How common are school nativities?

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Loudlass81@reddit

I've had 4 kids at 6 different primaries. ALL did nativities at Xmas. So did the preschool - imagine 2-3yo's doing it. Always the blondest girl chosen as Mary. The funny kid would always be cast as the innkeeper. The autistic kids were the narrator or the donkey, depending whether they've got ADHD or not. My auDHD youngest had the most memorable nativity at preschool...running around the audience yelling "follow the star" while dressed as a star...NONE of which was scripted lol.

He now revels in drama & musicals though...

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oldandinvisible@reddit

Pretty much ubiquitous. Also no we do not have a "state religion" we have an "established church" they're different.

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terryjuicelawson@reddit

Ours did one, despite not being a religious school, not having Christian assemblies, and probably more practicing Muslims in attendance. It is just a story and an excuse to do a play at Christmas time more than anything, they can go on wild tangents with just the central story being this kid called Jesus was born in a barn.

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LionLucy@reddit

Hugely popular, I’d imagine most people have been in a nativity play at least once

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CrowLaneS41@reddit

Streets won't forget my 1999 performance of 'Sheep No: 3'

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RevolutionaryAd581@reddit

And here's me living the shame of being a wise man... and yes, I'm old enough that in those days it was apparently acceptable for me to have a gingham tea towel in an embroidery ring on my head... clearly much less inclusive times 🫣

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spinneywoman@reddit

You think thats bad, in the early 90s my brother was a Wiseman with tea towel, bath robe and all visible parts painted brown... small village school with zero cultural diversity.

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Flibertygibbert@reddit

Dressing gown on body, teatowel on head was compulsory shepherd costume back in my day, the early 1960s.

Wisemen wore robes cobbled together from shiny curtain material, and crowns or flowing head coverings.

Angels (girls only) wore white nighties or pale bridesmaids dresses.

Being the 1960s, it was selected kids only & the rest of us had to sit on the floor, shut up and watch, then sing when required.

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TheFirstGlugOfWine@reddit

Even now we have a parent kick off if their son is an angel., saying it’s a girls role. These are people who know the bible well so should know that isn’t at all true. I think it’s also a really good role. Definitely better than being a cow

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Aggravating-Mousse46@reddit

Hahahaha! Imagine Yahweh letting a female angel sit at his side, announce that his son had been conceived or guard the pearly gates. Totally delulu by their own standards.

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anabsentfriend@reddit

and well into the 70s.

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bitterlemon80@reddit

In the 80s I was the angel Gabriel four years in a row, just because I was really blonde!

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Pristine-Ad6064@reddit

I got narrator 😅😅

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CameronFuckedmyPig@reddit

I was at primary school in the early 1970s.

One year, one of the girls in our class, Hayley, was one of the wise men/women.

Progressive?

Not so much…

…They rubbed instant coffee paste in to her skin to black her up.

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danielroseman@reddit

My daughter's class did the whole tea-towel on head thing in about 2014.

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TequilaMockingbirds8@reddit

At least you got an embroidery ring, I got my mums skinny belt round a tea towel, with a pillow case with arm holes cut out

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RevolutionaryAd581@reddit

Who knew I was so classy at such a young age!

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MuhammadAkmed@reddit

will the tea towel offend the Magi of the East, and the people of whatever nameless country they supposedly originated from 2000 years ago?

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RobertTheSpruce@reddit

Hate to one up you, but I was Jesus and healed a giant.

I had to climb the A frame in the gymnasium live in front of 100 parents to then kiss a paper mache giant on the forehead to heal him.

Why did this happen in a primary school nativity? Did anyone actually consider the health and safety aspect? Did Jesus actually just wear a cream coloured curtain and use a piece of his dads tow-rope as a belt as my mum insisted? All these questions are left unanswered.

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DitheringDotty@reddit

What was grown up Jesus doing in a nativity play? Baby Jesus naturally but Beardy Jesus? :)) Baby Jesus of course is generally played by a doll .............. when you think of how surreal the whole thing and yet we all see it as completely normal!

