A different way to belong to a school.
Rahhal is the KHDA framework that allows schools to enrol and educate students under arrangements that sit outside the standard model.
At Al Salam, we have spent the past five years using it to rethink what a school can be, for whom, and how.
A wider definition of school.
Rahhal was introduced by KHDA to enable schools to serve students whose lives, ambitions, or learning patterns do not fit the standard timetable. It allows formal enrolment, validated progression, and recognised qualifications under flexible arrangements approved by the regulator.
We saw Rahhal as more than a compliance pathway. We treated it as a invitation to design new models of schooling, with the same standards, for a wider range of students.
What started as a single programme has grown into a family of pathways. Each one is built around a clear answer to the same question: what does this student actually need from us, and how do we deliver it without compromise?
Three convictions that shape every pathway.
Trust accelerates growth.
When students are given autonomy with the right support, they consistently rise to meet it. Our role is to design the conditions in which they can.
The world is a second classroom.
Confidence is built through practice in real contexts. Lessons in a room are necessary. They are not sufficient.
A coach matters more than a curriculum.
A consistent mentor and coach who knows the student, holds the standard, and walks the journey with them is the single most powerful element we have found.
Different students. Different routes. Same school.
Each Rahhal pathway at Al Salam serves a distinct profile of student. All share the same commitment to academic rigour, pastoral integrity, and recognised outcomes.
Encounters
A restructured Key Stage 3 experience. Where Rahhal began at Al Salam.
Read more →Where Rahhal began at Al Salam.
Encounters is a restructured Key Stage 3 experience for students in Years 8 and 9. Selected curriculum time is replaced with protected space for personal development, research, and structured exposure to the world beyond the classroom.
Sixty students take part each year. The programme runs in parallel with the standard secondary curriculum and is designed to strengthen, not replace, the discipline students will need in Year 10 and beyond.
Much of what now defines Rahhal at Al Salam was first tested here.
A Rahhal-powered A-level pathway.
Frontiers is our flagship Rahhal programme. It is built for a new kind of post-16 student: academically capable, self-directed, and ready to spend their two A-level years building their personal profile alongside rigorous qualification.
The model combines online-first A-level instruction with a mentor driven model supporting consistent and integrated real world experiences. We build in structured termly work integrated learning sprints with our partner Project You.
Frontiers launches in September 2026. The founding cohort is intentionally small, and the programme has its own dedicated home.
Visit alsalamfrontiers.aeWhen the standard timetable does not fit.
Foundations is the pathway for students whose circumstances genuinely require something other than a five-day school week.
It serves elite athletes whose training schedules cannot be paused, learners pursuing the memorisation of the Qur’an, students travelling for extended periods, and families who have chosen to lead their child’s day-to-day learning themselves.
In every case, the student is formally registered with Al Salam under the KHDA Rahhal framework. Progression is validated. Reports are issued. Where appropriate, examinations are sat through our licensed centre. The school remains the academic anchor while the family takes on the day.
Foundations also provides a managed examination centre service for families who require access to UK board qualifications without full enrolment.
A Rahhal arrangement is only as strong as the school behind it.
Five years of practice have given us the operational muscle, the academic infrastructure, and the staff understanding to make these pathways real, not theoretical.
Rahhal students sit recognised UK examinations through our own licensed examination centre. They are taught by Al Salam teachers. They benefit from the same academic standards, safeguarding culture, and reporting rigour that govern the wider school.
Rahhal at Al Salam is not an exit from school. It is school, redrawn for the student in front of us.
Begin a conversation.
Each pathway has its own admissions process and entry profile. We would rather have an honest first conversation than a quick one. Please get in touch and we will direct your enquiry to the right person.
Enquire about Rahhal