Crib sheet

Seasonal teaser

Seasonal teaser

There are some questions from pupils teachers never want to answer. Where do babies come from? What is a virgin? And, worst of all: Is Father Christmas real?

Pity Jane Woodley, a teacher at Calcot junior school, Reading, who, caught out by the question, opted for the Scrooge-like reply that Santa Claus is definitely not coming to town and his reindeer Rudolph is a cartoon character. Her pupils went home in tears.

The school claims that Woodley, who has 28 years' teaching experience, made comments that were "misconstrued" by pupils. A governor, who did not wish to be named, admitted the school also had issues to resolve about the Tooth Fairy, but said it had introduced emergency measures to prevent further heartbreak. Now, when a child asks if Father Christmas exists, the teacher should advise them to ask their parents.

So how do other teachers approach the million-dollar question? Comedy star Ricky Gervais is an unlikely source of inspiration for year 4 teacher Martin Smith. "I tend to take a 'David Brent' approach," he says. "So I tell them something like: 'Look into your heart. If it tells you Father Christmas exists, then he really does.' Works every time."

Infant school teacher Sue Copsey takes a similar line. "I tell them it's always best to believe, just in case. If they don't believe, they might not get any presents."

Experience has taught year 2 teacher Adrian Jones to tread carefully. Parents were baying for his blood after he wrote "Santa Claus does not exist" on the whiteboard early in his career. "We were doing some work on the Loch Ness monster," he recalls. "The Santa Claus debate seemed a good example of how people believe different things and might spark a discussion about fact and fiction. The kids were 10 and 11, so I thought they'd be fine with it. The next day, parents were queuing up outside the head's office, claiming I'd 'raped the children of their innocence'."

Jones now uses Santa as a behavioural aid: "There's a little light that flashes on the interactive whiteboard every few minutes. Around Christmas, we tell the kids it's Santa's webcam and he's watching to see who's good and deserves lots of presents. When it flashes they sit up and stop talking. We don't worry too much about fibbing. We milk it as much as we can."

So there you go. He knows when you are sleeping; he knows when you're awake; he knows if you've been bad or good - and in this age of surveillance and technology, his job has been made that little bit easier, thanks to teachers.

Now, how can we exploit the Tooth Fairy? Janet Murray

Good news week

Kamillia Kasbi, 16, had to ask for a day off school to interview Sir Ian McKellen. Her friend David Gordon, 16, spent a Wednesday afternoon clinching an advertising deal worth £1,500 with EDF Energy.

It's not what most after-school clubs get young people involved in, but Kamillia and David are young journalists on Nang!, a lifestyle magazine for young people that began as an activity at their after-school club in Aldgate, east London.

Nang!, which is east London slang for cool or brilliant, features fashion, careers, reviews, music and celebrity interviews. As well as McKellen, its writers have interviewed Sven-Goran Eriksson and the rapper Sway, among others.

After-school projects like this can boost confidence, communication skills and self-esteem, according to a study published by Thames Valley University in September.

The Nang! team's confidence was boosted last week when it received a Philip Lawrence Award at a ceremony attended by the home secretary, John Reid, along with Sir Trevor McDonald and Frances Lawrence, widow of headmaster Philip Lawrence, who was stabbed to death in 1995 when he intervened in a fight between young people outside his school in London.

David Gordon, Nang!'s editor, is an A-level student at Raines Foundation school in Bethnal Green, east London. His lucrative advertising sales deal could stand him in good stead for a later career. And he sounds the part. "I approached our tutor's contact at EDF Energy, liaised with the company's marketing people over the phone and then eventually got them to agree to place an advert."

Nang! was launched as an annual publication in 2001 by Tower Hamlets Summer University, a charity that offers fun and educational courses for young people aged 12-25, throughout the year. The initial print-run of 5,000 per issue increased to 10,000 when the magazine went quarterly in the summer of 2005. Nang! can be picked up from libraries, sixth-form colleges, universities and Connexion centres across London.

Kamillia who is in year 11 at the Frances Bardsley school, Romford, Essex, overcame her initial butterflies when given the chance to interview McKellen with fellow Nang! writers Sanoobar Patel, 19, and Camille Crick, 15. "At first I felt nervous, but became more confident as the interview went on because he was easy to talk to, and so welcoming.

"I took the day off school for the interview, which my teachers were OK with, though some were taken aback. No one has ever asked for the day off to interview someone famous."

· Adeline Iziren is the tutor and managing editor of Nang!

Today's best video

Today in pictures