Welcome to Animate

Animate... Working with Schools

Lowe House is the home for Youth Ministry in the Diocese. With a large hall, smaller rooms, Youth Café and extensive grounds we can help to develop RE curriculum in schools. Days of Recollection, Retreat Days, Days with a Difference can help support your needs in delivering dynamic, contemporary and inspiring sessions to communicate the Gospel message. We endeavour to enhance ICONS Programme for RE by running days that will work in conjunction with the curriculum. We work on many different themes with different year group from schools across the Diocese, working with the school beforehand to prepare a day around the needs of the young people coming. We are a Team with flexibility and if it is not possible to come away we will come to you.

School Missions
Over the past couple of years the Team has been working with a number of schools, including St Mary’s-Crosby, SS Peter and Paul’s-Widnes, St Bede’s-Ormskirk and St Aelred’s- Newton le Willows on full scale school missions. This involves 8-9 months pre-mission planning, a celebration week and post- mission follow up. As the Team is local we can be on hand to help advise and support the mission of the school. To find out more details please do not hesitate to contact us.

Here are a selection of school groups that the Animate Team have been working with...

The last retreat days of this term have been with the year 7 girls at St Julie’s where we have been exploring the theme of ‘Come Follow Me’ and our journey with God through life. They have been some action packed days at the school with each form group with games, singing, video clips and artwork looking at the gifts and talents God has given us for our journey. If that sounds a lot, I haven’t even spoken about the afternoon, with a discussion about Mary’s journey when she was told she had been chosen to bring Jesus into the world, and a chance to reflect on God’s role in our lives. To finish the days we entered into a time of prayer through meditation and everyone had just about enough energy to say goodbye!

It was great to welcome the year 7’s from St Edmund Arrowsmith to the Life and Soul Café over a number of days. Each day was spent with different form groups exploring the idea of ‘Mission’ and particularly taking a deeper look into the school’s Mission Statement. The day was full of all sorts of activities that everyone thoroughly enjoyed and especially focussed around the community game in which small groups each represented a different community and attempted to show why theirs was the best through a mission statement and poster/advert. These communities ranged from the ‘singing everything community’ to the ‘eating chocolate community’ and really helped explore what being part of a community and living by joint values is really about.

What a day we had with the whole of year 12 from St Julie’s. The theme for the day was ‘God does not see as human beings see; they look at appearances but God looks at the heart’. The day explored what we value and how we perceive ourselves and the people around us. This was done through many activities including a fantastic fashion show from the newspaper and bin bag range. Also included were workshops in dance, drama, art, and a ‘values auction’ that were then shared with the rest of the year group. The day moved into a more reflective end which included a video clip and drama that focussed on the love the Father has for us and the sacrifice Jesus made for each of us.

De la Salle, St Helens – Mission Week

We were glad to be able to celebrate a second mission week with our most local school De la Salle. After our previous mission a couple of years ago we returned this year to explore the theme ‘Be Reconciled’. It was a great week and first mission of the year, the team being ‘extended’ with almost 100 pupils helping out in many different ways. The week was very challenging with video clips of the parents of Jimmy Mizen particularly striking a chord with many. This and many songs, games, dramas, activities, teachings and sharing of stories made up a week many will remember. The whole week lead up to a fantastic celebration with the wider community on Thursday evening and House masses on Thursday afternoon and all day Friday.

It was great to welcome the year 7’s from John Fisher to explore the theme of ‘New Beginnings’. It was a great chance to think over the new beginning at a new school and also to think about the new beginnings we are able to make in our lives. The day was full of fun and games, and included many activities including looking at the ‘new beginnings’ made by people in the Bible when they had a transforming experience. In our prayer towards the end of the chance we had a chance to reflect on our lives and look at what we are going to do to make a new beginning to reach our dreams for the future.

We could tell we have officially started a new year when we welcomed our most local school for our first retreat days of the year. It was great to meet the newest members of the school and explore the theme ‘Be Reconciled’ which will help in preparation for the mission week of the same theme! The day was full of fun with games, artwork, drama and prayer all playing their part. There was an interactive story about Zacchaeus that was just one example of Jesus showing love to someone, who many thought didn’t deserve it, and the group thought about how they could show love to those around them as well.

We were glad to welcome the new year 7’s from Archbishop Beck for their day retreats here at Lowe House. We explored the theme ‘Your Kingdom Come’ which is the motto of Archbishop Beck, the man whom the school is named after. It was a day full of activities thinking about what God’s Kingdom is and how we can build God’s Kingdom in our own lives. After a busy day we finished the day with prayer, part of which was a guided meditation that was enjoyed by many people, including the chaplain!

