Year 11 Retreat

The 2023 Year 11 students experienced two days of prayer, faith, reflection, fun and friends during the Year 11 retreat on the 9th and 10th March. The theme of the retreat was "Living Life to the Full" where students reflected upon their dreams, walking in the light of Christ and Who they were created to be. The students worked within their small groups over the two days which began with team building activities to enable them to bond as friends and discover who they are as people. This enabled the students to be open to contemplating and sharing their experiences in regards to the deeper question in life such as, being made for happiness, being created to be to be loved, and that they are God’s gift to the world.

Some of the day 1 highlights were, making our dreams fly, Miss Tan’s minute to win it games, Ice Breaker games such as Bang, and students exploring their friendship with each other and with Jesus. Day 1 culminated in a wonderful response from the students who took the opportunity to receive God’s mercy  during Reconciliation and then going to Mass. Day 2, Small groups competed to untie themselves from their teams in the Human Knot icebreaker game, which resulted in the winning team receiving tickets to Project Compassion as their prize, and Chang and Bennelong House undertook an easter egg hunt organised by Mr Kolek. The highlight for many students however, was receiving their affirmation envelopes from their fellow students after we explored the qualities of all of us made in the image and likeness of God. Many shed tears of appreciation as the students read the affirmations from their friends and were able to show their gratitude to each other before our final prayer.

Thank you to our many teachers who volunteered their time as facilitators or small group leaders, without whom the retreat would not have been such a great success. And a special thanks to our priests who made time to hear confessions and celebrate Mass.

Andrew Hoare 

Director of Faith Mission and Learning