Classes, cameras, and modesty
How boys and girls are taught, and who sees your child on video
These are among the first questions Muslim families ask about an online school, so here are our answers in plain words. The grouping rules are proposed for our Scholarly Review Board to confirm.
Grouping
Who learns together
| Grades | Islamic studies and Qur'an | All other live classes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | Mixed | Mixed |
| 5 and 6 | Boys and girls in separate groups | Mixed |
| 7 and up | Boys and girls in separate groups | Boys and girls in separate groups |
- Every class has a set audience (mixed, girls, or boys), and our software will not place a child in a class whose audience does not include them.
- Girls' groups are taught by women wherever our staffing allows. A member of staff who is the second adult in a girls' group is always a woman, and in a girls' class from grade 5 so is a parent who is the second adult: a mother or another female guardian, never a father or other male guardian.
- Adult learners are never placed in a class with anyone under 18.
Cameras
Your child's camera, your child's choice
- From grade 5, no student is ever required to show their face in a mixed class.
- Attendance and participation are never measured by camera. Children take part by voice, by writing, and by their work.
- Students cannot upload profile photos. Other students see initials, not pictures.
- In grades 1 to 4, cameras on help the teacher, with a learning coach nearby. If your family prefers otherwise, tell the teacher.
Adults at home
When a parent is in the room
Parents and learning coaches who sit with a young child during a live class may appear on camera to the other families in that class. Please dress and speak as you would in a classroom, and keep other members of the household out of view.
Families may not record, photograph, or screenshot live classes, because every class shows other people's children. This is part of our Acceptable Use Policy.
Recordings
Who can ever see a recording
Staff only
When a session is recorded, the recording is a safeguarding record for staff. It is never shown to students or to other families, and never posted anywhere.
Deleted after 30 days
Recordings are deleted after 30 days, unless a safeguarding concern requires us to keep one longer.
Missed a class?
If a child misses a class, the teacher may record a separate lesson with no students in it. We never hand out a recording of other children.
No staff member is ever alone on video with a child. A child enters a live class only when the teacher is in and a classmate or a second cleared adult is too; a child who arrives first waits on a "waiting for your classmates" screen, and a child left alone with one adult is moved back to it. Every one-to-one session (a single student with a staff member, including a group down to one student) needs a second cleared adult or the child's own parent or guardian present (never a learning coach), is recorded, and pauses when its second adult leaves. Other group sessions are not routinely recorded. Every AI feature of our video provider (automatic transcripts, captions, and summaries) must be turned off and locked before any class runs, because those features would send children's voices to an AI service.
Our software holds these rules, and it learns who is in the room from the video service itself, not from who opened a link. The school's video account is not connected yet, so no class room opens. Until it is connected and tested, these rules are also required by school policy, and we will say here when that testing is done. Our scheduling software already refuses to book a one-to-one session without a second cleared adult or the child's own parent or guardian (never a learning coach).
Modesty in what we teach
Lessons on puberty and purification (such as ghusl) are taught in grades 4 to 6, in single-sex groups. You can preview those lessons 14 days ahead, and you can choose "I will teach this at home" instead.
Our lessons never show images of any prophet, of the family of the Prophet ﷺ, or of the Companions, and never use instrumental music.