Published Monday 21 December 2020 at 12:47
This may be a very different Christmas to the ones we are used to, but this hasn’t stopped The Redeemer Primary School from having plenty of festive fun
The School, on Jack Walker Way in Blackburn, has been pulling out all the stops to make this Christmas special despite the ongoing pandemic.
Determined to hold its usual nativity, the school moved to a ‘virtual’ show as it could not invite parents and carers in to watch as usual.
Instead, the video was shared online, privately, with parents so they could watch the nativity
On top of that, even Santa’s magical reindeers managed to stop by to spend a festive afternoon with all the pupils.
While Santa’s elves made sure they stuck to social distancing measures, the children were able to make friends with the reindeers and give some festive treats.
There was also a snow machine for the children to play with to make the scene even more Christmassy!
Headteacher Michelle Smith said:
This has been the most challenging and unusual year ever for children and teachers, and we’ve been working so hard to get things back to some kind of normality. We thought it was really important to have our Christmas nativity as usual to give us all something to look forward to and to celebrate Christmas after such a hard year.
The big difference this year is we are doing a virtual nativity, which means that we didn’t have parents and carers coming in to watch the show, but we did share it with them online. We hope everyone will enjoy this but we can’t wait to get back to normal and have an in-person nativity next year. It is a really special time in our school for the children, parents and staff and it will be absolutely wonderful to hold it properly again.
The theme of our nativity is really special this year – It’s based on a poem that not only tells the story of the nativity but also reflects hope during the difficulties and challenges of this year. It ends with the wonderful message that Jesus is our light. We are doing it with all the year groups in the school as well, to show we are all in this together and will get through this together.”
Michelle Smith is also one of the stars of a new Council communications campaign featuring local people talking about the things they miss doing, due to Coronavirus restrictions.
The new ‘Picture this’ campaign reminds us that we can all do our bit to control the spread of the virus, to get back to doing the things we love again quicker.
In the video being shared on social media, Michelle talks about how much she is looking forward to the school community not having to stay in separate bubbles.
Michelle said:
I’m really looking forward to the time when we can come together as one – our children, our school community, collectively coming together in person, being able to socialise, to shake hands, to hug, to play together, to enjoy our time spent as one.”
Councillor Julie Gunn, Executive member for Children, Young People and Education, said:
This has been a very different, and difficult, year for our children, teachers sand school staff and they have all worked so hard to bring some Christmas cheer into their schools despite the restrictions.
I know we are all looking forward to getting some sort of normality back in the coming year, and there are things that we all miss doing, especially at this time of year. It’s wonderful to see pupils still enjoying the festive season and our schools looking to the future to brighter days.”