Dunstable school caretaker delights hundreds with living nativity and festive displays
Hundreds of people flocked to see a winter wonderland created by a former pupil turned caretaker at a Dunstable school.
Pupils and parents visited the winter wonderland display in the hall and playground at St Augustine's Academy, carefully curated by site manager Jason Smart.
Jason has been working at the school for almost a decade, and left the school 25 years ago as a nine-year-old.
He explained: “We started the Winter Wonderland just as we were coming out of Covid… No one really knew I was doing it. I just sort of did it on a Friday night, ready for Monday morning.”
Now in its fifth year, Jason has gone one step further and put together a living nativity scene – complete with a donkey, sheep and goats.
The 36-year-old said: “The best part is seeing the children and staff’s reactions, everything’s top secret. Most years, one of the teachers will start crying as well.”
Since joining the school, he has used his skills, resourcefulness and creativity to make the premises look brighter, be more practical and sprinkle a bit of Christmas cheer.
Amanda Howes, headteacher, praised Jason for his commitment to the festive season: “For the winter wonderland, there must have been three or four hundred people… everyone was able to come without having to pay a penny… It’s grown and grown because of Jason and the team.”
His other projects have included creating a practical space for children to cook in and converting an old bus into a movable music room which can also used by the school council for their meetings.
He explained: “We converted an old bus for music lessons so one building doesn’t get too noisy. I can run off solar power or mains electricity and is still drivable.”
“If a problem arises, we don’t just jump straight to contractors. We think about what we can do.
“For example, our kitchen needed a complete refit six weeks before the summer holidays. We managed to gut it and reinstall everything by the first day back.”
On the school field, Jason created a forest school, with 50 trees, bushes and learning areas.
What started out as a necessary social distancing measure during the pandemic has become a beloved area of the school, used to connect and learn about nature.
It’s no surprise he was named as the winner of the National Estate Management of the Year Award in 2024.
Amanda added: “It’s just that sense of community and sense of joy that these things were able to bring… Jason’s got such a heart for the school, for the children, that he wants to do his very best for them.
“There are some ideas that we think we can’t do, but then Jason will come up with a way, and we realise we really can do it.
“We’ve got the skills and talents here that we can use.”