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Update from the Dean of Student Services

Dear Dragonfly Community,

It has been amazing to begin the 2025 school year! I have had a wonderful time meeting the students, staff, parents and community as a whole. AFA is a beautiful place for your children to learn and grow as students and Muslims. I have never seen a school with more intention and focus on growing students daily through the teachings of Islam in all areas. Islam is truly woven into every fiber of the school. As the Dean of Students, I am honored to do my part in assisting the student’s and school’s growth in this incredible and intentional environment AFA has established over decades. With that, the first steps have taken place, In shā‘ Allāh…

A. Growing the Counseling Team

We are delighted to announce that Ms. Muzna Khan will be joining us as a counselor at AFA this year. Ms. Muzna is no stranger to AFA, serving previously as a Middle School Counselor from 2016-2020, School Counseling Program Coordinator, and as a Grade 2 homeroom teacher. She is a certified counselor with a Masters of Education with a concentration in School Counseling. As a team, I believe we are setting an example for how Islamic Schools should approach the health and wellness of their students and families. We are excited to share more details about our individual roles and responsibilities and our plans for supporting students and parents.

B. The Dragonfly Guide - Review our AFA Expectations

As the Dean of Students of Al Fatih Academy, I am dedicated to ensuring our students and families understand the guidelines and policies of our school community. We are all interconnected and have a level of accountability towards each other to help our community grow holistically, In shā‘ Allāh. Our expectations and policies are outlined in The Dragonfly Guide (our Student-Parent Handbook). To help ensure that families understand these expectations, we have created the following:

The Dragonfly Guide Quiz — required for all families to complete by Sept 21st, 2025
Executive Summary of the Dragonfly Guide (two pages with the most important content)
The Dragonfly Way (School-Family-Student Pact) - Section 24 of the Guide

It is vital for every family to review the handbook and take the quiz with your child. Doing so not only helps your child, it also helps all students in our community. Going over the manual will do a great service to them and be a great exercise in responsibility, accountability, and selflessness. In many ways, it is an act of love towards the community.

Throughout the school year, students will often hear me communicate the term, “I.A.M.” which stands for Intention, Attention, Mindset. Each day and for each moment, we have an opportunity to set an Intention for the moment, what we want to pay Attention to, and what Mindset we will bring. We are our Intentions, we are what we pay Attention to, and we are our Mindsets. I feel this greatly applies to setting the tone for the school year with the handbook. Inshallah, we will be Intentional to review policies to help our community. We will look to pay Attention to why this is important. We will have the Mindset of love and community. We are our community, but it takes each individual effort to grow and improve it for our children. Students will have lessons on having a proactive Intention, Attention, and Mindset in our community each day and moment. In shā‘ Allāh they will learn to say, “I.A.M. Al Fatih”. Let’s start them off right, In shā‘ Allāh.

Salaam and Go Dragonflies!

Mr. Mayo

Dean of Student Services

Welcome Back from Head of School

al-Salāmu ʿAlaykum AFA Families,

I pray you had a blessed summer and that Allah fills your homes with health and īmān as we begin a new school year. We’re excited to welcome you to our Back-to-School Kick-Off on August 17 (11 am - 1 pm; New Parent Orientation at 10:15 am) and to open our classrooms for the first day of school on August 20, in sha Allah.

We are excited to share that our school-wide theme for the 2025-2026 year is “Awaken Hearts, Race to Good.” Allah says in Sūrat Āl-‘Imrān: “[There are those who] believe in Allah and the Last Day, encourage (doing) right and forbid (doing) wrong, and race with one another to all that is good. They are among the righteous” [3:114]. From this verse, we understand that we must commit to awakening our hearts (and the hearts of others) through firm belief in Allah and living a life in accordance with His divine guidance. We also learn that we must allow our awakened hearts not only to inspire good, but also to work towards goodness together. We hope that our entire AFA community will practice remembering Allah, setting sincere intentions, and reflecting upon our inward and outward states. We hope to provide opportunities for all AFA stakeholders to race towards acts of good, whether it be smiling at someone in the cafeteria, leading a service project for our neighbors, or using our learning to benefit others.

The school building is full of positive energy as our teachers spend this week preparing their classrooms to welcome students. I am sure many of you are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to meet and learn more about your teachers. Be on the lookout, as teacher welcome letters will reach your inboxes shortly.

As we work to continuously improve the experience of students and families at AFA, I am excited to introduce two new positions for this year:

Mr. Marcus Mayo has joined us as Dean of Student Services and Counselor. As a licensed school counselor, Mr. Mayo will help learners develop positive mindsets and emotional regulation, and partner with families and teachers to support the whole child. He will also provide weekly guidance lessons and organize monthly Wellness Wednesdays for parents (schedule to be announced soon, in sha Allah).
Ms. Nawal Eid has joined us as a K-8 Learning Specialist. In our efforts to expand our specialized education services, Ms. Nawal joins us with 14+ years of experience as a learning specialist. She holds a Master of Science degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders and a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). She will be working directly with students who require more specialized academic interventions. She will also help train teachers on strategies that support learning across the school.

