Shepherds dressed in old sheets, Christmas carols and the competition to see who will play Mary and Joseph… nativity plays have been a feature of British primary-school life for generations.

 

But a survey has revealed that headteachers are watering down or ditching the centuries-old Christmas story in favour of secular tales to avoid upsetting pupils of other faiths.

 

Only one in five schools are ­planning to perform a traditional nativity play this year. They are now outnumbered by schools that say they will be either putting on a non-religious play, such as Scrooge or Snow White, or giving no performance at all.

Almost half the schools said they planned to put on modern reinterpretations of the Christmas story, with extra characters, new songs and modern themes, such as The Bossy King, Whoops-a-Daisy Angel or The Hoity-Toity Angel.

 

The findings will add to fears that Christian teachings are being abandoned by schools, despite the wishes of parents. Recent surveys show an overwhelming majority of families would like the nativity play, telling the story of Christ's birth, to live on in schools.

 

Experts on religious education said headteachers were failing in their duty as educators if they ignored one of the most central stories in our culture. Terence Copley, Professor of Educational Studies at Oxford University, said the idea that the nativity could offend other faiths was "crazy".

 

"I have never met a single Jew, Muslim, Sikh or Buddhist who has objected to the commemoration and celebration of the birth of Jesus," he said. "In Islam, he is a prophet and his birth is described in the Koran. It is not other religions that are pushing for this at all.

 

"If we avoid Christmas we are pandering to a secular minority and allowing the event to become all about commercialism, presents and self-indulgence.

 

"There's nothing wrong with a bit of self-indulgence but if we don't teach about Christmas and deal with it confidently, not just in RE, we are failing in our duty as educators."

 

The Sunday Telegraph survey of 100 schools found that 36 per cent were staging religion-free Christmas plays or planning no event this winter. That compares with a similar survey in 2004 that found one in seven schools producing no nativity play.

Several of the schools surveyed said the nativity tableau was no longer a feature because the intake was ethnically mixed and staff had to be aware of "not offending anyone".

 

A spokesman for a school in Barking, east London, where half of the intake is white British, said: "We are not putting on a play; instead we are having a talk about a Czech winter play. We don't feel the need to have the nativity. We are an ethnically diverse school and want to learn about other cultures."

 

A teacher from Albion Primary School in Southwark, south London, where 50 per cent of children are from ethnic minorities, said the school had not performed a nativity play for at least five years and that it had to take account of all faiths.

 

One school in Birmingham, where 96 per cent of children are Muslim, said: "We're reluctant to have a lot of music and acting because it goes against the religion of a lot of our pupils. We will stick to discussing the things we can take out of the festivals. So instead of the three men bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh, they will bring, for example, peace and co-operation."

 

Monica Galt, the head of King Road Primary in Manchester, said: "We're multicultural but we always do some form of nativity. We're doing Whoops-a-Daisy Angel this year. We'll have shepherds, donkeys, camels, cows - the lot."

 

Rupert Kaye, of the Association of Christian Teachers, said: "School nativity plays are a cultural treasure. Christmas encourages all people to appreciate our rich human culture and to ponder the profound and sacred."

 

Source : Sunday Telegraph

 

Shepherds dressed in old sheets, Christmas carols and the competition to see who will play Mary and Joseph… nativity plays have been a feature of British primary-school life for generations.

 

 

Only one in five schools are ­planning to perform a traditional nativity play this year.

Almost half the schools said they planned to put on modern reinterpretations of the Christmas story, with extra characters, new songs and modern themes, such as The Bossy King, Whoops-a-Daisy Angel or The Hoity-Toity Angel.

 

Source : Sunday Telegraph

 

 

I teach in a church school, with approx one third of children muslim or other faiths.

 

We always have Nativities, a traditional nursery Nativity and Infant and Junior shows.

 

We have done all of the above shows - they are fun and are all based on the traditional story of the Birth of Christ.

There are always shepherds, angels, camels, kings, stars and in the end Mary and Joseph and a baby Jesus in a stable.

