. Its distinctiveness is due, in part, to its open enrolment policy. While the College is founded on a robust Islamic philosophy, it warmly welcomes children from other cultures and religions. The diverse range of experiences afforded by this policy leads the children to a better understanding and a greater tolerance of others.
The College's location in Stoney Creek Road, Kingsgrove, is central to and easily accessible by families from its catchment area. The Islamic Egyptian Society of New South Wales Inc purchased the school premises (land and buildings) in 1986. As part of its charter, the Society had involvement in welfare programs, for the aged, for women's issues, and the youth of the Egyptian Islamic Community. It also ran Saturday Programs for Islamic Studies and Arabic language and published its monthly magazine.
We work alongside the students and parents and examine our pedagogy in light of our students' needs. Combined with our collegial nature, enthusiasm, and dedication, we provide students with quality learning experiences and excellence in education. Additionally, we provide our students with a rich extracurricular program, including interfaith activities that allow our students to engage with others from various ethnic and religious backgrounds. Our students also have the opportunity to participate in choir, drama, debating, and sporting competitions. We aim to prepare our students to succeed as lifelong learners who are constructive Australian Society members while still proud of their Islamic heritage and identity.
Furthermore, we provide our students with a robust sports program. Our students can represent the school in various sports against other schools in the ASISSA program. Our students also get the opportunity to participate in specific programs such as Gymnastics, a myriad of Indoor/Outdoor Sports, Dance, and Swim School, in addition to physical education lessons planned for by individual grade teachers.
We aim to set high standards at the school. We do everything possible to prepare our students academically and intellectually for their future lives. We have established a strong partnership between the school, home, and community, and this partnership has worked exceptionally well in educating the children.
Spiritual development is also essential to complete the learning process of the child and any person in general. We teach students Arabic, Quran, and Islamic Studies in order to facilitate this spiritual development. Receiving this Islamic education will prepare students for all events in their lives because they can find the answers to all their questions in the Quran and teachings (Hadith) of the Prophet Mohammed PBUH.
In the Quran, students learn to recite and memorize various passages and then study those passages' meanings to understand the Islamic faith better. Islamic Studies emphasizes the life and traditions of the Prophet Mohammed PBUH. In this subject, students learn about the Hadith (teachings of the Prophet PBUH), Sunnah (lifestyle of the Prophet PBUH), Tarbiya (manners/etiquette), and Islamic culture (history/geography/significant events). Arabic caters to different levels and aims to facilitate an understanding of the Arabic language (including reading/writing and grammar), the Holy Quran's language.