This was the last school we worked with or the year and what a way it was to bring the year to a close. It was great to spend the whole week in Ss Peter and Paul’s on mission celebrating the theme of ‘Receive the Power’. This involved many activities that helped us explore how the Holy Spirit works in and around us and how we can use that power that we receive in our lives. These activities included games, film clips, Holy Spirit cocktails, dramas, liturgical movements, songs and more. The week culminated in mass with each year group and was a fantastic end to a year working in many schools with thousands of young people. Everyone at Ss Peter and Paul’s was fantastic, a big thank you from all of us!

We were glad to see the boys from Cardinal Heenan for the second time in the year after such a great time with them on mission week in December. We explored the theme ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ and thought about how we treat our neighbours in our everyday life. This was done doing many things from games and songs to artwork and dramas. We were helped in this by looking at the relationships of some famous duos like ‘Ant and Dec’ and ‘Tom and Jerry’ and how they relate toeach other. We also took a closer look at the story of Zacchaeus and how he was shown love by Jesus words and actions. To help us in our time of prayer we looked at the tragic story of ‘Jimmy Mizen’ with a short video of his family and their reactions to those involved in his untimely death. A very moving part of the day for all.

We welcomed the Year 9’s to the Life and Soul café almost exactly a year after the mission week in school. It was great to see some familiar faces and to continue exploring and celebrating our faith together. We focussed on the theme ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ and the day involved many different activities. We explored ‘friends’, looking at what characteristics we see in ‘friends’ and also that none of us are perfect. We are called to love our neighbour but it’s not always easy as we don’t always see those ‘friend’ characteristics in everyone around us but does that mean we shouldn’t love them? How we love our neighbour was brought out in dramas, testimony, discussion and prayer throughout the day. All together, a great few days for everyone involved!

We once again welcomed our annual groups of year 7’s from St Augustine’s over the last few weeks and had some fantastic days with them. We explored the theme ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’, reflecting on the everyday encounters with God along our journeys through life. This was done in a variety of ways with everyone enjoying the fun and games of the morning and then the carousel of activities after break. These activities looked at; what we need to survive on journeys and the promise God gives us to provide all we need, making a timeline of the events of the last year and where God has been in that time, and also a chance to reflect on our contact with the rest of the world through clothes/food etc and how we can care for others around the world. There was also the opportunity to explore the Gospels through drama and finish the day in church with a time of prayer.

We had a great couple of days working with the year 8’s from St Peter’s, Orrell here at Lowe House at the end of May, just before the half term holiday.During the day we looked at the theme “Growing in Faith Together” and how each one of us is growing physically and emotionally but also in faith and that God is with each and every one of us, moulding and shaping us into the people he wants us to be. The young people also had the chance to take part in some excellent dramas that helped us to think about how each one of us has the potential to make a difference to the people around us and to the world by our actions, thoughts, words and the choices we have to make. The day was a great success and ended with a time of prayer in which we reflected on the theme of the day and took part in a wonderful reflection of some of Jesus’ words to us as disciples.

We had a great day with some of the year 7’s from St Aelred’s who joined us at Lowe House for a retreat day at the end of April. The day focussed on the theme of ‘Tell the Good News to everyone’ and involved many activities including games, prayer, songs, film clips, discussions and making posters about some of the ‘good news’ we hear in the bible about Jesus and the amazing things he done while on earth. The day also gave us a chance to go into the amazing surroundings of St Mary’s church to finish our day with prayer, each person offering their own written prayer to God by placing it on the altar. We shall look forward to our next day with some of the rest of year 7 coming up this month.

We have recently spent three days in Our Lady’s working on retreat days first with Year 7, then Year 8, and finally with Year 9. The theme for the days was conflict and reconciliation, and looked at what they both mean and also how we can bring about reconciliation when there is conflict. The days were mainly in the hall and involved many different activities including, games, presentations, film clips, discussion, bridge building, singing and much more! There was also a chance to go into smaller groups around the school and play a game that looked at how easy it is to come into conflict, look at how we relate to others in order to avoid the need for conflict, and also how we reconcile our differences with others. The days were great fun for everybody and the singing at the end of each day blew us away!

