A Time and Season for Everything...
The Bible assures us that “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens,” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) and this was certainly the case for the Year 13 Loreto students who attended their last ever Step Retreat Day recently.
The theme of the day was “Moving On,” and the intention was to provide students with the time and space to both take a breather from the stresses of being in Year 13, but also to reflect backwards and forwards – backwards, reviewing their time at Loreto and forwards to what the future may hold as the move on from secondary school.
The day began with playing games together – “Chicken, Plane, Rocket, Archer,” (is new variation of the Step classic “Head, Shoulders, Knees, Shoe, “) followed by “Rock Paper Scissors” and finally “The Plate Game,” where students hold a paper plate above their heads, whilst attempting to knock other people’s plates from their hands. Games like these are super fun, and set the tone for the day, allow students to relax and connect easily, and it was great to see them laughing and enjoying all of these games.
Students then carouselled around three workshops, all with a slightly different focus. One was on how to listen well with Andy and Vaughan, which helped students realise that to actively listen they must make an effort! Charlotte led a pottery session, which is always popular on retreat days. It allows students to just chill and get creative, and consequently what usually happens is that conversations start to flow easily and naturally.
And finally, we ran our Moving on Workshop, which was an interactive space, filled with seven different stations to visit. Each station had a different focus, one was to imagine planning a meal for six people, another writing a card to your future self, and another a fantastic game involving discussing moral dilemmas students might face once school is finished. Two stations in particular allowed students to process some of the more challenging times at school, one focusing on forgiving and the other on letting go. It was at these two stations that several of the Step team had some powerful conversations and the privilege of praying with the young people.
The day ended with Step sharing a couple of tools we teach on the Leadership Foundations course: our buckets activity that lets students track all their daily, weekly, monthly and annual activities so they can decide what fills them up and what drains them, and the other called a life scan which allows students to see how satisfied they are with various aspects of their life, and if not, to think about what they can do about it.
Overall, it was clear students (and staff) had a great time. And even more importantly, as we shared as a team once the day was over, it was also evident that The Holy Spirit had very much been with us, allowing prayer to flow and for students to talk freely. Thank you to everyone who helped out in any and every way! You are all legends!
Amy
The theme of the day was “Moving On,” and the intention was to provide students with the time and space to both take a breather from the stresses of being in Year 13, but also to reflect backwards and forwards – backwards, reviewing their time at Loreto and forwards to what the future may hold as the move on from secondary school.
The day began with playing games together – “Chicken, Plane, Rocket, Archer,” (is new variation of the Step classic “Head, Shoulders, Knees, Shoe, “) followed by “Rock Paper Scissors” and finally “The Plate Game,” where students hold a paper plate above their heads, whilst attempting to knock other people’s plates from their hands. Games like these are super fun, and set the tone for the day, allow students to relax and connect easily, and it was great to see them laughing and enjoying all of these games.
Students then carouselled around three workshops, all with a slightly different focus. One was on how to listen well with Andy and Vaughan, which helped students realise that to actively listen they must make an effort! Charlotte led a pottery session, which is always popular on retreat days. It allows students to just chill and get creative, and consequently what usually happens is that conversations start to flow easily and naturally.
And finally, we ran our Moving on Workshop, which was an interactive space, filled with seven different stations to visit. Each station had a different focus, one was to imagine planning a meal for six people, another writing a card to your future self, and another a fantastic game involving discussing moral dilemmas students might face once school is finished. Two stations in particular allowed students to process some of the more challenging times at school, one focusing on forgiving and the other on letting go. It was at these two stations that several of the Step team had some powerful conversations and the privilege of praying with the young people.
The day ended with Step sharing a couple of tools we teach on the Leadership Foundations course: our buckets activity that lets students track all their daily, weekly, monthly and annual activities so they can decide what fills them up and what drains them, and the other called a life scan which allows students to see how satisfied they are with various aspects of their life, and if not, to think about what they can do about it.
Overall, it was clear students (and staff) had a great time. And even more importantly, as we shared as a team once the day was over, it was also evident that The Holy Spirit had very much been with us, allowing prayer to flow and for students to talk freely. Thank you to everyone who helped out in any and every way! You are all legends!
Amy
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