Playgroup is designed for all children aged between 0-5 and accompanied by their mother or female carer. It’s a warm, welcoming space where mums and children come together to play, connect, and build community. Sessions run for 2 hours each week, giving little ones the chance to explore through play while mothers enjoy meaningful conversation, a coffee, and quality time with one another.

The Islamic Preschool Program is for children aged 3+ and runs for 3 hours per week. This is a drop-off, play-based program, where children attend independently, in the care of our trained educators.

The Preschool Program focuses on school readiness, confidence, independence, and Islamic character-building. Each term explores a dedicated themed curriculum, and across the year children learn about the Prophets, the 5 Pillars, simple Sunnah practices, the names and attributes of Allah, as well as dua, short surahs, and early Arabic concepts.

Children must be toilet trained to join this program.

We expect a term-by-term commitment from our families. Once you have enrolled and your placement has been confirmed, your child is registered for 1 Term. The term fees must be paid in full within the first 4 weeks of the term.

To secure the following term placement, fees are due in full the final Monday of the current term. If fees are not paid, the program placement will be offered to another family on the waitlist. Payment plans are available by application on individual arrangement.

Our fees are:

Playgroup

• $50 per family, per term

Funtastic Playgroup

• $70/child, $50 additional child, per term

Preschool

• $370 per term

• $80 annual enrolment fee

• $20 Concession discount

Foundation

• $270 per term

• $20 Concession discount

Our programs follow the Victorian school term calendar, with one exception - we take a short break during the last week of Ramadan so families can celebrate and rest.

Throughout the year, we also host a number of beautiful community moments, including:

• Special community events

• Both Eid celebrations

• Regular fundraisers

• Our end-of-year graduation ceremony for Preschool

These occasions are a cherished part of our rhythm, helping families feel connected, celebrated, and supported all year long.

Enrolments begin with filling out our online Expression of Interest (EOI) form, available on our website. This form helps us understand your child’s needs and add your family to our first-come, first-served waitlist. EOI, Enrolment Forms and Waiting List applications are free of charge.

Once a place becomes available, we contact families via text message to offer the placement.

Priority enrolment:

• Siblings of children already attending the preschool are given first priority.

• All other families are contacted in order of their EOI submission and program availability.

Completing the EOI form does not guarantee a place, but it ensures your child is on our waitlist and eligible for enrolment when spots open.

We would truly love to offer more days and longer sessions, but at this time it isn’t possible. Expanding the program would move us into a Kindergarten-level service, which comes with strict requirements from the Department of Education regarding operating hours, staffing, ratios, and the number of children we can have per session.

As an non-profit organisation, our goal has always been to remain accessible and community-focused. Increasing hours would require a completely new business model, government funding, and significantly higher fees for families.

If Allah wills, we hope to grow in the future so we can continue meeting the evolving needs of our beautiful community. For now, we are committed to offering the highest-quality preschool experience within the guidelines we must follow.

School readiness goes beyond learning letters and numbers - it’s about the whole child. At Ummah Jameelah, it includes:

• Independence and self-care skills: opening lunchboxes, managing zippers and shoes, asking for help

• Social and emotional confidence: taking turns, sharing, and communicating needs

• Curiosity and a love of learning: exploring, asking questions, and engaging in hands-on activities

• Foundational academics: early literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving skills

• Faith and character: developing Islamic habits, manners, and understanding that’ll become their guide throughout their early years and life.

Our preschool program focuses on preparing children not just for school, but for life-long learning and meaningful growth - socially, academically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Registration for Playgroup is completed through our online form, just like our preschool Expression of Interest. Once your registration is received, confirmation of your space at your chosen location will be sent via text message.

Playgroup sessions run alongside the Victorian school term calendar, giving families a consistent routine throughout the year.

You’re welcome to attend one trial session to see how the group runs before committing.

However, we don’t offer ongoing casual enrolments. Our playgroups rely on consistent attendance so that children and mothers can build real bonds, feel safe, and enjoy a strong sense of community.

Because our programs are very popular and spaces are limited, we’re only able to hold spots for families who can commit to attending regularly.

Absolutely! Our classes are designed to offer regular connection, consistent routines and exploration of topics over time.

We are planting seeds for lifelong learning and love of deen inshaAllah.

We also share ideas to extend learning at home, curated crafts to stimulate further discussion and optional worksheets to continue conversations at home during the week.

Ummah Jameelah nurtures faith, identity and meaningful friendship anchored in deen.

Islam is at the heart of every interaction, not just a lesson to be memorised.

