Year 7 -10 Junior Retreats 2017

The retreats are part of the St Thomas Catholic tradition and are a huge part of the special character ethos that the school upholds. The retreats are run by the Catholic Youth Mission Team at the Brother Dowling Centre and have a key focus on giving our students the opportunity to connect with the gospel values, spiritual life and share their thoughts and experiences making them a connected class. This is done through ice breaker games and reflection activities.

Our Year 7 students focused there retreats the value of Conscience and the importance of Identity and Belonging. From both our classes having a retreat day with the Mission team the boys were able to develop a deep sense of understanding and community within themselves. Our year 8 boys had a key message of Engagement in being Compassionate with people. With this the activities had a big focus on participation and involvement and using the message of justice and peace in our community. A key learning from the year 8 retreat this year was relating to others in a compassionate way.

Year 9 and 10 had retreats with a focus on the values of being Ethical and Hopeful and the Catholic Mission team ran some great retreats that encompassed Liberating education and Justice and Solidarity. From participating in the team building games, discussions and reflections our year 9 and 10 gained experience on how to be a good friend, relevant and empathetic but also looked at the key traits of becoming a man.

SENIOR RETREATS 2017
The Senior Retreats were a great opportunity for the seniors to reflect and take a break from school for a day. These retreats are held by the Catholic Youth Team here in Christchurch. Speaking from experiencing the Year 13 retreat, the boys really enjoyed the day off and were actively participating in the activities CYT had organized for us. At the end of the day, the Year 13s had a time of quiet prayer. At this time, a past pupil of the College had recently passed away and the boys were really able to think and reflect, some being overcome with emotion. The brotherhood the boys had for each other was amazing to see and personally, made me proud to be a part of St Thomas'. Overall, the Senior retreat was a success and we would like to thank the Catholic Youth Team for giving up their time to organize these events.

A huge thanks must go to the Catholic Mission Team and Bernie Lee for organising and co-ordinating the retreats for our young men.

Chris Leader