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Hamsternoir@reddit

I was a sodding tree in 1982 and I'm still bitter about it. Even Daniel got a line as a fucking duck and he'd pissed himself twice during rehearsals in class.

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RobertTheSpruce@reddit

The duck is a key role in the nativity.

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notspringsomnia@reddit

I raise you my 2004 performance of “blade of grass”!

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Significant-Glove521@reddit

I was always the narrator as I was good at reading and had a nice clear speaking voice. I must have complained one year as the last year I was "Father Christmas" who coincidentally had a huge amount of speaking to do, in fact you could say that it was about similar in quantity and style to that of a narrator.

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PipBin@reddit

I was Mary, twice.

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Rediscovered_Magpie@reddit

Ooo. Mary. Twice. Lah di dah. Bet you lived in the posh houses. (joke, don't worry).

I was a 'modern day mother' who had to tuck in her two children and say 'let us listen to the Christmas story' complete with dramatic sweeping arm movement.

Anyone else's school sing 'rat a tat tat?'

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blodblodblod@reddit

I LOVE rat a tat tat. "We have a little room and you can stay here, we have a little place for strangers."

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king_ofbhutan@reddit

i got to be a narrator!

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rocima@reddit

I was in the Chorus at the Nativity play in my Primary school in Hong Kong.

65 years later I can still chant: "Here in the stable so lonely and deep/ Is it a king or a savior you seek? /There fast asleep, with his hair softly curled,/ lies little Lord Jesus, the prince of the world"

It's not TS Eliot, is it?

(Bath towels were involved in the costume IIRC)

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Eddie_Honda420@reddit

Usually only once a year 😆

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anxiousthroway85@reddit

Every primary school and nursery I’ve ever attended or heard of has done a Christmas Nativity.

In my primary school if there weren’t enough roles the shy children made up part of the chorus or reading a single line to narrate. In nurseries the babies were brought on set dressed up as stars

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CraigKing42@reddit

I was a sheep and a tree.

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JCDU@reddit

A Treep?

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Chibi_Panda2@reddit

I was an angel in our school nativity and have been bragging about it ever since 🤣🤣

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yourefunny@reddit

I would say every primary school in the country does them pretty much. The Christmas panto is massive as well. Amateurs in villages and towns up and down the country put on pantos every year as well as the pros.

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Hamsternoir@reddit

The Christmas panto is massive

Oh no it's not

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tomtink1@reddit

Oh yes it is!

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rusticusmus@reddit

Now, you lot, stop arguing. Move on and put it

BEHIND YOU!

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Optimal_Olive5398@reddit

im a teaching assistant in primary schools and some schools do it, depends on if theyre multi faith schools or not

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DisapointedVoid@reddit

Even non-faith schools and schools with no religious affiliation do them. Unfortunately.

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Jenpot@reddit

Yep, our non-denomenational school does them. Think it's just standard.

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quartersessions@reddit

You do realise that non-denominational just means "not a specific Christian denomination", yeah? They have an obvious religious affiliation.

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Jenpot@reddit

Not in Scotland they don't. No praying, no church events, not tied to any church at all infact. They learn about all sorts of religion in cultural/social studies topics and the kids that go come from a range of religious backgrounds, mostly secular.

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quartersessions@reddit

I'm sorry, I'm from Scotland - and this is absolutely false. Religious observance is required by law in all non-denominational state schools in Scotland.

It can be of varying characters, sure, but most state schools have school chaplains in the form of the local clergy, have prayers, have hymns and - at primary level at least - attend the local parish church on occasion. Most local authorities have spaces for religious representative on education boards

Faith schools are not only Roman Catholic either. We have state faith schools that are Jewish and Episcopalian too.

None of this has anything to do with religious education, which is again required by law - but explicitly is about understanding religions, rather than practicing or observing one.

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Jenpot@reddit

Our school has no kind of chaplain, they say no prayers, sing no hymns and attend no church. I'm staunchly athiest and would object to my kids doing any of these things. They learn about Christmas yes, but they also learn about Eid and Diwali, etc. So I don't know what to tell you, that's been our experience. I went to a Catholic school so that's why I referenced that as the type of religious schools here, given it's the most common too, at least in our part of Scotland.

