It was with a heavy heart that I’d written off the Christmas nativity performances at our school.
Planned maintenance work was being carried out on our roof; this meant that the hall would be out of action. Without the performance space, it seemed we’d have no option but to cancel Christmas.
However, with just over two weeks of term left, we found out that the roofing work was delayed and the school could operate as normal until the end of the term.
By this point, though, behaviour was starting to get Christmas-lively and staff were beginning to tire.
We faced a dilemma: we didn’t want to compound staff stress, but we were very conscious that families have missed out on a great deal during Covid, and Christmas performances are always a calendar highlight.
So, rather than do nothing, we decided that the Reception class would do their own nativity in the school hall, but the rest of the school would take a different approach, one we hoped would be much less stressful and more enjoyable for children, staff and families.
We agreed that each year group would create a scene from a nativity and perform it in a classroom, with the parents visiting each scene in a theatre-in-the-park, promenade-style performance.
So, how did we make this work?
We produced a short script that linked the nativity scenes and cast some Year 6 pupils as Santas, who would escort the groups of parents around the school for a 45-minute, immersive festive adventure.
The numbers were limited by how many parents we could fit in each classroom. We agreed that 40 people for each performance was about right. We then decided that we would need to provide around 400 tickets, which meant the children did over ten performances. We spaced the performances across the day, with 15 minutes between each one.
Parents were asked to sign up for tickets using Eventbrite. It’s a great way of organising ticket sales, as it’s so quick and easy, but be warned: it’s expensive if you want parents to pay online, as the company takes a large cut.
In the run-up to the show, the year groups were able to practise their scenes at their convenience, in their classrooms. This made logistics a doddle, compared to years when we used the hall. It also meant the children weren’t sitting around for long periods of time, getting tired and irritable during rehearsals; as they were in their classrooms, they could be carrying on with other activities.
On the day of the performance, parents met in the hall for a brew and a mince pie, where they were welcomed by the “chief elf” (me). I explained the arrangements, before walking them around the outside of the school to the start of the show.
One of the downsides was that not everyone could get a great view of every scene, but we worked around this by allowing parents of the year group involved to enter first and sit or stand at the front. We also didn’t have time for parents to take a picture of their child at the end of the performance, as they needed to move on to the next scene.
Overall, though, the performance was a great success. We did it all in one manic, fun-filled day. It was definitely full-on, but the children rose to the challenge and had a brilliant time. We put on a good show for our families and also managed to do our bit to help keep staff in one piece.
Promenade theatre isn’t for every school performance - we are lucky that our building is mostly circular in its design and relatively open-plan, which minimised logistical difficulties. It worked for us and I would encourage others to consider it if they’re up for doing something different. Maybe you could even do it outside. There’s an idea for 2023...
Dave McPartlin is the headteacher of Flakefleet Primary School, Lancashire
