Apolgies if this has been discussed before, but 'supersearch' doesn't seem to be working at the moment.

I am going to see a version of the Mystery Plays at Canterbury Catheral tomorrow and I got to thinking about School Nativity Plays, which share some of the character of the Mystery Plays. Even today they are performed in the majority of English schools (although concerns about other religions have had the effect of downplaying the traditional Nativity story itself in many cases.)

Discussing this with my mother-in-law, she does not remember them taking place at her school in the early 1930's but of course that was just one school and it may simply be a failure or memory.

When did the Nativity Play become widespread in school? What was the driving force? Have they a long history in some area, perhaps moving from church or Sunday school to normal school?   In short, what is the history?