This term we've been meeting lots of new young people in our Secondary Schools and enjoying fun activities, including Nativity Photo Booths and Christmas themed games!  At the Alun School and Ysgol Maes Garmon we're leading pop-up style activities using school halls and other spaces, with different themes and activities each week.  Working with Lowri Mitton, our Welsh Prebyterian church partner, at Ysgol Maes Garmon we've explored identity, values and character using games and music / video (Lowri's great at creating video content around themes!).  Throughout December we explored the Nativity story from the points of view of the shepherds, the bewildered young couple, the magi and the angels.  The immaculate conception of Jesus threw up a lot of questions - some even searched Gooogle to check if we were pulling their legs! ("What do you mean Mary was still a virgin????  But that's just not possible!" "That would be a miracle birth....oh, wait!)
Tim Byram of King's Church came and help with what proved to be a very popular photo booth for Years 7 and 8 at the Alun - we were stampeded by camels, swamped by shepherds, awed by all the angels and left on our knees along with the Wise Men!!!
It was all a huge amount of fun - but also gave some fantastic opportunities for conversation about faith, how young people feel about the many pressures of our constantly connected culture and to explore some of their questions about God and religion.

One of our main reasons for being involved in local schools is to help fulfil the desire of local churches to support our local schools. 
Volunteers in educational settings can offer support to schools in a variety of ways, the best place to start is to talk to local school leaders and discuss where the volunteers' skills, knowledge and training overlap with the needs of the school.
At Agathos we focus on offering our support within the Christian elements of the curriculum, including Religious Education and Collective Worship, as well as Pastoral Support.  Examples of Pastoral work we undertake are

• leading small nurture groups
• delivering Sex and Relationships Education with a focus on values, commitment and marriage
• mentoring young people 
• providing opportunities for all pupils to explore the Christian faith in non-formal settings.