in the week before Holy Week we spent the last week of the school term celebrating Mission week at St Mary’s in our 5th year working in the school. Once again it was a fantastic celebration and it was great to have such a warm welcome from everyone at the school. The week focussed on part of last summer’s World Youth Day theme ‘Receive the Power’. We also used different subject areas with different year groups, Music with years 7, 8 and 9, Art with years 10 and 11, and DT with the 6th form. The Holy Spirit can sometimes be neglected as part of the Holy Trinity as often people mention the Father and the Son but not always the amazing power of the Spirit. The Spirit is a power that is in and around every one of us. Throughout the week many mediums were used to help us with our theme including film clips, games, testimonies, group work, scripture, sign language and teachings. The lower school group work explored the power of music and the effect it has on the way we may act or feel, including it’s use in films to ‘set the scene’. This helped us to explore the same ideas with the Spirit and the effect it can have on us if we let the Spirit lead our lives. This also involved learning sign language to the song consuming fire, which was sung at mass. The upper school group work we explored the idea of the Spirit bringing life to people and the different ways the Spirit can be seen working in people. This lead to different sections of pictures being coloured with a variety of resources and brought together to make the full pictures. These pictures were all varied in colour, materials and formed symbols of the Spirit such as doves and fire and showed the Holy Spirit can be shown in different ways in different people. The 6th form group work explored the idea of key elements in structures and the groups were split in two and were set the task of producing bridges, one group with all the instructions and the other with only basic materials. Both bridges in groups tended to work but this showed that we can live life without the Spirit but if we accept the Spirit into our lives it can offer so much more. It also gave everyone a chance to explore the Spirit as a key element in the life of the Church and in our lives and without it our lives would fall apart. The week culminated in a fantastic celebration with the community on Thursday night followed with Mass with lower school, upper school and 6th form on Friday. An amazing and Spirit filled week for us all!

We welcomed John Fisher to Lowe House and the Life and Soul Café for the first time recently. We spent a number of days with the year 7’s exploring Lent and the three aspects of Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. The morning involved games, singing, teamwork and introducing Fasting and Almsgiving. The group split and explored one of the ideas each to then present and explain the idea to the other groups, those exploring fasting producing posters, and those exploring almsgiving producing dramas. The end of the day focussed on prayer, this included how difficult or easy it can be to pray sometimes, and also different ways of praying through writing letters to God and then through meditation. The days were great fun for all and helped us all to have a better understanding of the season we’re in and what it all means.

We are currently working with the year 9 guys and girls from Archbishop Beck exploring the theme of ‘Who do you say I am?’, using the words that Jesus said to His disciples to explore our image of Jesus and looking at the relationship between how we see Jesus, how we see ourselves and how God sees us. The days have been great fun and brought about many ideas and responses to that phrase ‘Who do you say I am?’

We were happy to welcome the Yr 7’s from St Peter’s for a week in the Life and Soul Café recently. The days were filled with fun and friendship and a number of activities including games, artwork and watching film clips to explore the theme of ‘We are one body’. Everyone had a chance to think of the individual and unique part they play in being part of the communities they are in and ultimately the body of Christ. Through this exploration people thought of their gifts and talents and how they use them in their lives. The days finished with a reflection through meditation and the week fell on Ash Wednesday and so the day was finished with an Ash Wednesday service.

We returned to St Bede’s for another mission week 2 years after the first. It was great to be able to go back and spend a second week with many of the pupils and staff as well as give a new experience to others. The mission was based around the theme ‘What is Truth?’ exploring Jesus’ words of I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. We looked at the different things in life that people claim as the truth, what we believe is true and why, and how Jesus IS the Truth

We have been able to spend a week of days with the year 8’s from Archbishop Beck exploring the theme of ‘In Search of Wholeness’, in particular looking at Conflict and Reconciliation. It was a chance to think about the causes of conflict on a local level and a global level and how it is a part of our lives. None of us are perfect and so conflict plays a part in each of our lives so it is important to think about reconciliation and how we can reconcile all the conflicts we had reflected on. This was all done using artwork to display causes and reasons for conflicts and dramas around Gospel readings about reconciliation. All of the days brought different ideas, reflections and creativity to bring our theme to life

After working on a mission week with the amazing ladies at Broughton Hall it was time for us to work with the superb boys at Cardinal Heenan. The two schools are literally about 100 metres apart and had been working on preparation for mission together and so the theme of the week was once again ‘We are children of the light. Let us walk in the light’. The week was action packed and we felt very welcome in the school with people chatting to us around the school whenever we were on the corridors or in the dinner hall. The week involved all the things we’re used to on mission week with dramas, songs, video clips, testimonies, liturgical movement, flags and much more. The week also had a sporty feel to it as the school is a specialist sports school. On Thursday evening the community came together to play their part in celebrating the school mission involving the amazing boys choir, ‘flaggers’ from different years, sketches and liturgical movement from the multi talented year 11’s and testimonies from both staff and VI Form. The week was brought to a close with Masses for each year group where ‘Jesus is a Rock’ and ‘Trading My Sorrows’ were particularly impressive from the year 7’s. A big thank you to all who helped us during the week both pupils and staff alike.

The team had the chance to spend a fantastic week with the girls of Broughton Hall as we worked with the whole school on their mission week. The theme of the week was ‘We are children of the light. Let us walk in the light’. The week involved many dramas, icebreakers, game shows, ‘TV shows’, teachings, sign language and full involvement from everyone. Thursday evening brought the community together as we had a celebration that helped everyone explore what had been happening at school during the week and involved year 7 through to VI Form in dance, song, sign language and flags. The week culminated in spectacular fashion with Masses for each year group where ‘Jesus is a Rock’ and ‘Trading My Sorrows’ were sung at the top of everyone’s voices. The choir for those Masses were particularly impressive and long may it continue. A big thank you to all who helped us during the week.

