For 95 years, the sound of chimes ringing through Church Farm School’s Chapel of the Atonement has accompanied the presentation of a humble gift for the Christ Child as part of the annual Christmas Pageant.

Preceded by an array of characters – knights, artists, kings, queens, and misers among them – who believe abundance will cause the church’s long-silent chimes to ring, it is instead a young boy’s altruistic present that most represents the spirit of the season.

Following a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic when the school released an award-winning documentary on this beloved school tradition instead, Church Farm School is pleased to invite the community to its 96th Annual Christmas Pageant, being held on Sunday, Dec. 12 at 3 PM. All guests must be fully vaccinated and masked to attend. Free registration is available here.

In 1924, Church Farm School’s founder, The Rev. Dr. Charles Wesley Shreiner, adapted Raymond MacDonald Alden’s popular 1909 story, “Why the Chimes Rang,” for the school’s own Christmas Pageant. Pageant, as it is simply known, is performed as a pantomime with students adorned in period dress as both male and female characters. The Head of School and Assistant Head of School serve as narrators, with faculty and staff toiling for months behind the scenes as directors, set decorators, costumers, organists, and choir conductors.

Guests of Pageant – many who have attended for generations with their families – play the part of a church congregation, participating in the recitation of prayers and the singing of hymns and holiday music. A local highlight of the Christmas season, Pageant draws hundreds of friends, alumni, and current and former faculty each year over its December weekend run.

Church Farm School, founded in 1918 and located on 150 bucolic acres in Exton, serves young men in grades 9-12 each year through its financially accessible college preparatory boarding and day program. Pageant honors the legion of supporters of the school who, like the procession of characters in the story, give gifts both large and small that help sustain Church Farm School’s mission of providing an exemplary education at a reasonable cost to deserving young men.

Church Farm School is fully open for the 2021-2022 school year, with 100 percent of its faculty, staff, and students vaccinated. The private boarding and day high school for boys is now accepting applications for the 2022-2023 school year. Learn more about the school and its mission of providing a financially accessible, college prep education to high-achieving young men.