Just one in three schools still holds a traditional nativity play even though parents want the Christmas story to live on in education.

The most popular Christmas play now staged in schools is an ‘updated nativity’ featuring characters such as aliens, punk fairies, footballers, drunk spacemen, Elvis and recycling bins, a survey showed today.

Seven per cent of schools even refuse to call the production a Christmas or nativity play, preferring instead ‘Winter Celebration’, ‘Seasonal Play’ or ‘End of Year Concert’.

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Changing times: Just one in three schools still holds a traditional nativity play even though parents want the Christmas story to live on in education (picture posed by models)

The poll also showed that parents want to keep alive the traditional nativity play with 65 per cent saying they wished their children’s school staged one.

The findings come amid growing concern among some clergy that Christianity is being marginalised in Britain.

Just 32 per cent of primary schools continue to stage a traditional nativity which tells the story of Christ’s birth, according to a poll of 2,157 members of parenting site Netmums.

Instead, nearly half – 47 per cent – stage an ‘updated nativity’ which mixes modern and traditional characters.

A further one in eight – 12 per cent – puts on a ‘modern nativity’ which dispenses with religious references altogether.

Parents reported that ‘modern’ roles being introduced in schools include aliens, recycling bins, punk fairies, Elvis, footballers, a lobster, a napkin, carrots, sprouts, a pumpkin and a drunken spaceman.

There were even reports of an Apprentice-style Christmas performance, with ‘Lord Christmas’ instead of Father Christmas playing the lead role.

In a growing trend, one in 100 schools asks pupils to perform Christmas plays incorporating information on the festivals of Eid, Hanukkah and Diwali.

Almost one in ten schools decided against staging a Christmas production at all.

Christmas carols are also under threat in schools, the survey showed.

Just 35 per cent of schools still require pupils to sing traditional carols and hymns amid evidence they are being eclipsed by Christmas pop songs such as ‘Rocking Around the Christmas Tree’.

The decline of the traditional nativity is against parents’ wishes, the poll suggested.

Of parents whose school had elected not to hold a traditional nativity, 65 per cent would like it to introduce one.

Shift: Seven per cent of schools even refuse to call the production a Christmas or nativity play, preferring instead ‘Winter Celebration’, ‘Seasonal Play’ or ‘End of Year Concert’

Just one in five parents - 22 per cent - feel the nativity is ‘unimportant’ while one in eight - 13 per cent - planned to teach their child the Christmas story at home.

In further revelations, and in a sign of the times, a third of schools now ask parents to sign forms declaring they will refrain from posting photos of the Christmas play on social media.

Just 38 per cent of schools allow parents to take pictures of the play freely, while cameras are banned at 16 per cent.

The most popular Christmas play now staged in schools is an ‘updated nativity’ featuring characters such as Elvis Presley

A further 14 per cent of schools video the performance before charging parents for copies.

But competition for key parts in Christmas plays – and parental pride and angst over the roles allocated – shows no sign of diminishing.

One in nine parents have witnessed others pressuring teachers to give their child a main part while 26 per cent suspected it went on at their school.

One in seven (14 per cent) admitted being ‘upset and disappointed’ by the part allocated to their child in the school Christmas play.

Netmums co-founder Siobhan Freegard said: ‘While the UK is a diverse and multicultural society and it’s right children learn about all religions and cultures, many parents feel the traditional nativity is being pushed aside.

‘It seems wrong to bombard kids with commercial messages about presents and Santa without them realising the true meaning of the celebration.

‘This study shows many parents who aren’t religious look to the nativity as a comforting part of the Christmas celebrations and want their school to embrace and celebrate it, rather than make up a version with perhaps less resonance for kids.