St Augustine’s enjoy wonderful day with St Cassian’s team
Year 9 students at St Augustine’s Catholic College Trowbridge who enjoyed the annual retreat to St Cassian’s at the beginning of term have reflected on a wonderful experience.
On arrival at our Parish Centre, we were greeted by the wonderful Kintbury team who were all very welcoming. After everyone was inside, we all said a prayer and the Kintbury team introduced themselves and I was surprised to learn of all the different countries and cultures they came from, such as Mexico, South America and India. We got into our six pre-assigned groups and played some icebreakers to get to know our groupmates better. In my group we did splat the 21 game and some others too.
In our groups we all went to different rooms to complete some reflective activities. One of them was a ‘through the door activity’. This was directly linked to the Jubilee Year we are celebrating in The Catholic Church so we decorated an image of a sturdy door and on the other side of it, expressed our hopes for the coming year writing our goals and resolutions going forward. The Kintbury team were very helpful with ideas and planning. Some of our goals were based on books we wanted to read, tasks we wanted to get done, subjects we wanted to choose for GCSE or just personal achievements we wished to complete. The door on which we wrote this represented stepping through to a new beginning or fresh start.
(Back in college, we are now reflecting on the hopes of the world and our commitment to Catholic Social Teaching).
We also did an activity on welcoming people into our community. We were told a story about a monster who was forced to flee his home but was rejected in his place of refuge. His positive and loving character was not put off by this rejection and he still helped those who didn’t want him. This was based on the book, "Bobble: A Story of Courage, Compassion and Love".
As we neared the end of the day, my group went outside to do some games. First, we played a game which involved teamwork and we learned communication was key to success. Then we played red light green light. In my opinion this was my favourite game we did on retreat as it was active and fun. This game is normally every person for themselves but some people who had played these games before, helped others who hadn’t so they didn’t get eliminated too quickly. If you were spotted moving you had to go back to the beginning but had another chance to proceed and try to get to the end in the time limit.
A student who was on this retreat shared their experiences and opinions with us here:
“Our year 9 retreat was full of fun, we got to get to know people we might have never spoken to during school. We played some icebreakers at the start: as a whole year group we played Jockey-Up and Heads or Tails – amazing that we all got involved. We got to think more deeply about what goals we wanted to fulfil this year. I said I wanted to complete my bronze Duke of Edinburgh award, get more stuck into rugby and to keep my room tidy.
By Vanessa, Trinity and Lisha (Year 9)