Mr. Mayo and Ms. Nawal will be at our Back-to-School Kick-Off and will formally introduce themselves to families in separate communications.

Finally, I’m hope you noticed our new dragonfly logo. Just as many great schools have an official logo (we have our iconic AFA medallion) and alternates for various needs, we hope our dragonfly logo inspires every one of us to SOAR (inspired by our six core values):

Show Excellent Character
Own Our Actions
Act with Integrity
Respect Ourselves & Others

This year, we look forward to embracing our dragonfly mascot, launching an alternative line of school spirit wear, and organizing various sports and extracurricular activities. If any parents are willing to help us with such activities, please reach out to me and Ms. Aminata, our Programs Manager (info@alfatih.org).

On behalf of the entire administrative team, I extend my dua for a blessed 2025-2026 academic year. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Regards,

Ustadh Ismail
Head of School
Al Fatih Academy

End of Year Message From Head of School

al-Salamu ‘Alaykum AFA Families,

In sha Allah, this message finds you in the best of health and iman, having spent cherished moments with your family during the Eid al-Adha holiday. By Allah’s will, the end of our school year has coincided with the last month of the Hijri calendar. It behooves us to utilize this time to reflect on the year that has passed and to make intentions and initial steps towards improvement in the upcoming year. I hope to share a few of my thoughts with you below.

Firstly, I extend my heartfelt thanks to each of you. Choosing where your children are nurtured is one of the most intentional decisions a family makes, and I am honored that you entrusted AFA with that sacred responsibility. Special thanks to our new AFA families for bringing fresh perspectives and energy that enriched our classrooms and community. For our families who have been with AFA for a while, I thank you for continuing to be anchors of support.

Secondly, I would like to highlight some of the inspiring milestones your children reached this year. In every classroom, students tackled integrated thematic units built on rigorous skills and content standards, infused with Islamic beliefs and character. Some of my favorite units include 8th Grade's study of elements of storytelling in Surat Yusuf, 1st Grade’s Producer Fair, Kindergarten’s Healthy Food and Five Senses, 5th Grade’s Freshwater Science Lab, and 4th Grade’s Stamp Act Simulation. Along with opening young minds to great wonders, these daily inquiries cultivate the very competencies measured by national benchmarks. During the May MAP session, students in grades 1-8 scored in the 78th percentile for Math and 71st percentile for Reading, while grades 2-8 reached the 79th percentile in Language Usage. Beyond academics, students served the umma in various ways, including packaging roughly 1,000 sandwiches for the Embry-Rucker Community Shelter and over 10,000 dehydrated meals for Islamic Relief. To cap off the year, our successful Preliminary Visit in April from the Virginia Association of Independent Schools confirmed that Al Fatih meets key standards of excellence and is poised for full accreditation this fall, Alhamdulillah.

Thirdly, I recognize that this year brought its share of challenges. These included staffing classrooms, navigating weather-related closures, and helping families as they face uncertain economic times. Your resilience and collaboration helped turn these challenges into opportunities to build community. Additionally, your feedback was vital in helping us identify areas for improvement. Your candid responses to our May Admin/Teacher Survey are already guiding our plan to improve the experience for students and all stakeholders. I appreciate how seriously everyone took the “Pie Ustadh” incentive. Alhamdulillah, over 50% of families responded to the survey during what is possibly the busiest time of the school year. Enjoy a video of me being pied and some pictures that highlight our impromptu lesson on mathematical pi (hey, integration is the order of the day at AFA).

Lastly, this was my first year serving you as Head of School. I’m deeply grateful for the encouragement and backing you have offered me in my inaugural year in this role. Changes to organizational leadership can be both exciting and challenging. I have learned a great deal about the curiosity of our students, the dedication of our teachers and staff, the stewardship of our board of directors, and the deep well of support that exists within our parent body and the larger community. Looking ahead, I will work with our administrative staff to pursue the following priorities for the next school year:

Proactive Communication & Transparency: I will provide more frequent updates, specifically regarding the strategic work of the Head of School. Additionally, our administrative team will work to pre-emptively provide more information regarding our decision-making process for various scenarios that typically arise during the school year. We are also exploring how we can offer additional formal and informal feedback channels to ensure we hear if the changes we are making are having the intended impact.
Further Support for Students: We are actively working to hire additional administrative and counseling staff to holistically serve students' academic, physical, social-emotional, and spiritual needs. We hope that an expanded team will help provide every child with more personalized attention and give teachers additional support to cultivate a thriving learning environment.
Clear Roles & Processes: As we refine our internal processes and expand our team, we will communicate an updated organizational structure that clarifies administrative responsibilities. We hope that this will streamline communication and ensure your questions reach the right person quickly, allowing us to serve you and your children more effectively.