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quartersessions@reddit

I don't know what to tell you: religious observation is absolutely required in state schools in Scotland and there will be policies about how that is conducted. You have a legal right to withdraw your children from that.

On a general level, if you're telling me your children managed to get through a normal, mainstream school without a prayer and learning the words to Lord of the Dance, I'm simply not buying it. If indeed it did happen, it's an extreme example and completely unrepresentative.

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Tay74@reddit

Very. I think maybe some schools are replacing them with a more religion neutral Christmas play these days, but that would be very recent, being in 1 or more nativities as a kid would be pretty much a given for most people in the UK unless you went to a very particular school

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MzHmmz@reddit

I haven't heard of any schools I'm aware of completely replacing nativity plays with non religious plays, although they're often versions of the story that deviate quite a lot from a strict retelling.

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blinky84@reddit

My school did, starting from 1989 I think!

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Ok_Contest3903@reddit

Not true, sorry.. still religious. Still use carols. Just KS1 at our school.

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ForsakenMidnight8061@reddit

My son was DJ no.1 in one of his school nativities, meaning I got to paraphrase Emma Thompson in Love Actually: “there was more than one DJ present at the birth of Jesus?”

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Warm_Stress_1654@reddit

It's odd that you say these only happen in Catholic schools where you live.

I've always considered nativity plays to be a Protestant thing. I've had to cut up pillow-cases and sacrifice tea-towels for all four of my children but there was never a nativity play at my schools, because I was raised Catholic.

I should add that I did "second grade" in Peoria, Illinois and there was no such thing at Holy Family School, either.

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KtMrgn@reddit

Yep. I’m in the UK and we did a nativity every year at primary school. We also sang hymns most days even though it wasn’t a religious school.

It’s weird, considering religion really isn’t popular here and we also had a few kids from other religions than Christianity who still took part so idk how they felt about it - but was still a lot of fun and most people in the UK will know all the words to the songs. Look up ‘assembly bangers’ lol.

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Time_Trail@reddit

tbh as a muslim kid it was fun, I ended up as Joseph one year and another year I was baby Jesus crying in the cradle

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klymers@reddit

I went to a super diverse primary school and I was in the local paper one year as one of the main elves in our Bollywood Santa play.

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TrueMog@reddit

Bollywood Santa absolutely amazing

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Millie141@reddit

Very common. You can tell a lot about a person by who they were in the nativity play.

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Alone_Ad8571@reddit

There is no separation between Church and state in the UK, so schools have them

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Infamous-Magician180@reddit

Our last nativity had Batman, kpop demon hunters and an octopus. Sounds crazy, but there was a proper plot! This was in our church rather than school though- schools tend to go pretty traditional with it in my experience.

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Horror-Back6203@reddit

My son's school did a pretty good one last year half the class where aliens who had come to earth and the other half of the class where teaching them about Christmas, it was quite fun

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CapitanAI@reddit

There was more than one octopus at the birth of Jesus!

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tinkerballer@reddit

…duh? 🙄

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Dadaballadely@reddit

My primary school had Teenage Mutant Hero [sic] Turtles in1991

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macman501@reddit

I was an astronaut in my primary school nativity play in 1972. It was the era of the moon landings.

Nativity plays are quite common, but declining. We're much less religious than the US and I wouldn't read much into us having a state church, it's a historical hangover.

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MzHmmz@reddit

Are they declining? I'm not personally aware of any primary schools that don't put on some kind of nativity (barring non-Christian religious schools obviously!). My kids were all in nativities, although my youngest is 13 so it's been a few years since any of them were in primary. But I've got friends with much younger kids and as far as I'm aware they all did nativities.

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macman501@reddit

It's just anecdotal evidence I'm aware of. When I was at school I think every school had one. I'm aware of some schools now that do a show but not necessarily a nativity.

