St Helens create lasting Lasallian bonds at Kintbury

De La Salle School, St Helens, are working hard in school at the moment to develop and strengthen our Lasallian ethos following Covid and a huge part of our student’s personal development is the retreat programme on offer in school.

March saw this year’s first year group residential retreat to St. Cassian’s, our Lasallian retreat centre in Kintbury. Our group of year 10 students were paired with a group from another school from the Lasallian network. We spent four days in St Cassian’s and during our time there, students were able to reflect, get creative, build strong connections with like-minded young people, and have fun taking part in a number of activities designed to get them thinking about their contribution to the world.

Our students left Kintbury (tearfully), having learnt how to spin plates, ride a unicycle, perfect their aim during archery and become world class fashion designers during a CAFOD “trashion-show” after considering the impact of waste and pollution in our world.

I was impressed with our students' ability to gel so well with the other group. Our core values were absolutely lived out as your children created an inclusive and open community welcoming each member of the other school into their groups, conversations, and knowing that many of them are still in contact, it’s fair to say they’ve been welcomed into each other’s lives.

By the end of the week there, our students were asking about further opportunities to get involved with the Lasallian family…and there are many things coming up! We have Lasallian Camp in Kintbury 8th-10th July, more information will follow shortly.

There are also other events ahead in the next calendar year such as FLAME (a concert in Wembley for young people from Catholic schools/groups), and we will be sure to let you know what is coming up.

We will be heading back to St Cassian’s shortly with a cohort of Year 9 students. This will be another joint retreat with a Lasallian school from the district. It is important for students to experience the larger Lasallian family, to understand that they’re part of something much bigger than our school community here in St Helens.

Our retreat opportunities are a gateway for our young people and can offer them experiences that will alter the path they take in life. We will continue to develop our retreat programme further and have some big plans.

A huge thank you to all parents and students who support the opportunities on offer – we’re always happy to receive feedback on the experiences your children have through school so we can ensure we are putting exciting and worthwhile trips out there.