How to Set Up a Weekend Islamic School: A Practical Checklist

Starting a weekend Islamic school, or taking over one that has run on habit for years, comes down to a handful of decisions made before the first Saturday. This checklist walks through them in the order they usually come up.

1. Decide what you are teaching, and to whom

Write down the subjects you will offer (for example Qur’an reading, Islamic studies, Arabic, and Seerah) and the age range you will accept. Many weekend schools start at age five. Decide early whether teens get their own class, because mixing a seven-year-old and a fourteen-year-old rarely works for either.

2. Set the calendar before you set anything else

Pick your start date, end date, and holidays, including Ramadan and both Eids. Publish the full year at registration so families can plan. A clear calendar prevents most of the “is there class this week?” messages.

3. Group students into classes by level, not only by age

A new student of ten who cannot yet read Arabic letters belongs in a different Qur’an group from a ten-year-old who is already reading fluently. Plan a short placement check during registration week.

4. Recruit teachers and agree on expectations

Most weekend schools rely on volunteers or part-time teachers. Agree in writing on arrival time, what to do when a teacher cannot attend, how attendance is taken, and how often progress is reported to parents.

5. Decide tuition, sibling discounts, and how you will collect

Choose between a yearly fee, a semester fee, or monthly tuition. Decide your sibling discount and your policy for families who need help paying. Then decide how money is collected and who follows up on late payments. This last part is where many volunteer-run schools struggle most.

6. Make registration one form

Collect everything once: student name and date of birth, parent contacts, emergency contact, medical notes, and prior learning. A single online form saves hours compared with paper forms and separate payment receipts.

7. Take attendance the same way every week

Attendance is your safety record as well as your academic record. Whatever method you use, every teacher should take it at the same point in the day, and the office should be able to see it without collecting paper.

8. Plan how you will report progress

Decide what goes on a report card and when it goes home. Parents value a short, clear report each term far more than a long one at the end of the year.

9. Choose one place to keep it all

Spreadsheets, paper sign-in sheets, and group chats work for a class of fifteen. They become hard to manage at sixty students and several teachers. Taleem’s maktab and weekend school software keeps students, classes, attendance, grades, and report cards together, and it is free for your first year. See pricing for details.

A final note

None of this needs to be perfect in year one. Schools that write these decisions down and share them with parents and teachers have a much calmer first term.