Year 8 students reflect on reliance on others

Wednesday marked another of our Days of Reflection, as our Year 8 students reflected on the theme of ‘needing others, needing Christ.’ The students began the day with team games as a warm up exercise to subtly encourage the girls to think about working with others, while also generating a great deal of fun.

Students were then asked to jot down what they would normally have for breakfast, and their morning routines, before being posed the question 'How wide is the web that holds me?'. The intention of asking this question was to provoke the girls to explore how much they rely on other people in every aspect of their lives. Following this, the girls watched members of staff mimic the production process of making a chair, which they then had to do with a different item: the product then had to be guessed by the wider group based on their performance.

Later on students were given a cartoon style drawing of an ‘average classroom’ at break time, which included students engaged in solitary or group activities. This image sparked insightful discussions as the girls explored the idea that their individual gifts can enrich a group and their individual needs can enable other people's gifts to be developed. For example, if someone is sad and able to express that, it allows someone else's gifts of listening and comforting to be developed.

The girls then watched a talk from an individual with Asperger’s Syndrome who explained what life had been like for him as a child. He spoke about how he had learned about social interaction and had been supported by friends who had accepted him, for him. The video evoked an inspiring conversation as the girls discussed the importance of accepting individuals and their differences.

The day progressed to think about the Stations of the Cross as a way of considering Christ and the students worked in groups to look at a piece of art, reflecting on the significance and relevance of the traditional Stations of the Cross. To conclude the day, the group came together to learn some Taize chants with a liturgy in the Chapel, which drew together the themes that had been discussed throughout the day.