NEWTON’s 2026 Welcome Retreats

Who will I be in lectures with? Will I find someone I get on with? You might be asking yourself the same questions as you get ready for university. At a welcome retreat, you can start getting to know people before your first lecture. Sometimes all it takes is joining in with a game you’d have happily skipped.

From icebreakers to evenings spent talking

‘I have really fond memories of the retreat. What stands out most are the talks, the evenings we spent together and especially the games. We all grumbled about them at first, but they ended up bringing us much closer,’ Anna recalls.

During the day, students got to know each other through group activities. The evenings gave them time to sit and talk. That was when Anna got to know some of the students from later years who were there to guide the group throughout the retreat. By the time term began, she already felt part of a group.

A more confident start to university

Anna chose NEWTON for its practical approach to teaching, its links to the workplace and the chance to develop as a person. The retreat gave her something a course description could never tell her. She got to know the people she’d be sharing her first term with.

Thank you to everyone who put this year’s retreats together and to the students who helped guide the new arrivals. And to everyone who joined in with the games, even if you weren’t keen at first. Those are some of the moments Anna remembers most fondly.

Want to join us at a future welcome retreat? Apply to study at NEWTON University.