 

I have never experienced any issues with parents from other faiths, and they are always fun and well attended by all parents.

(infact one muslim mum is repairing some shepherds costumes for me this weekend)

 

Political correctness drives me mad - but is exaggerated grossly by the media - I don't know a school in my area that wont be doing a traditional Christmas show!!

 

I would like some of these annual scaremongers to come and watch our Carol concert in church next week ..... and watch the beautiful duet by 2 year 6 boys (one muslim) of Stille Nacht. Both sets of parents are nothing but proud of their children and will be stood in church to hear them!

Edited December 3, 200717 yr by ICR

That is f***ing ridiculous. People need to get over it and get a life.

this was discussed on breakfast tv this morning. again its the 'do gooder, pc brigade' getting it wrong! they confirmed what icr says about other faiths accepting 'our' traditions and its not them who are being all sensetive.

 

on the other hand... this annual pantomime would drive me mad if i was a teacher.... i object to the indoctrination, the corrupting of little kids minds selling them a lie.

Again its middle class WHITES who are deciding what they think is best for minorities :manson:

 

But as ever the headline in the Sun and Daily Mail will be "muslims ban school nativity play" when infact it was WHITES who decided for them :rolleyes:

Edited December 3, 200717 yr by Vic Vega

I live in a town with quite a large Muslim population, and I've never experienced any objection whatsoever from Muslims about Christmas. Quite the opposite, Asian taxi drivers for example often wish people a Merry Christmas.

 

It does seem to be overly sensitive middle class white people responsible for all this "PC" sort of thing- which in the end does nothing but cause more trouble.

on the other hand... this annual pantomime would drive me mad if i was a teacher.... i object to the indoctrination, the corrupting of little kids minds selling them a lie.

 

Exactly my thoughts to be honest... The celebration of YULE, which is the 25th of December, has bugger all to do with Christ's birth anyway... I do believe Scientists actually put a likely date for Christ's birth somewhere around mid-January or summat....

 

No, I think the Nativity should perhaps be replaced by something like Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol".... Surely it's far more relevant, more secular (but still in keeping with the Christmas tradition, and Dickens is one of OUR most famous and celebrated authors), and it gives a good, positive message that we should be concerned with and think about less fortunate people at this time of year..... Surely the Christian thing to do, yes...?

Again its middle class WHITES who are deciding what they think is best for minorities :manson:

 

But as ever the headline in the Sun and Daily Mail will be "muslims ban school nativity play" when infact it was WHITES who decided for them :rolleyes:

 

EXACTLY!!! I fully expect that headline to appear any day now....

 

I teach in a church school, with approx one third of children muslim or other faiths.

 

We always have Nativities, a traditional nursery Nativity and Infant and Junior shows.

 

We have done all of the above shows - they are fun and are all based on the traditional story of the Birth of Christ.

There are always shepherds, angels, camels, kings, stars and in the end Mary and Joseph and a baby Jesus in a stable.

 

I have never experienced any issues with parents from other faiths, and they are always fun and well attended by all parents.

(infact one muslim mum is repairing some shepherds costumes for me this weekend)

 

Political correctness drives me mad - but is exaggerated grossly by the media - I don't know a school in my area that wont be doing a traditional Christmas show!!

 

I would like some of these annual scaremongers to come and watch our Carol concert in church next week ..... and watch the beautiful duet by 2 year 6 boys (one muslim) of Stille Nacht. Both sets of parents are nothing but proud of their children and will be stood in church to hear them!

 

Thanks for posting this. It's a great antidote to the rabble rousing cr@p printed in the media. For every PC nutter story printed in the ranting press there are plenty of other people going about their daily lives without offending each other.

 

The PC brigade only add fuel to fire with this. Lets say, for arguments sake, for every 500 muslims that don't give a toss, you will find one that does and it's papers like the daily mail and their 2-dimensional readership that really press on this isolated view. And, behind the scenes, the BNP are rubbing their hands!

 

Is this what the PC brigades really want??

 

Tossers!

