This week in our school community: 17 January 2025

...we used the well-known story of the prophet, Jonah, to focus on listening to God guiding our path, ...

  

Year 9 Retreat Days at the Memorial Ground, Bristol

Identity, options & the future

This week we were delighted to be able to take Year 9 for a day retreat, just before their final decision on options, to help them focus on the importance of this junction in their lives.  Basing ourselves at the home of Bristol Rovers FC, we used the well-known story of the prophet, Jonah, to focus on listening to God guiding our path, looking internally and understanding our true selves, and making the correct choices for our dreams. 

Students began by exploring how unique they are through a mixture of discussion activities, games, role play task and a key skills and personality test.  An integral part of our reflection on this retreat was to focus firstly on who we are and the values that we hold dear before looking to the future. A simple birthday planning exercise allowed us to discuss and challenge how our decisions are influenced, both positively and negatively, by how much we choose to listen and converse with friends and family.  The final part of our day moved on to challenging the young people, as they grow and develop, to truly discern their dreams and hear the voice of God speaking through the many parents, staff, mentors, family and others in their lives.  Our final reflection entitled ‘Trusting the Journey’ sent them on their way, I’ve shared it below for you to ponder.

It is always much more beneficial to spend retreat days off site, allowing retreatants the space and freedom to rest, take stock, consider and be inspired amongst other things.  For our Year 9 days I chose to take us to Bristol Rovers Memorial Ground for a number of reasons.  The football club pride themselves on being labelled the ‘family club’ and harnessing a culture of care, growth and pride in bringing people of all backgrounds and ages together as a community. 

During a tour of the ground on one of the days, this truly came through when lifelong fan, Dave, spoke about the vocational journey his life had taken him on and the role the club had upon bringing joy to his life.  He told the students all about how integral remembrance, service personnel and the memorial gates were before taking them on a comprehensive wander behind the scenes of the club. 

For so many young people the dream to be a footballer and celebrity lifestyle is like a red rag to a bull, but through our time at BRFC we were able to show the Year 9s that the passion and love held for their football club can be served by people with their God given talents in so many other ways.  Whether that is through physiotherapy, catering, analytics and IT, horticulture work (for three days we watched in amazement at the care and devotion put in by the ground staff!) and so many other avenues of vocation, the snapshot of football was just one lens of life lived to the full by humanity being unique and following dreams. 

Mr Robinson

Lay Chaplain