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Vamperstein-Bex@reddit

a lot of primary school in England are CofE (Church of England) (although I think it may be less then it used to be) so Nativity is pretty standard at Christmas (these schools aren't necessarily as religious as they sound you don't really have to be religious to go to them (you can even follow other religions and still go there) they also tend to teach you about other religions as well)

If you haven't seen it you really should watch Nativity (2009)

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Gold-Vanilla5591@reddit (OP)

I’ve heard of the Nativity movies. It’s essentially a battle between a Catholic and a CoFE school to see who has the best production. They turned it into a musical. I really want it to come to the US but I don’t know if the British things will translate well over here. (Maybe Catholic school kids versus the kids at the secular school that go to the church for religious education?)

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MoghediensWeb@reddit

No there’s something of a rivalry between a state school and a posh private school. The state school happens to be a catholic school. The posh school we don’t know whether it is catholic, Church of England or non denominational. It’s more a class thing. And to be honest the rivalry is more of a B plot.

I think under funded public school v hoity toity private school would be recognisable in the US as a thing.

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mojnjaro@reddit

There's a lot for a nation of heathens (as many Americans view us)

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TurbulentContext@reddit

I was at a political debate thing a few years ago and one of the politicians mentioned to the news anchor who was moderating that they had played him in their school nativity. So instead of just being "narrator" they were Reporting from the news desk and now going live to our correspondent in Bethlehem etc. The anchor decided if politicians were young enough to have played him in their school nativities he had to think about retirement.

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Defiant-Tackle-0728@reddit

My Infant/Junior School alternated between a Nativity and a Pantomime.

So I went from playing Sheep #2 in a Nativity, to the front of a Cow (aladdin) , to King #1 (i brought Gold) and finally an Ugly Sister (Cinderella).

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paradoxbound@reddit

So much buried trauma being surfaced here.

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Gnarly_314@reddit

The school my girls went to the reception classes did the nativity. Years 1 and 2 did a performance based on a giving or caring theme.

The year my youngest was in reception she was a shepherd. She had a sheep with a little gold loop half way down its back. As they paraded around the central stage my 4yo daughter had finger through the loop and was spinning the sheep around much to the audience's amusement.

After the nativity the older children did their performance about a lost toy. The toy gets lost in the snow so there is about a dozen girls dressed in white dancing around and gradually falling to the fall. My older daughter has had two years of dance lessons but is only allowed to spin twice and be the first snowflake to land.

To hear some of the parents talk you would think their child had just performed on a London stage and received a standing ovation.

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Pleasant_Pace_5955@reddit

these are only really done in primary schools (age 3-11) but yeah my primary school did a nativity play around christmas and an easter (the crucifixion, resurrection etc) play every year! and the younger years would be the choir for the hymns. i did go to a catholic school tbf but most people i know did a similar thing

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VioletFireCat@reddit

They're pretty common, maybe especially with younger kids, or at least that was the case for my primary school. (Though admittedly this was 20 years ago now.) The younger years did a nativity, but the older kids would do a different play. My class did A Christmas Carol one year, which was fun. But I do remember doing the nativity when I was like six, I think I played an angel. And my sister did it too around the same age, she was a cow in hers.

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PresidentPingu1@reddit

It’s absolutely essential in Infant School. I’ve sat through Nativities involving woodland creatures, a horde of snowflakes, Father Sodding Christmas, and once -memorably - a lobster.

My son starred as a wise man in Reception class.

Daughter’s school sacked off the Nativity when she was in Year 2 (the year where the kids traditionally get the big parts) for a production of The Very Disgruntled Snowman. She was the Snowman. It’s not quite Mary levels of stardom, but not far off.

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zoppaTheDim@reddit

Saw one in the US

Christmas program included Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, and then a weird nativity scene for the Baptists who hated Santa Clause.

And they started the whole thing with OTA meeting and a request for various donations to different projects.

It went on forever.

I still wake up in a cold sweat.

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fickle_tartan@reddit

Very common, even in non-religious schools. It's not about the religion aspect of it anymore, it's just a tradition thing.