With the inspiring imagery of Sayyiduna Ibrahim fresh still vivid in our hearts after Eid al-Adha, I am reminded that Allah brought forth from a barren valley (Q14:37) physical sustenance (i.e., the well of Zamzam) and spiritual sustenance (i.e., the prophethood of Sayyiduna Muhammad ﷺ). Just as Zamzam arose where none expected water, and just as timeless guidance blossomed in what seemed a lonely desert, I trust that He will continue to grant Al Fatih Academy the tangible resources and spiritual nourishment needed to thrive. May our shared efforts become channels through which Allah brings forth new wells of knowledge, character, and community, sustaining us for years to come.

Have a safe and blessed summer.

Regards,

Ustadh Ismail
Head of School
Al Fatih Academy

AFA Fall Fundraiser 2024

Traffic Detour for Drop-off & Dismissal Extended

September 3, 2024 - Traffic Detour for Drop-off & Dismissal Extended

As salamu alaykum Parents and Guardians,

We have monitored the traffic during this week of utilizing the detoured route for drop-off and dismissal and have seen no direct impact on the time it takes to complete the processes. Therefore, we have decided to continue to route families through this direct route, rather than the previous route around the neighboring businesses. This will start today Tuesday, September 3, 2024.

We can expect there to be times when other businesses along this new route are backing up or loading patients into vehicles. We continue to ask that all families be cordial and patient. Remember to adhere to the rules of the business park and do not pass, honk, or speed in the parking lot.

Please email info@alfatih.org with any questions or concerns.

Welcome our Head of School Dr. Ismail ibn Ali

We are happy to announce that Dr. Ismail ibn Ali is rejoining the AFA team as Head of School!

Ustadh Ismail (as we know him!) previously served as the Middle School Principal and later Principal of AFA from 2018 to 2021. After spending a few years in Florida to be closer to his family while also obtaining his Doctorate in Education, Br. Ismail returns back in a new capacity as Head of School.

Stop by to meet and learn more about our Head of School!

Dismissal Updates

Morning drop-off:

8:15 - 8:30 am all students and all dash numbers (including Preschool and PreK ) are to be dropped off at the front of the school. Preschool and PreK families should not park and walk their child(ren) into the building.

Afternoon Pick-up:

3:30-3:45 pm (all students including Preschool and PreK)
● Front Dash Card Families #712 and higher and HOV/Carpool will pick- up students in front of the school
● Back Dash Card Families #711 and lower will pick - up students at the back playground gate.
Half Day: Preschool and PreK students who are enrolled in the half-day program " are picked up at 12:30 pm each day from the front of the school.
Friday Pickup: Half-day Preschool and PreK students continue to be picked up at 12:30pm. Preschool and PreK full-time students and all students in grades KG-8th are dismissed at 1:30 on Fridays.

Late Fees:
Applicable for the following late pick-up conditions:
● Half-day students picked up after 12:30pm; Monday to Friday
● Students picked up after 3:45pm (Monday to Thursday)
● Students picked up after 1:45pm on Fridays
● Afterschool Club students picked up after 5pm (Monday-Thursday) and 3pm (Fridays)

Applicable Fees:
The first 1-5 minutes incur a flat $5 fee
Every minute after 6 minutes late and onwards incurs an additional $1 per minute

Example:
If a student is picked up at 3:48pm, a $5 fee will apply
If a student is picked up at 3:54pm, a $9 fee will apply

Summer Schedule

Al Fatih Academy Administration will be closed from June 26, 2023 until August 1, 2023.

Medical Forms for the 2023-2024 Academic Year

In preparation for next year, please be sure to have your child's physician complete the appropriate medical paperwork over the summer. Forms can be found here.

Paperwork is due on or before August 1st. Medication will be collected from August 1 - August 14.

NOTE: Children with incomplete paperwork or missing medication on August 22nd, will not be permitted to start school.

Records Requests

To request your child(ren)’s transcript, please complete a records release form and send it to sulaima.kochaji@alfatih.org on or before June 9th.

Requests received before June 9th will be completed before the Administrative Offices close for the summer.

Requests received after June 9th will be processed when Administrative Offices reopen in August.

Student Google Accounts

Per Al Fatih Academy's Technology Policy, student Google accounts will be deactivated for the summer on June 14th. Students will not have access to their Google Drives or Gmail accounts until their accounts are reactivated.

Students returning to Al Fatih Academy in the Fall will have their accounts reactivated after they have reviewed the Acceptable Use Policy with their teachers.