Our programs support the foundations laid in Islamic schooling by offering opportunities to reflect, discuss, ask questions and seek to understand Islam as a presence in every facet of life rather than a topic to be "learnt".

Each child progresses in their own time. Our educators tune into our students diverse interests, talents and learning styles to develop each child’s potential.

Progress is seen in the every day moments, a new letter learnt, a dua recited or a story shared.

It can also been seen in a child's soft skills as their independence grows, drop offs get easier and friendships form.

Our staff are always happy to speak with you directly about your child's progress and will excitedly share their observations from each session.

Parents are a child's first teachers. By choosing our program it is evident that your family is already laying those Islamic foundations at home.

Each week we provide families with our lesson topic and arabic letter of the week. After each class we summarise our day, what we learnt and often provide online links on these topics.

Our craft activities are designed to reflect the weekly topic and provide you and your child a foundation from which to explore further learning.

All lesson topics and arabic alphabet activities are posted to the parent What'sApp group so you can follow along from home.

As our topic is covered across the full term, we do revise and build on the previous content each week allowing children to catch up if needed.

We understand that sometimes life gets busy and occasional absences are unavoidable.

Because our programs are carefully planned and run in small group settings, we’re unable to offer make-up classes for missed sessions.

Please send your child with a backpack containing healthy lunch and a water bottle. We also ask you to include a full change of clothing in case of spills or accidents.

Please ensure all items are labelled with your child's name.

We supply all required learning materials.

As a non-profit Islamic preschool, we don’t offer trial sessions as we need to keep our classes full and consistent.

Our team works closely with families to make each child’s transition as smooth as possible. Settling in usually takes 3–4 sessions, and we’ll always keep you informed if your child is finding it difficult to adjust.

If needed, we can review your child’s progress together to ensure they feel happy and comfortable, inshaAllah.

If you have any specific concerns, please speak with us prior to enrolling — we’re always happy to discuss your child’s needs.

Our programs are designed to engage a variety of learning styles—whether a child learns best by listening, observing, discussing, creating, or doing. We use a thoughtful mix of storytelling, hands-on activities, movement, reflection, discussion, and creative expression to make learning meaningful and accessible.

For our younger learners especially, play-based learning is a key part of our approach. Through purposeful play, using play as the learning tool (not the outcome), children explore ideas, build social skills, develop confidence, and connect with Islamic concepts in a way that feels natural, joyful, and memorable.

At Ummah Jameelah, we carefully tailor our teaching to each child’s age, stage, and level of understanding.

We believe in the wisdom of the Prophetic guidance to “play with them for seven years,” recognising that young children learn best through joyful, meaningful experiences.

For our younger learners, Islamic concepts are introduced through stories, play, songs, hands-on activities, and everyday examples they can easily relate to. This play-based approach helps children build positive associations with faith while nurturing curiosity, confidence, and connection.

As children grow, we gradually deepen their understanding through discussion, reflection, and more thoughtful exploration of Islamic teachings. In this way, learning evolves naturally alongside their development.

Our goal is not simply to teach information, but to nurture understanding, love, and a lasting relationship with Islam - one that grows with them over time.

Our program features a different Islamic theme each term:

Allah the Creator

The Five Pillars of Islam

Stories of the Prophets

Simple Sunnahs

Each week we explore a different topic within this theme through books, discussions, themed play and craft.

Our arabic program centres on letter recognition and pronunciation using engaging activities and games. We feature a letter of the week, exploring it's sounds, how it looks and identifying words using each letter.

As students knowledge grows, we also offer one on one iqra with our Arabic educator.

Our Quran program presents a different surah each term. We work towards recitation and also understanding the meanings of each verse. We are also always happy to revise additional surahs the children are learning at home.

This is the stage that many programs or families miss as children are grown out of islamic preschool but not yet ready for more formal halaqahs or madrassas.

It is also the age when children begin to develop their Muslim identity and form their own world-view. It is vital at this age that our children are forming faith based identities where they are proud to be Muslim, and begin to foster friendships and communities with like-minded peers.

When children experience Islam as something loving, meaningful, and relevant, they are far more likely to carry that connection with them as they grow.

Between the ages of 5 and 10, children are developing their moral compass, emotional awareness, and social understanding. They are beginning to ask deeper questions, notice differences, and form beliefs about who they are. This makes it an ideal time to nurture a strong Muslim identity; one rooted in love for Allah, confidence in their values, and pride in who they are.

Yes. Toilet training not a prerequisite for joining the registration list.

Children must however be confident in all aspects of toileting prior to beginning sessions.