On the 15th October the second form visited St Lucy's Convent in Medstead on retreat. The theme for the day was "trading trainers" reflecting on how hard the peoples' lives are who make our trainers.

The weather was not on our side but this did not stop many of the activities that were planned for the day going ahead although it did mean that we could not enjoy the wonderful gardens at the Convent.

We started off the day with a few games to waken us up, such as: getting into groups of a given amount of people without being left out, and ordering ourselves into height order without speaking.

We discussed trainers and how much we pay and what brands we wear, it is surprising that we spend so much on shoes that don't cost much money to make. Our next activity was the highlight of the day; we were split into small groups ("families") and given an envelope containing our briefing, family name, some money, and a shoe template. We had to live and work for six weeks as a South American family making trainers for a living. This proved harder than it seemed as we were up against: cost of living- people coming each week and taking sometimes more than we could afford to pay (in which case we would have to borrow money from dodgy money lenders), and of course there were the market holders who we were relying on to pay us for our goods and supply materials- this was hard due to the rising in prices. Moreover, at least one person of each family was taken away by illness or stress; this meant we had to work harder. It is really sad that people labouring to make these shoes only get about £1 to share, when we can pay more than £50 for the top brands that are often assembled in the same factories and by the same people.

After a communal lunch we were able to sit down and reflect on our day and write a prayer which we could share when we got back to school.

When we were back in school we went into the Welsford hall where we read some of our prayers and held a short candlelit mass. We were each given a candle which was lit and together they were built into the shape of a cross.

It was a really enjoyable day out of school as well as being a very thought-provoking one too. Thank you to St Lucy's Convent, the teachers and Mrs Bell who accompanied us on retreat.