May 2024 Family Newsletter

Greetings Urban Hub Families! 

And just like that, we are nearly halfway through cycle three, which means Explorers and Creators are working on their 180s, Changemakers are moving their projects forward, and all the learners are getting ready for the Showcase and the Show Show coming up on May 30.

In this newsletter we highlight an exciting book launch, Cycle 3 Intensives list, the 2024-2025 Urban Hub calendar, program and studio updates, and key upcoming dates.

Important Dates for May & June

• May 17 & 20: Urban Hub Closed

• May 30: Showcase & Show Show, 16:00-19:00

• June 3-13: Intensives Cycle 3

• June 7: Urban Hub PROM, 18:00 - 21:00

• June 10-14: Colonias

• June 18-20: 360s

• June 20: Graduation @ 19:00

• June 21: LAST DAY!

Parenting Workshops

• Raising Leaders: Cultivating Resilience and Leadership in Children and Adolescents. Join our well-being learning guide, Suzanne, for this exciting parenting workshop at 17:30 on May 15, 2024.
  
  You can join in person at the Urban Hub or online here.
  
  Meeting ID: 847 0925 5970
  Passcode: 856933
  
  

• Nurturing Emotional Regulation Skills in Children: Suzanne led this parenting workshop at our Eco Hub on April 25. You can catch the video of Suzanne right here. The quality is not the best, but the content is exceptional! 

Book Launch: The Future Will Not Be Taught 

2024/2025 Academic Calendar

The calendar is live, and though there will be small additions, the key holiday dates are set in stone. Please know there are hundreds of little decisions that go into finalizing the calendar, including the alignment of the local Ministry of Education, local international schools, and synching our Eco & Urban Hubs. Dates that may impact your travel are as follows:

• September 2: Start for NEW Urban Hub Learners

• September 4: Start for ALL returning learners

• December 19 - January 7: Winter Break

• March 3-7: Semana Blanca

• April 14-21: Semana Santa

• June 20: Last Day 

You can find the full calendar on the calendar page of the family website.

Intensives

We are happy to share the descriptions of Cycle 3 Intensives. Feel free to go over these at home together, but keep in mind there may be some final tweaks in the coming weeks. The idea is that you are aware of the options before your learners are asked to make a decision. 

Find the document here. 

Programme & Studio Updates

Explorers

During this week, your learners have been working on their 180s. 180s are a reflecting point in the middle of the cycle, allowing learners to have a sense of how they are doing, as well as where they want to push themselves in their learning. As part of it, they will share the second part of their PLPs shortly. 

You can expect the PLP to contain their growth goals, mid-cycle reflections, and for some building blocks, links to the projects and/or photos of the evidence of their work. Please, once you receive your learner’s PLP, make sure to go over it with them and discuss it together. This is a great opportunity to have a conversation around learning at home. 

Remember the PLP is not only for your learner but it is also a tool we share with you so you can follow up on what your learner is working on and what they are looking to achieve with their outputs. It is therefore paramount that you share the form that will come attached with the PLP to let us know you’ve seen it. Last cycle, only 8 parents from the explorers community filled it out. We are aiming for the whole community of explorers parents this time. Thank you, as always, for your support.

Creators

This Friday, learners will share their partial outputs in their Personal Learning Plans (180s) and LGs will then give feedback on this in the next few weeks. You may want to sit down with your learners and see what they’ve been doing. 

GCSE exam-takers are on the last home stretch - two weeks until the first exams. They will need lots of loving (healthy) snacks, water, sleep and patience.

Changemakers 

As we move closer to the end of the cohort, Changemakers are pushing to end their Cycle 3 learning journeys on a high note! 

A quick peek into the Urban Hub would show Changemakers working on the program's Graduation Requirements, wrapping up their Clonlara requirements, leading Adelante sessions such as baking or mixed media for their fellow learners, and engaging in building blocks focusing on semiotics, art & culture, entrepreneurship, and game design, just to name a few. 

Before they're off for summer holiday, they have exciting milestones like a Colonias trip and a Graduation Ceremony to prepare and look forward to.

Until then, it's one last push on the final stretch! 

Studios 

We would love to accept your donations of plastic! We are making very exciting projects here at the Urban Hub as we wait for our Precious Plastics shredder made by Mikel from Facto Maker Space in Gracia. 

At Urban Hub, we have been experimenting with the limits of plastics as a material in terms of thread, sheets, melting it into molds and compressing it with irons into almost leather. We are setting up a collection site at the front of Urban Hub, designed in wood and built by learners.

We are asking families to donate bottle tops and any plastic bags you have at home. They are lightweight, so perfect to send your learner loaded up with them! We will share back what we make. Furthermore, if any parent is aware of a café, supermarket, or restaurant who could regularly donate let us know! Thanks, Lars and the fab lab studio learners!

Wishing all our Learnlife families a fantastic May. We look forward to seeing you all on May 30 to celebrate the culmination of this cycle of learning.

All the best,

-Joyce, Devin, Gaby & the Learning Team