Step Days
What a whole day with Step looks like
A Step Day is a whole day with any year group either in school or off-site in one of the local churches, often at Vineyard Church where our offices are based. Wherever they are based, a Step Day includes several workshops around a particular theme. Examples of themes we have already delivered include Jesus, Justice, Forgiveness, Stress/Sabbath, Identity, Relationships, Worth and Moving On. We will work with the school to arrange the content and logistics to make it a day to remember for staff and students.
Below is a tiny flavour of some of the workshops you might see on a Step Day, including our reflective spaces
Below is a tiny flavour of some of the workshops you might see on a Step Day, including our reflective spaces
"Thank you to Step for creating a day that was enjoyable and thought provoking. A day with friends that allowed us to reflect on themes that are important to our lives. A day that will live long in the memory"
Our Reflective spaces
Each of our reflective spaces has a series of reflections around a theme. Except for the Stress Busting Wonderland, the students listen to mp3 tracks through our app or on iPods while engaging in various activities.
iMatter Mat
The iMatter Mat is an interactive, reflective resource designed to challenge, question and inspire up to 40 young people through 20 different reflections about self worth.
Each reflection is designed to counter the common view that our worth is measured by our achievements and what others think of us.
This resource consists of 5 unique mats, each based on one of our ‘iMatter’ statements (‘I am Created’, ‘I am Loved’, ‘I am Responsible’, ‘I am Connected’ and ‘I am Eternal’). Each activity helps the students to explore how the Christian faith might define our value in a different way.
Some examples of topics covered are body image, stress, environment, bullying, grief and many others.
Space Mat
Our original Space Mat was created by some amazing interns several years ago and uses four massive coloured triangular mats. Each triangular mat has a theme with three separate reflective activities relating to that topic. The participants listen to instructions on iPods, allowing them to fully focus on the activity. The Space Mats needs an approximate 7m x 7m space to fit all 4 mats but each mat can be used individually without the others.
The Space Mat has 12 unique activities for up to 36 participants at any one time.
The four topics are 'God', 'Identity', 'Global' and 'Community'.
Justice Mat
Using the same 4 colourful mats from the Space Mat, our Justice Mat's four topics are 'Social Justice' (including homelessness and the refugee crisis), 'Crime and Punishment', 'Environmental Justice' and 'God's Justice'.
Stress Busting Wonderland
This is a space designed for students to explore and try out different activities which may help them relax in times of stress. The space is broken down in to a number of different areas focusing on different types of activities including play, reflection, sport and problem solving.
Sixth Form Reflective Spaces
Below are details of two more reflective spaces, specifically designed for sixth forms
Open
Using simple object-based activities and guided by mp3 tracks Open raises a topic and introduces a faith-based perspective. The activities are brief opportunities for pupils to think through eight themes, considering their own thoughts and beliefs on the topics with a chance to share those with the rest of the group at the end.
Rage, Despair, Hope (Story of Job)
The story of Job in the Bible poses many challenges but it also includes Job's incredible revelations about God. Rage, Despair, Hope is a selection of 22 images portraying the story of Job. The students journey through the images while listening to the story and are encouraged to reflect on the deep meanings in this story.
Our other favourite Workshops
There are loads of other workshops available to use on Step Days, but here are a few of our favourites to give you a flavour of what you could expect
Pottery
The team from The Pop Up Pottery in Harpenden will guide the young people to create their own masterpieces based on the theme of the day.
Course Taster Sessions
These sessions are a great way to advertise and launch a course to be run after the Step Day has finished. We currently have taster sessions for the Alpha Course, Leadership Foundations and Haven.
Life Auction
This interactive workshop helps young people to consider what they truly value through a life auction. They get to bid on items such as 'finding the love of their life' to 'unlimited Netflix for life'.
Team Building Games
Many of our Step Days will start with games or have them as one of the workshops young people rotate around. All our games will offer either a physical or mental challenge and require great team work.
Refugee Experience
This session aims to develop students’ understanding of the world's various refugee crises and their empathy with people who are forced to leave their homes. In groups, students must make a series of real-life choices as they navigate their way from a war-torn homeland to safety.
Fairtrade
An interactive game in which students compete against each other to produce trainers in the equivalent of the world market. They then reflect on the fairness of the game and the ethical implications.
Me, Myself and I
In this interactive session, full of great media content, young people consider how they view and speak to themselves. They are challenged to listen carefully to their “inner critic” and spot different “thinking traps” that they might be prone to – things like catastrophizing, black and white thinking and filtering. Students learn the value of spotting these traps and how to replace them with more rational, positive thoughts.