Edited December 6, 200717 yr by ScottyEm

Ffs we can't even live normally in our own country.

I hated to take part in the christmas play in primary school. I think kids should get the choice if they want to take part or not. If you ain't one of the main characters then you're one that plays the instruments behind the curtains!!

Exactly my thoughts to be honest... The celebration of YULE, which is the 25th of December, has bugger all to do with Christ's birth anyway... I do believe Scientists actually put a likely date for Christ's birth somewhere around mid-January or summat....

 

No, I think the Nativity should perhaps be replaced by something like Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol".... Surely it's far more relevant, more secular (but still in keeping with the Christmas tradition, and Dickens is one of OUR most famous and celebrated authors), and it gives a good, positive message that we should be concerned with and think about less fortunate people at this time of year..... Surely the Christian thing to do, yes...?

 

Personally, I think the nativity play is only suitable for the very youngest (Primary 5-7 years) age group who go to school. I don't think it works for an older age group, because there are far too many (implausible) holes in the plot of the play.

 

As for "A Christmas Carol"..... I totally agree with all Scott says especially for older age ranges. I should add I've played Ebeneezer Scrooge on two separate occasions in Junior & Secondary school. Although old friends of mine would say that I was a perfect fit for the title role. :lol:

 

Being serious though, like with virtually all these type of stories, the right-wing press/media is overplaying the influence of the right-on middle-class liberals on this scenario. I should add the school that my brother's children go to has a significant minority of non-christian religious denominations (c. 30+ %), and those childrens' parents have never had a problem with the culture of celebrating Xmas at school and have frequently helped out with putting on these type of shows.

Right, i'm not racist but i'm outraged by our nativity plays bveing under threat.

If we have to respect the culture and heritage of the minorities, they should respect ours too.

Right, i'm not racist but i'm outraged by our nativity plays bveing under threat.

If we have to respect the culture and heritage of the minorities, they should respect ours too.

 

id suggest you read the whole thread first before wading in like that .... :)

Right, i'm not racist but i'm outraged by our nativity plays bveing under threat.

If we have to respect the culture and heritage of the minorities, they should respect ours too.

 

You may not be racist but you are clearly as thick as 2 short planks

 

This has NOTHING to do with minorities and EVERYTHING to do with WHITE middle class do gooders sticking their politically correct beaks into things that don't concern them and giving immigrants a bad name because of it

 

 

Lol, i know what you mean and it's completley the governments fault, but im just outraged by the idea we have to lose our plays based on the governments wacko 'politically correctness' programme.

Right, i'm not racist but i'm outraged by our nativity plays bveing under threat.

If we have to respect the culture and heritage of the minorities, they should respect ours too.

 

Posts like this one are pretty much the reason I get so pissed off.....

Ethnic minorities are oftenly respectful with mainstream traditions, and many of them even take part on the celebrations. And since when being an ethnic minority and being non-Christian is the same? Christianity is much more influent in Poland, Eastern Europe and Latin america then it is in secularized united kingdom, so I´m sure theat many of the imigrants are more into christianity then "native" british people. Not every imigrant is a muslim. Just like it was said above, it´s white mid-class people from the "native" british who want to ban christian traditions in school because of secular influence, and only use the non-christians minorities for that as an excuse. Parents are not forced to let their kids take part if they feel that the story is "ofensive"...

Ethnic minorities are oftenly respectful with mainstream traditions, and many of them even take part on the celebrations. And since when being an ethnic minority and being non-Christian is the same? Christianity is much more influent in Poland, Eastern Europe and Latin america then it is in secularized united kingdom, so I´m sure theat many of the imigrants are more into christianity then "native" british people. Not every imigrant is a muslim. Just like it was said above, it´s white mid-class people from the "native" british who want to ban christian traditions in school because of secular influence, and only use the non-christians minorities for that as an excuse. Parents are not forced to let their kids take part if they feel that the story is "ofensive"...

 

Good post JJN, and quite true as well... Immigrant does not necessarily equate to Non-Christian any more than native born brit equates to Christian.....