Learned Youth Programme

Programme Introduction

The purpose of this programme over the two years is to give the students a firm understanding of Islam, a strong Islamic moral and spiritual outlook, and an appreciation for the Islamic sciences to serve as a foundation for further advanced learning. So it includes, Arabic language, a brief introduction to Qur’anic sciences, and hadith sciences, and some tafsir among other things, and Shaykh Shams will personally mentor the students, with periodic assistance from others who the students will benefit from.

In year one, the focus is on building an Islamic foundation for the students by studying the foundations of iman, and the pillars of Islam in detail with a special emphasis on spirituality and character development.

So the programme is multi-disciplinary, and is therefore made up of a number of smaller courses of varying length and depth. Shaykh Shams takes a blended approach: so some courses will be entirely on-demand with pre-recorded content and online assessments, some are a mixture of live and on-demand, and others are live only. This will depend upon the subject and nature of the content. See the content breakdown below.

The programme began in 2020 when shaykh Shams decided to personally teach all the teenagers in his family so that he could be confident that they have the right Islamic knowledge. To make it formal, he opened it up to the children of other like-minded parents, and the LYP was born. Two years on, and the first group of students have completed their second year. As hoped, some are continuing higher Islamic studies while others proceed to college and university life with a strong foundation in their deen, and a permanent mentor in Shaykh Shams.

In 2022-23, we are enrolling a new first year cohort. InshaAllah, shaykh Shams plans to continue personally teaching the LYP for 2022. This course page is for anyone who wants to join the first year of the Learned Youth Programme which is due to start in 2022.

LYP In Chelmsford

The LYP is a programme Shaykh Shams teaches privately as part of his online platform, Mawarid Lifestyle. Early in 2022, Shaykh Shams was appointed Imam of Chelmford Muslim Society (CMS). To facilitate for youth in Chelmsford, in 2022-23, there will be a group of students joining the LYP face-to-face at CMS's Hamptons Centre, with Shaykh Shams's online students tuning in live simultaneously via Zoom. The face-to-face-cohort will mostly be young people from Chelmsford and the Essex area. This course page is specifically for young people who want to attend face to face (on-campus) at the Hamptons. Anyone attending online and not in person in Chelmsford should apply via Sahykh Shams's Mawarid Lifestyle site here. 

Q&A and Contact With The Teacher

Students will always have access to Shaykh Shams and there will be regular Q&A and mentoring sessions irrespective of the format of an individual course. In fact, all of the teaching hours during most of the year will be live and not on-demand. Some hours study hours and homework time will be taken up by on-demand courses to ensure the students cover all of the curriculum in an efficient way or to cover gaps in basic knowledge that are not part of the curriculum.

We will use telegram chat and live sessions for this and the students will be able to keep in touch by telephone.

We may also try to organise face to face sessions for the online students but cannot promise this; nor is it possible for all students as some are from all over the UK and the world.

Who is This Course For?

1. Young boys and girls, men and women, 14-18 years of age

2. Young people with good academic performance in school: aiming towards or already achieved A (or the equivalent in the new system) in most GCSEs.

3. Good Islamic upbringing and education. They must recite Qur’an fluently, know the basics of religion, and be from an environment of 5 times prayer at home.

4. Candidates must be of good behaviour and conduct. We cannot have disruptive members in the group. You know your own children. Please do not seek admission if your child might be disruptive or uncooperative. We will simply exclude them (without refund) so please do not waste your time and money.

5. This programme is an excellent introduction for young people whose parents want to explore the option of their children studying Islam full time by seeking knowledge and pursing Islamic scholarship without sending them to full time residential institutes or abroad during their school and college years. Indeed, shaykh Shams’s own objective was that this programme might become the spark that triggers an interest in advanced Islamic studies for the youth in his family. After all, who doesn’t want their children to become ulama.

6. This programme is for young people whose parents will be engaged. This is essential. If you are not going to take an active interest in this and if we cannot have your support when we need it, then please do not apply. we will not take applications without parental involvement. 

Important Note About Workload

We are aware that most children and youth between 14 and 18 also have the pressures of GCSEs and AS/A levels upon them and appreciate that 4-6 hours of learning is a significant additional load. We advise parents to please think carefully before committing to this. We’ve already run the programme with a group and they coped well and their studies did not suffer.

We will do our best to not overburden the students and to help them in ways that will benefit their school work too, but some children may struggle with the extra load. Others will thrive on it. Please make a judgement call together. We are happy to advise, just reach out using the email address at the bottom as per the instructions. If you feel, this programme is too much work and commitment, you may find that ‘The Youth Mentoring Programme’ is the perfect alternative as it covers the needs of young people without being too content and contact heavy.

Teaching Strategies

One of the difficulties with this programme is that there is a lot of content to be covered with very limited contact time. 4-6 hours a week is not a lot. Equivalent programmes require 9 hours of contact or more per week. You can see the objectives below. However, I expect to achieve more over a limited period of time due to the following strategies.

1. We will rely on on-demand courses that have already been developed. Students will study these independently.

2. Encouraging the students to read and process what they have read independently.

3. We will support their on-demand learning and reading through regular tutorials.

4. The challenge for the students, the parents, and us, is ensuring that the students are completing the reading and on-demand courses. We will do our best to check, and we will ensure their a access to the courses continues after the programme is finished, so they can always go back and review their learning.

5. We will spend some time on learning techniques as part of the personal development aspect.

6. We will insist on and expect parental support and involvement. It would be perfect if parents participated in lessons with their children.

7. We will conduct regular sessions on personal development, spirituality, and motivation.

8. We will conduct developmental and interventional one to one sessions when needed.

The above lessons and topics may go through amendments before the course starts and throughout the course of the programme. 

Dates and Schedule

Scheduled live lessons and tutorials will take place twice a week, each session between 2-3 hours long. This will be broken up with different activities and breaks. The programme will now commence from from week beginning 31st Oct, every Thursday, 5.15pm-7.45pm, and every Sunday 9.45am – 1.15pm. The first lesson will therefore be on Thursday 3rd November. 

Holidays

Holidays will be scheduled around school breaks with some adjustments made for Islamic holidays. Students should expect to study through Ramadhan with some reduction. We will also make some reductions when students are busy with school and college exams. We will fix the dates closer to the start and publish them on this course page. 

Admissions Procedure

1. Complete and submit the online application form below asap.

2. Please apply early so you/your child can start from the first day. Places will fill up fast and we will process applications, and make decisions quickly. If get a rush of applications, you will miss out. We will close applications on 3rd November. 

3. Please complete the application at the button below. Based on the information provided, some applicants may be interviewed via Zoom. Interviews must involve the student and one parent/guardian at least unless the student is already 18.

4. We will not process incomplete forms. Please follow instructions and double check everything before submitting forms.

5. If you are offered a place, it will only be confirmed upon payment of the first instalment. Fees must be settled upon confirmation of place by the deadline given. Places will not be confirmed without payment and if one’s payment deadlines are missed, the place will be given to someone else.

6. Nearer to the start date, you will receive term dates, schedule, etc. 

7. First session will be on Thursday 3rd November.