FAMILIES and friends can look forward to the usual festive feast of fun as a school community pulls together to celebrate Christmas to meet with Covid-19 constraints.

The global pandemic is proving to be no obstacle to staff and children at Barnard Castle Preparatory School who plan to stage all the traditional seasonal events, but to stream them online to families unable to attend in person.

A week of festivities will see the curtain rise on no-less than four pantomimes, one for each of the Prep School houses at the Westwick Road school, Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs and Snow White.

Each will be videoed in year-group ‘bubbles’ and sent via a secure internet link to parents during the final week of the Michaelmas term.

The Year 3 and 4 bubble will perform the annual Christingle service, taking viewers on a tour of the school site, from the Atkinson Hall, to the car park festive display and the school chapel, where they will parade with candles, oranges and crosses.

Festive songs will range from Frosty the Snowman to O Come All Ye Faithful, accompanied for the first time by the Prep School Brass Band.

On the Wednesday, Year 5 and 6 will stage the annual carol service with web-watchers being treated to readings and carols plus additional festive ditties, including White Christmas, First Christmas and Jingle Bell Rock.

The following day will see a performance of the Nativity, which has been filmed around the huge school site, featuring a stable scene created in the forest school.

Due to the Covid restrictions, no more than 15 pupils will sing together at any one time, but the video edit will see them blended together to raise the roof.

The performance will also premier the talents of the school’s glockenspiel group, as it is the only instrument capable of being sanitised and safely used within school.

On the final day of term, children will arrive in Christmas jumpers before enjoying a day of well-earned festivities.

Careful planning has also gone into the safe exchange of Christmas cards.

A post box has been set up for cards which will then be quarantined and, when safe to do so, Year 3, equipped with facemasks and gloves, will become ‘Christmas elves’ to sort the cards, which will then undergo further quaranteening before being handed out to take home.

Even a super-sanitised Santa will make a socially distanced outdoor visit to wish pupils a Merry Christmas and a COVID-free New Year.

Headmistress Laura Turner said: “Christmas is a magical time and the children and their families have had to endure such a lot this year, that we were absolutely determined to make it as special as we possibly could.

“We have all become very proficient with the latest technology because of the pandemic and staff were delighted to put their new-found skills to good effect to ensure that families did not miss out on the festive fun despite being unable to join us in person.”