Ah, the Nativity is what Christmas is all about!

We all remember fondly our school versions of the story, with tea towel head-wrapped shepherds and tinsel-haloed angels.

It’s this Christmas tradition that forms the backdrop to Nativity The Musical, which sees St Bernadette’s Catholic School aiming to transform its fortunes by staging a spectacular nativity production.

The school is in “special measures” and can’t compete in any way with the nearby Oakmoor prep school. Its teachers are despondent and nobody believes in its socially deprived pupils.

That is until wacky teaching assistant Mr Poppy comes along and casts a new light on the children’s possibilities.

Things get out of hand when a white lie – that St Bernadette’s Nativity is to be made into a Hollywood movie – snowballs round the city.

It leads to a situation where the school can either conform to expectations of failure or put on a dazzling show to confound the doubters and demonstrate its pupils’ talents.

Based on the 2009 hit Brit film that has gone on to spawn several sequels, Nativity The Musical features the same catchy songs and family friendly humour, brought up to date by a sprinkling of jokes with contemporary references.

When it opened at The Mayflower in Southampton on Tuesday, it went down a storm particularly with the younger members of the audience.

Top marks go to Scott Paige as the anarchic Mr Poppy, who is blessed with a childlike disposition and an instinct for the simple truth – his delivery saved from full on panto camp by a touch of innocence.

Scott Garnham as a lovelorn and dispirited teacher, Ashleigh Gray as his former girlfriend and Dani Dyer, of Love Island fame, reprising her first theatre role (a short, self-deprecating turn as a Hollywood diva) were among the rest of a class act cast.

But the real stars were the youngsters who played the pupils with a rare authenticity and performed a finale most schools could only dream about.

If you are looking for a show to get you into the seasonal spirit then Nativity The Musical could be the perfect gift. For ultimately it comes with a message of hope – which, after all, is what the real Nativity was all about.

Runs at The Mayflower until Saturday before transferring to the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London.