Dear Village Hub Families,

Welcome to the first edition of our newsletter this year! We have already kicked off our Building Blocks and topics, and the learning is well underway. We hope you enjoy the read!

✨Learning Highlights
In this section, you'll find highlights from our Building Blocks and programs

Overview of learning

All Building Blocks have started their topics and projects. Here’s a brief overview of our exploratory Building Blocks. You can always check weekly updates in the Learning Highlights every Friday!

Studios and Adelantes

Every Friday, following our Learner-Led Community Meeting, learners have the opportunity to attend Adelante workshops based on their interests. These workshops run in 4-week cycles and will eventually be fully learner-led.

This month, we are offering: bracelet making, Everything Monsters, mask making, and gardening.

Learners also take part in Studio time, where they learn from an expert in a chosen field. Just like Adelante, they select their Studio based on interest.

This sprint, Studios include: cooking, carpentry, and theatre/public speaking.

👉 Ask your learner which Adelante and Studio they are signed up for!

Community Standards

At the beginning of the year, our learners and Learning Guides co-created our Community Standards, shared agreements to help maintain a happy and supportive environment. Here are our standards for this year! 

📣 Announcements
In this section you will find relevant announcements

Colònies retreat

We’re excited to announce our first "Colònies" retreat from November 5th to 7th. The retreat is optional, with an estimated cost of 245€ per learner, depending on the final number of learners.

All details can be found in this document. We kindly ask you to confirm your learner’s participation by Monday, October 6th, via this form. If we do not hear from you by then, we will assume your learner is not attending.

Celebrations / Observances

We celebrate our diverse community! If you'd like to share your cultural traditions or holidays with the community, please reach out to Alena to organize a moment for this.

Our Growing Team

As the Village Hub grows, so does our team. Here are some new faces that you will begin to see every day at the Village Hub. 

Georgi will be co-leading the primary program and coaching learning guides. He is one of our founding LGs, joining before Learnlife even had its current name. Back then, UH, EH, and VH didn’t exist, and the learning team had only three members! He is an expert trainer who has coached and supported dozens of educators and leaders at Learnlife and in schools worldwide. Previously, he worked with the Technical University of Munich and FabLab Barcelona.  

Oriol will be designing and delivering math and science workshops to secondary and helping the team build strong project based learning projects. He began his career as a telecommunications engineer before discovering his passion for education 10 years ago. First, he was a science teacher, then he developed expertise in maker practices and tinkering at San Francisco’s Exploratorium. He went on to become Director of Education at Soko Tech, a nonprofit delivering STEM programs to high-need schools and communities, and has also collaborated with CosmoCaixa. Since joining Learnlife last year, he has quickly become our link to the Catalan education ecosystem. 

Caro will be supporting the Village Hub as a Community Host and fitness instructor. She brings experience in customer success and community building. She is also an experienced yoga teacher, and a proud Learlife mum. She joined Learnlife to support the LearnGuides venture in client relationships, event planning, and the behind-the-scenes operations. 

• September 29th - October 3rd - Parent conferences (optional)

• October 2nd at 6:00pm -  Parent Learning Module Link to meeting

• October, 3rd from 9:00 - 10:00 - Parent Coffee at Kismar

• October 30th - Halloween/Castanyada celebration

• October 31st and November 3rd - Hub Holiday

👀 Snippets of Learnlife
In this section you will find key aspects of our model, so you have a better understanding and can become a Learnlife expert!

Conflict resolution

In life, conflicts are inevitable. However, what can be addressed is the way these are handled. At the Village Hub, we follow a specific process to mediate conflicts:

1. Cool off – Calm down and acknowledge emotions.

2. Share, listen, check – Each person shares their feelings.

3. Take responsibility – Acknowledge actions and how they impacted others.

4. Brainstorm solutions – Find win-win solutions.

5. Choose a solution

6. Affirm, forgive, or thank – Close the conflict with mutual respect.

Hope you have a great weekend!

– Alena & the Village Hub Team