We welcomed 8 form groups from Year 7 during one busy week. It was one of the first times we were able to use both the parish hall and the new Life and Soul café at the same time with the team split into two groups! It was a great week and looked at the theme ‘Your Kingdom Come’, the motto of the school taken from Archbishop Beck himself. Using drama, artwork, games and meditation, we looked at how Archbishop Beck tried to bring God’s kingdom and how we can do it in our lives.

This is the third time we have had the chance to work with the year 12’s of St Julie’s. it was a great day once again and focussed on the theme ‘God does not see how humans see; they look at appearances but God looks at the heart’ from 1 Samuel 16:6. Particularly impressive on the day was the creativeness of many of the young ladies (and couple of gentlemen) in the Bin Bag Fashion Show. A chance to explore that appearance is not important and helped throughout the day in thinking about the truly important things and people in our lives. This was done in a variety of activities from auctions to dramas, game shows to DVD clips, all of which ended with a chance to share with others the great things about them and offer all the day up to God in our prayer.

This was the first day of a number of days for form groups in year 7. We met the group at a local Scout Hut, a venue we were kindly allowed to use, and spent a fantastic day looking at the theme of ‘I will be with you always’. It was great to discuss the theme of journeying through life with the young people and to share our images of Jesus. The team were particularly struck by the young people’s openness and willingness to share how Jesus was a part of their own journey through life so far.

We have recently spent a great week working with the year 8’s from St Wilfrid’s. Each day we welcomed a different group of around 30, and spent the day focussing on the theme of ‘God saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good’. The day was about creation and stewardship and helped all of us to think about how we can be stewards to all of God’s creation, the whole earth and all the creatures and people it contains. It helped us all to think about what we actually do in our lives that affects the world and also what we can do about it as we finished the day making Live Simply promises to ensure that we take on our role of stewards as fully as possible.

"Thank you I loved it, it was the best day ever!"
"Thank you! It was boss!!"
"I loved it, thanks for a great day! It was nice weather and I had a laugh"
Staff – " Excellent, keep up the good work"

As has been the case over the last few years, our first day retreats of the year have been with our most local school, De La Salle. Each day a form group from year 7 has come to think about the theme of ‘I will be with you always’. The day gives an opportunity for each of us to look at our journeys through life, especially at the start of the new journey of secondary school, and think about those words that Jesus said to his disciples. It was a great day where people were able to make new friends and enjoy all the activities from games, to working on your own style ‘Salvadorian Cross’, to the meditation and prayer at the end.

"It was fab and I really enjoyed it"
"Thank you for a great day"
"All staff are really nice"
"Brill day I would do again if I had the chance. Love meditation and Hot Spud"

In June we welcomed the girls of Broughton Hall Yr 9 and looked at the theme of ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’. The day was a chance for each person to look at their journey through life, what choices and people affect their lives and how God plays a part in each different aspect. It was a great few days with each different group we had and involved lots of fun and laughter and activities throughout the day. The weather was not too bad either!

We were lucky enough to be able to spend a week with the amazing community that is St Edmund Arrowsmith school. The theme for the week, which had been decided in collaboration with the school, was ‘All Together Walk With Me’. The week was filled with fun sessions in the hall along with smaller group sessions in classrooms. The whole school welcomed us with open arms and a highlight of the week had to be the community celebration in which hundreds of friends and family in the school and parish came along to celebrate what was a fantastic week.

After spending a fun few days with the year 10’s we were joined by the year 8’s the girls school in Croxteth. The day was spent doing many different activities around the theme of ‘Who do you say I am?’. Whether it was the dramas, affirmations, artwork singing or the beautiful newspaper fashion show, the day was enjoyed by everyone involved.

‘It was excellent and fabulous’
‘I had a boss day’
‘thank you for making it such a good day’

We were joined by a number of year 10 girls from this Salesian school in Croxteth in April. The day was spent doing many different activities around the theme of ‘Who do you say I am?’. Whether it was the dramas, affirmations, artwork singing or the beautiful newspaper fashion show, the day was enjoyed by everyone involved.

As I write this some of the guys on the team are working on our third day with the year 7’s from one of our local St Helens schools. We have been exploring the theme of ‘Celebrating Us – I am the way, the truth, and the life‘. The days have been jam packed with games, singing, artwork, dramas and time for reflecting on their lives in the past year as year 7’s at their ‘new’ secondary school. It’s been a great few days so far and we’re looking forward to another few days to come.








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