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Year 12 Retreat – Looking Back to Look Forward

For our Year 12 students, their Retreat is more than just time away from the classroom, it is a meaningful pause in a busy year. Held this year across three beautiful locations – Bindoon, Bullsbrook and Serpentine, the Retreat offered our girls the opportunity to reflect on their journey so far and their hopes for the future.

Making Space for Stillness

In a world that constantly pushes us forward, the Retreat asks our students to slow down and reflect on where they have come from and where they are going. It is a time to look inward and consider not just who they want to be, but who they already are.

Our Retreat program is built on the idea that growth happens when we acknowledge md reflect on the highs and the lows, the successes and the missteps, realising that goal is not perfection but wholeness.

A Spiritual Journey, Grounded in Real Life

Our Year 12 Retreat program invites students to connect with something deeper. It is rooted in a classical Hebrew understanding of holiness – not about flawlessness, but about walking with God as we are, not as we think we should be.

Throughout the Retreat, students were reminded that we cannot fall out of God’s presence, even when life feels uncertain or hard. It is a powerful and comforting message, especially as our Year 12 girls look towards an unknown but exciting future.

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More Than a Time Out

Through the Retreat experience, our girls:

  • Reflected on their life experiences, both joyful and difficult
  • Built resilience and emotional insight
  • Developed a sense of inner strength and peace
  • Understood that faith is not separate from life, but part of it
Year 12 student, Gemma shared, “The retreat was an amazing experience that allowed for a deeper insight and understanding into the lives of our teachers and the students that I have spent the past six years of high school with.” She said, “The activities were fun and engaging, and we walked through a series of prayers and reflections to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. I am very grateful that we got to go on this retreat, which was an amazing break before the stress of exams.”

Looking Back, Stepping Forward

For our girls, their Retreat was a significant rite of passage. It came at a time when their future was becoming very real: university, travel, work and new friendships. Before they leapt forward, the Retreat gave them permission to look back.

They were given the space to honour what has shaped them and acknowledge joy, grief, beauty and challenge as a part of their story.

The Year 12 Retreat reminds us that through the journey of life, God always walks with us.

  • Bindoon, Bullsbrook, CatholicEducation, FaithinAction, Featured, SantaMariaCollege, Serpentine, StudentLife, studentwellbeing, Year12Retreat, Year12Students

Author: Santa Maria College
Santa Maria College is a vibrant girls school with a growing local presence and reputation.  Our Mission is to educate young Mercy women who act with courage and compassion to enrich our world.  Santa Maria College is located in Attadale in Western Australia, 16 km from the Perth CBD.  We offer a Catholic education for girls in Years 5 – 12 and have 1300 students, including 152 boarders.

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