A school that threatened to ban Christmas has been persuaded to reinstate it after receiving hundreds of “thoughtful” letters and emails from pupils.

Lady Lumley’s school in Pickering, North Yorkshire, cast itself as a modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge when it told pupils that the true meaning of Christmas had been “buried under an avalanche of commercialisation”.

Religious education teacher Chris Paul told students that Christmas was “a day celebrating the birth of Jesus and should be a time of goodwill to all” but that its original meaning had been lost. Even Santa Claus, Paul said, “was probably invented by the Coca-Cola company”.

The teacher said there would be “no cards, no parties, no gifts and no Christmas tree” unless pupils wrote a persuasive argument about why the school should celebrate the holiday. The miserly move brought complaints from some parents who described it as “horrible” and “disgusting”.

But after receiving more than 500 emails and letters “making a strong case” for jingling the bells and bringing back the baubles, the school relented.

In a message to parents on Tuesday, the headteacher Richard Bramley said the idea had been to challenge students to consider the true meaning of Christmas.

He said: “Those students who really thought about the situation and challenged the decision appropriately created the change and brought back Christmas. Well done to them and I hope they (and, in the true spirit of the season, everyone else) has a good Christmas.”

Bramley said the challenge was to make students consider the way in which society celebrates Christmas and think about the social problems that arise around this time: “Students were asked to challenge the status quo; to ask ‘why should we do things just because we have always done them?’ and … to question whether non-religious people should celebrate a religious festival.”

He added: “With over 500 emails and letters making a strong case for its retention, Lady Lumley’s has decided to keep Christmas in 2018.”

The school confirmed that the fairy lights and Christmas tree would appear once again at Lady Lumley’s. It remains to be seen whether they get a visit from Santa.