At Ihsan, every single aspect of our curriculum and school infrastructure promotes equality. As a multicultural and multilingual center, we treat all staff and students equally, and we place great importance on educating our students to do the same.
Inside the classroom and out, students are expected to interact with each other for the purposes of educational activity, physical endeavor or social interaction.
We place a focus on cultural and social learning within our curriculum, so that students have the opportunity to learn the meaning of diversity and inclusion. Our goal is that students leave Ihsan embracing all cultures and backgrounds.
Ihsan's curriculum is geared towards celebrating cultural diversity, and this is reflected in our student populous and our all-inclusive approach to recruitment and enrolment. Ihsan targets over 35 nationalities over student; this diversity within the classroom enriches the curriculum and allows students to learn from each other and celebrate a range of cultures and backgrounds.
We promote tolerance and equality both inside the classroom and out, and the multicultural experiences that the students have at Ihsan stay with them for the rest of their lives.
English is the lingua franca at school to support students function later, around the world. We teach Turkish language in the school, to enable students to fully integrate in Istanbul, and the second language we teach at school is Arabic to give students a chance to interact with one another in a language that helps them in understanding the religion as well. Our education model reflects multiculturalism just as the student body.
In addition to our broad student demographic, we also employ teachers of 10 different nationalities, each of whom is encouraged to share and celebrate their individual cultures. In this way, our students can learn from positive international role models, thereby developing a broader-minded approach to international education and culture.
We recognize the importance of Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education for all young students, and one aspect of this is sex and relationships.
We teach sex education and offer counselling and advice for students in a safe, confidential environment, in accordance with Qur'anic teachings and Sharia rules and regulations.
The classes are run separately as tutor groups, and our staff are trained to create an environment where students feel safe and comfortable so that open, honest discussions can take place. We also spend time helping students to understand the definition of a healthy relationship built on mutual respect and trust.
We ensure that we cover the dangers of unhealthy relationships and the knock-on effect that this can have on a student's education and overall life, and we teach our pupils to be positive role models for others, learning from the role models that we have provided for them in our teaching and social staff.
We have a robust disability equality and accessibility policy and we accept students with all disabilities. Within the school, we have 100% wheelchair access and lifts to every floor.
We also have several trained members of staff for students with special educational, physical or medical needs.
At Ihsan, the welfare of our students is paramount, and we have education and development in an inclusive environment at the heart of our operation. Our educational and infrastructural facilities are second to none in the provision we offer to students with special needs and we are constantly reviewing and updating our processes.
As part of our commitment to the community, we run regular workshops focusing on various cultures, integration and community.
We have organized Turkish language courses for parents to help them, be part of local community.
In addition, the school organizes cultural festivals at school to celebrate the diversity and promote community engagement at school.
We focus on social norms, expectations, history, cultural development and dealing with everyday social situations.
We have a purpose-built auditorium within our school building, which we use for assemblies, meetings, performances and public events. Our theatre seats 600 and has world class audiovisual facilities; as a result, we regularly invite guest speakers to speak to our students on a range of topics.
Our start and end of year events are held within the auditorium, and we also use the space for community engagement, with a range of talks organized throughout the year that are accessible to people from within and outside Ihsan.
For students who do not speak Arabic, we have an ASL, Arabic as a second language curriculum in place. The curriculum focuses to provide students with the necessary linguistic skills to communicate successfully in an Arabic-speaking environment.
The language classes are taught at various levels and we follow the CEFR, that is the European framework to design leveled classes. The primary focus in classes is on interaction, grammar, literature, fluency which then leads to accuracy.
At Ihsan, students have an option to take Islamic studies lessons in Arabic or English language.
Our main school, K1-12 targets national and international promising students with a strong focus on multiculturalism. We currently have 35 different nationalities in our classes.