For the first of our 2011 taster tours we went into Greensward Academy in Hockley and King Edmund School in Rochford. Both schools were really welcoming and provided us with a packed timetable of lessons to run on the bus.

In Greensward we were asked to do lessons with year 8 on Christian living which included lots of space for the students to question the team about our faith. We also did lessons on marriage with years 9 & 10 which produced some great questions and discussion and also gave opportunity to talk about forgiveness. The students were really great and we even had the opportunity to open the bus at lunchtime with students swarming onto the bus to take a look. The school gave really positive feedback and are very keen for us to do more in the school- (click on Working in schools under School information tab above to see a letter from the school.)

In King Edmunds we took lessons with the whole of year 7 on Jesus and the Easter story. This for us is a great lesson to do as it’s all about the core message of the bible and we found the students were able to understand the subject really well as they went through the different zones on the bus. As with most of the lessons we split the class in half and ran activities with groups looking at the history of the message (Jesus death and resurrection,) the meaning of the message and the application of the message for people who believe in and follow Jesus. Again the students were really keen to answer and ask questions and the school are very keen to do more with us in the future.

Another big encouragement to us was the team of volunteers we had working on the bus. Most of them come from churches in the Rochford borough and all of them were really enthusiastic and picked up the lesson plans really quickly. It can be a daunting thought to come into a school and teach but everyone found the structure and content of the lessons enabled them to really get involved with the lessons and facilitate the groups.

Our thanks goes to all involved in the week- Staff, students and volunteers and YES we will be back:)