Tinsel, Timetables and Tiny Triumphs: Christmas 2026 at Our School

Christmas at our school tends to arrive in stages. First the shoeboxes appear in the corridor, then somebody finds the tinsel, then somebody else remembers the angel costume is still in a cupboard at home. With term ending on Friday 18 December 2026 and the Christmas Fair just three weeks away, here is the whole festive picture in one place — the dates, the drop-offs, the honest asks for help, and a shout-out for the small things already going right.

The dates worth sticking on the fridge

Saturday 28 November, 10am–1pm — Christmas Fair, school hall. Craft stalls, the tombola, a café doing bacon rolls and mince pies, and this year's addition: a free pre-loved Christmas jumper rail. Entry is £1 for adults and free for children. We can take card and cash.

Friday 4 December — Christmas jumper day. A £1 donation to the PTA, and absolutely no expectation to buy anything new. Last year's jumper rail exists precisely so nobody has to.

Tuesday 8 December, 2pm and 5.30pm — Reception and Key Stage 1 nativity. Tickets are £2 per adult, free for under-18s, from the office or ParentPay. Hall doors open twenty minutes before each performance. Be warned: it is warm, it is loud, and there will be at least one sheep who refuses to be a sheep.

Thursday 10 December, 6.30pm — Carol concert at St Mary's, Walberton. Key Stage 2 choir, a few readings from Year 6, and mulled apple juice in the porch afterwards. The church gets properly cold, so coats and blankets are encouraged. Entry is free, with a retiring collection for the Bognor Regis Foodbank.

Wednesday 16 December — Christmas lunch. Crackers, paper hats, the works. Please tell the office about allergies by Friday 4 December so the kitchen can plan properly.

Friday 18 December — last day of term. School closes at 1.30pm, and there are no after-school clubs that afternoon. Spring term starts on Tuesday 5 January 2027.

Monday 23 November to Friday 11 December — reverse advent calendar. Details below.

Three ways to help (no committee membership required)

1. Fill a box for the reverse advent calendar

Donations go to the Bognor Regis Foodbank and the pantry at St Mary's. The items most asked for are UHT milk, tinned fish, pasta sauce, rice, cereal, shampoo, toothpaste, nappies in sizes 4 to 6, and pet food. Something nice is always welcome too — a packet of biscuits, a jar of coffee, a box of chocolates.

Please check dates before donating, and avoid anything containing alcohol. The drop-off point is the labelled box just inside reception. Last drop-off is Friday 11 December at 9am so everything can be sorted and delivered before the holidays.

2. Give a jumper, take a jumper

From Monday 16 November we are collecting clean, wearable Christmas jumpers in all children's sizes. Hand them to the office or send them in with your child. They go on the free rail at the fair, and whatever is left goes to the school's spare-clothes cupboard and then to a charity shop in Bognor. No labels, no prices, no fuss.

3. Bake, or buy, for the café

Mince pies, traybakes, biscuits and fairy cakes are all needed. Everything must be nut-free and labelled with what's in it. Deliveries to the hall on Thursday 26 November between 8.30am and 4pm, or first thing on the Saturday morning.

Volunteers: exactly what we need, and when

Here is the honest list. Friday 27 November from 3.30pm, a small crew to fetch the tree and shift tables. Saturday 28 November, 7.45am setup, then half-hour slots on any stall through the morning, plus a washing-up crew from 1pm. We also need someone tall with a stepladder, someone with a van for about forty minutes, and a few people to hand out programmes at the door.

And lifts. A handful of families on the Binsted side find the evening events harder to reach, so if you drive past a neighbour's gate and have a spare seat, that genuinely counts as volunteering. Email the school office and they will point you at the right person. One hour is real help, not a token gesture.

Small wins already in the bag

• Year 3 have made a run of paper decorations for the Walberton village hall, which are now strung above the stage.
• The choir sang at the village lights switch-on, and apparently the rendition of a certain much-loved song stopped a small group of shoppers in their tracks.
• Sixty-two pairs of gloves have been reunited with their owners after the lost property amnesty. Sixty-two.
• The harvest cake sale raised £214.50, which has already gone towards new playground markings.
• Year 6 have written Christmas cards for residents at a care home in the village, delivered by hand with strictly no adult prompting.

Keeping it light on the wallet

The carol concert is free. Under-18s go free to the nativity. The jumper rail costs nothing. Entry to the fair is free for children, and there is a quiet corner near the library for anyone who needs five minutes away from the noise. If money is tight this year, you do not need to explain it to anyone — just come along and enjoy the morning.

One last thing

If you can only do one thing this December, make it the foodbank box. If you can do two, add your name to a stall rota. And if you cannot manage either, come and clap at the nativity anyway. That is what the school family is for.