Also there actually isn't an official state religion for the UK, just England. The majority of the population is not Christian anymore, the last census it came in at 46% and an even smaller number are actually practicing Christians. A lot of people just tick it on the box because they were christened in a church and think that makes them Christian forever.

For reference 37% declared "no religion", and that number has been rising for decades, in actual practice we're not a particularly religious country anymore, even if we haven't bothered to do a proper legal separation.

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quartersessions@reddit

even in non-religious schools

As far as I'm aware, there are no state non-religious schools in the UK. You have faith schools and non-denominational schools - all are bound by the requirements of religious observance, at least in England and Scotland.

Also there actually isn't an official state religion for the UK, just England.

I'd argue that Christianity is the state religion for the whole of the UK, it's just that the status and history of "established" churches in each part is different.

I'd also suggest that the Church of Scotland is just as much a state church as the Church of England, despite their dispute over the language of being "established" versus being a "national church". Really, that's just dancing on the head of a pin - and it's established in every way that matters.

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smoulderstoat@reddit

The UK is a secular country pretending to be religious. The US is a religious country pretending to be secular.

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fickle_tartan@reddit

Yeah for a country that claims to have complete seperation of church and state, they sure do love bringing religion into shit.

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Shadowscarab93@reddit

I was the head angel in mine, narrated the whole thing 😇 was always a rather overdramatic child so came as no surprise 🤣

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littlejalepino@reddit

Ah dude. So sad to read these comments because my kid is in a primary school where they don’t do nativity because the religious majority is not christian. I didn’t realise we would miss out on so many cultural touch stones by sending him to the local comp. I wish he could do a nativity and hymns and not just learn about christianity in RE lessons. Silly me for assuming I guess?!

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Tute_Sweet@reddit

I think virtually every school has one, usually it’s always the same school year that puts it on so all the kids get a turn to be in it.

My son was a cloud.

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Jazzlike-Basil1355@reddit

What sort of cloud? A Nimbus type? Please tell the whole story, not just s tempting trailer! ☁️

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SoggyWotsits@reddit

Apparently they’re less religious now, but we certainly had religious ones in the 80s. I was Mary one year and had to sing in front of the school. I must have been braver back then! Mind you, my whole school only had 40 pupils.

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Snickerty@reddit

I was once a pacific islander, part of that very famous part of the nativity: " people of the world". I had a real grass skirt, and a very itchy Fawn jumper and woolly tights. Very itchy.

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BurnAfterReading75@reddit

For reasons unknown, our Year 4 Christmas play was Peter Pan and our 11-year-old (was 9 then) is still super-proud of getting to dress up as a crocodile and chase Captain Hook around the stage...

(He also got the biggest laugh of the night with "Did somebody say - Just Eat?")

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ZealousidealPlate241@reddit

I was a 7 year old father of the bride in a Victorian wedding.

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AnneKnightley@reddit

Went to a Church of England school so not sure if it’s the same everywhere but we had them for sure. Little kids always want to be either Mary, Joseph or an Angel.

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Easy-Equal@reddit

Loved putting tea towel on my head with my school mates

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Dennyisthepisslord@reddit

I remember doing scrooge I was the boy scrooge asks what day is it?!

So it isn't always biblical

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main-acc6286@reddit

I was angel Gabrielle in year 2. That’s where I peaked in life

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JinxThePetRock@reddit

I played glockenspiel, for the songs and for added sound effects throughout the nativity, three years running. This was the peak of my musical prowess.

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TwpMun@reddit

Did it every year when I was in Primary school It was a great confidence builder. The only year I remember I played King Herod, there's still a VHS tape of it somewhere.

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hopping32@reddit

Every primary school will do them. My son was once surfer number 3.

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Surprise_Logical@reddit

What do you mean 'Christian OR Catholic'?

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Gold-Vanilla5591@reddit (OP)

Catholics are Christian, but there’s other denominations that are considered Christian (Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran) that believe in Jesus but believe in different things depending on the church.

