Sixth Form walk of reflection

Our Sixth Form students spent yesterday off timetable in what was, for the Upper Sixth girls, their final 'Day of Reflection' at St Mary's School, Cambridge. The day provided an opportunity in a relaxed context to reflect on life beyond school. Ideas raised included conflict resolution, stability zones, discernment, and sharing and managing hopes, fears and aspirations. Time was spent considering the complexities of dealing with and recognising the gifts of those who have different personalities to our own and who, consequently, might view life, the world and relationships very differently. There was also time to revisit some favourite reflective games from the girls' Days of Reflection in previous years. The girls also enjoyed devoting a protracted period of time to real dialogue, accompaniment and listening with another individual on an 'Emmaus Walk'.

At our school, an Emmaus Walk refers to an activity in which girls pair up with someone they know vaguely - but not very well, i.e. not a 'best friend' - and walk together for an hour, talking and listening. You don't have to do 30 minutes each and swap, but talking and listening should aim to be about 50:50 over the course of the hour. It may not always be easy at first - but that doesn't matter; even if conversation is quite superficial at first, girls are encouraged to start along the lines of "well, this is a strange exercise" if it helps! The dialogue will become deeper and more meaningful as time passes. Setting aside a significant period of time to really listen to someone and to be heard can often be a really beneficial experience.