SCHOOLS across the county are staging Nativity plays and other festive productions this Christmas, to the delight of parents, as they have done for many years.

This picture was taken at Donnington Middle School in Oxford in 1976.

With two weeks to go before the big day, the children were already getting into the festive spirit.

But at that stage, it wasn’t presents that were occupying their minds.

They were preparing to relate the nativity story with a difference.

The Road to Bethlehem was a ‘musical play’ written and designed by first year music teacher Caroline Cook, who was in only her second year of full-time teaching.

She is pictured at the piano with some of the cast.

The centre of attention in her version was the son of the innkeeper – and the Christmas story was told through his eyes.

The humble stable, usually much in evidence in Nativity plays, was superseded on this occasion by the Market Place and the inn.

Miss Cook told the Oxford Mail at the time: “I’ve written one musical play before, when I was on teaching practice. I found the music easy, but not the words.”

However, the words and music were finally completed and 120 10-year-olds from the school tackled the work with gusto.

Suitably attired for a Nativity play, they gave two performances to delighted audiences of parents and friends before the end of term.

Do you recognise yourself or anyone else in the picture? Write and let me know.