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Surprise_Logical@reddit

The point I was trying to make was that Catholics are Christians, so why did they write Christian or Catholic?

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EloquenceInScreaming@reddit

My kids went to a primary school where maybe 60% of the kids came from Muslim families, and the annual nativity play was a big deal. They moved it into the church over the road because the school hall wasn't big enough, and I always found it strangely heartwarming seeing all the Muslim mum's crowding in, like an unintentional antidote to all the divisiveness you get online.

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LilacRose32@reddit

At my primary school ks1 did a normal nativity with Reception all dressed up and years 1/2 providing music and narration.

Ks 2 was weirder. I recall: lots of dancing sheep; secret angels where it was a spy parody; and one about Simeon that may have been set in old people’s home…

I assume these were available to purchase and someone, somewhere has writing nativity variants as a full time job.

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Gold-Vanilla5591@reddit (OP)

To clarify: KS1 is 5-7 year olds, year 1 is a part of KS1 (5-6 year olds), year 2 is older 6-7 year olds.

KS2 is older 7 year olds to age 11.

Reception is super young if I can recall, like 4-5 year olds.

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Dietcokeisgod@reddit

KS3 is 11-14. (Years 7-9) KS4 is 14-16 (Years 10-11) KS5 is 16-18 (Years 12&13)

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Critical_Vehicle_72@reddit

They’re very common and your role is a big deal (at least where I live). The highest role I ever got was one of the three wisemen. Last year my nephew was Joseph and that’s when I knew our family had officially made it

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100pc_recycled_words@reddit

I was Mary in mine, and was livid I didn’t get to be an angel

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Delicious_Link6703@reddit

Our local fruit orchard/farm shop/donkey sanctuary has a nativity show, complete donkeys (being lead not sat on !). People can buy hot food, mulled wine & non-alcoholic equiv.

The local C of E church sets up a nativity scene in our village square and we sing Christmas carols.

Quite a few non-Christians join these events - Muslim, Hindu. They are really nice festive occasions.

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QuinnCampbell@reddit

Very common, and in my experience just about all of the children get involved, regardless of whether they celebrate Christmas.

I've taught in Catholic and C of E schools, and my own children are attending a secular school (with a high proportion of non Christians), and almost everyone has been in the nativity - just the Jehovah's Witness kids that have sat out.

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LittleUglyBug@reddit

Every year and we love doing them. Parents love it too

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AceOfSpades532@reddit

I think pretty much every primary school does some sort of nativity play, but they’re generally not like a serious retelling of the nativity, often aren’t even anything to do with the Bible story.

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smoulderstoat@reddit

Someone gave my daughter's school a pop-up Tardis. Once they'd popped it up they couldn't pop it back down again, so every school production had to include Dr Who, including her nativity play. It was quite fun seeing how they worked it into the plot of everything they put on.

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crispycat40@reddit

Then that’s not a nativity

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hallerz87@reddit

Very common although I don't know that having a CofE as our state religion has much to do with it. They aren't mandated. Its just something culturally done as a country with a long Christian tradition.

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Bettie16@reddit

We do one every year in Key Stage 1. My favourite is 'Christmas With The Aliens' because I get to send home 8 letters requesting that parents supply green, sparkly martian outfits.

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Gold-Vanilla5591@reddit (OP)

KS1 is like 5-6 year olds?

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Bettie16@reddit

Yes, sorry! Year 1 aged 5-6 and Year 2 aged 6-7 😊

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Gold-Vanilla5591@reddit (OP)

In the US Year 1 is kindergarten, Year 2 is 1st grade.

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Bettie16@reddit

That's interesting - I always assumed that the year group numbers matched the same ages in both counties!

If you've ever seen the video of someone trying to put kittens in a row, that's a pretty accurate representation of trying to organise a nativity...

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OneCheesecake1516@reddit

Most primary schools perform a Nativities near Christmas.

