main village The Creator Lab opened at the “In de Breedte” community school on Wednesday. In the lab, children are challenged to learn through inquiry and design in science and technology. It is the first space within Dussenstraat’s new Community Learning Centre.

The community school “In de Breedte” is a collaboration between Klavertje vier Primary School, De Brandaris van Meer Primary School and the childcare site Mirakels of Stichting Kinderopvang Haarlemmermeer (SKH). A community education center has now opened here. This is a learning and living community where children can discover, cook, read, count, learn, exercise, dance and make music. They are given space for creative ideas and here they experience learning together, working together and living together.

The Community Learning Center consists of several spaces that are not yet developed. The Creator Lab is open today. This lab focuses on science and technology. Gertin Hazelar is the Community School Principal. “Students are stimulated on higher-order thinking skills. They work on different experiences. This can be something as simple as making and spinning a top. Working in a problem-solving manner, children are challenged by such a task to learn curiously and by design. They do this By thinking, doing and participating. They can go in any direction to reach a solution. They will need these skills in the future.”

In the future, the Community School plans to add new spaces to the Community Learning Center. This includes the Vitality Lab, where physical and mental health and exercise treatments are performed, and an educational lab, where children learn about learning styles and how they can learn best.

The Community Learning Center was ceremonially opened. Marjoline Stevens (Member of Education in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer), Magritte Wendel (Director of Meyer Primary) and Annemarie Dess (Director of Sheikh Khalifa Hospital). Then they visited the Creator Lab where the students enthusiastically presented their work.

The community school “In de Breedte” in Dussenstraat is a collaboration between Klavertje Vier and De Brandaris van Meer Primary Schools and the Mirakels childcare site of Sheikh Khalifa Hospital. In 2016, the three parties began to work more closely together under the umbrella of the community school “In de Breedte”. Education and childcare are increasingly becoming one and the same. For example, preschool groups have started, which makes the transition from childcare to education seamless. After school activities are designed together. The Community Learning Center is the next step in the integration of participating partners.