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magicpjj@reddit

Angel Gabriel 1986 for the win

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North-Palpitation-84@reddit

I remember when I had to be a lamb, and when I got the role everyone laughed

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Gold-Vanilla5591@reddit (OP)

At least it was a traditional nativity role, not something crazy like a dog

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Great-Activity-5420@reddit

It's something that happens in nursery schools. I don't understand why it still goes on in this day and age. I don't agree with teaching religion to a child who can't understand that it's made up. Especially when there are other religions about I don't agree with pushing the same narrative

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AuroraDF@reddit

I've been teaching kids between the ages of 5 and 7 for 26 years and been involved in one every one of those years, in 6 different schools.

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Paulstan67@reddit

The problems I had with schools teaching religious mumbo jumbo against my wishes was unbelievable.

State schools doing this religious sh1t. Teaching kids religion, without teaching them all the down side, all the contradictions is in my opinion immoral .

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Thatchers-Gold@reddit

I was the narrator, still remember my opening line almost 30 years later.

“It was the night before Christmas, and the Smith family were making their final preparations for the following day”

Can’t remember where we went with it after that but it was probably a tour de force

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harrietmjones@reddit

Very I’d say! At least when I was in primary school anyway, that seems to be the most common period to do school nativities. Every year without fail.

I can’t speak from personal experience on what happens in secondary schools so much because I then went to a Church of England school and we had some form of nativity each year there too.

The one year I went to another school, a community school, we didn’t do the nativity but we had some carols and a performance planned for Christmas time.

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notspringsomnia@reddit

Most primary schools, even more secular schools, tend to do some sort of performance at Christmas. Secular schools will tend to do a more modern play, and have different characters (such as stars, Christmas trees, etc — my cousin’s child had the role of “tinsel” in her last play, they go to a secular school) whereas religious schools or schools with a religious ethos (not specialised Catholic or CofE, but schools that have a lot of religious elements, such as prayers and church visits — many private schools tend to follow this) will have the traditional nativity with Mary, Joseph, sheep etc.

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MrMonkeyman79@reddit

Pretty standard for younger kids to put on a nativity.

Don't let the existence of the chutlrch if England give you the wrong idea though. Its more a tradition thing than a serious religious one as there are far fewer practicing Christians than the US, hence no one flcares when they take artistic liberties to make sure all kids get there moment in the spotlight.

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HomeConstant6123@reddit

I played Mary in our school's nativity play when I was 6. I've never reached those heights again

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JourneyThiefer@reddit

Yea literally every school does one. Our primary school done a big huge every few years in the local chapel too

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Gullible-Zone-9159@reddit

I attended a 'church of England' primary school. The nativity plays were a hoot! I was Dino the dinosaur and said 'woof' in a flinstones take of Christmas!

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crispycat40@reddit

I’m a primary teacher and have worked in a lot of different schools, as well as having children in schools.

I’ve only known two schools, one of which was my child’s, to do a nativity.

Every school does a Christmas show with a (weak) storyline about reindeer and snowmen etc but very few do a religious version.

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Lynex_Lineker_Smith@reddit

How strange , both of my sisters are primary school teachers , both have worked in several schools across the country and have too many children in schools and neither of them have ever taught in a school that hasn’t done a nativity, even in a SEN school they do them.

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Foundation_Wrong@reddit

Every primary school has a nativity play. There’s usually some seasonal singing and the parents are expected to provide costumes. Different schools will arrange the event to suit their circumstances. Sometimes it’s the infants who do a tableaux of the Nativity scene and older children will have some lines to say. In our childrens Catholic primary school the oldest children ( year 6 ) always acted the parts of the Nativity scene. The main thing is for everyone to have a part!

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Apprehensive-Cat-500@reddit

It's pretty much a rite of passage in English primary schools.

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TrifectaOfSquish@reddit

It's a standard part of primary school

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Oh-reality-come-back@reddit

Yeah most primary school do. It’s just a bit of fun and not especially because the schools or we are extra religious or anything

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fluffyfluffscarf28@reddit

Pretty much every primary school does a nativity, they're almost compulsory! Most parents would expect to see their child in one, which is also interesting when you consider the majority of Brits are not church attenders. It's just something that we do every year.