Good morning. This is the last Survival Guide before Christmas, and the final one of the year. I hope that many of you are feeling suitably merry and get some time to relax over the festive season.

A reminder that we have lots of advice over on bigissue.com on how to get through Christmas in the cost of living crisis – places where you can get a free Christmas dinner, restaurants where kids eat free, how to find a warm bank near you, when you’ll get your benefits over the Christmas period and more cost of living help.

We’ve also got advice on how you can help others this Christmas, if you can – whether it’s donating toys to children, volunteering on Christmas day or donating to a food bank.

You can also, of course, support our Big Issue vendors. Our legendary Christmas special of the magazine will be out on Monday – it's our biggest (and quite possibly best) of the year, packed with famous faces, a Christmas message from Keir Starmer, and everything you need to know about the new Wallace and Gromit film... 

This has been a tough year, but there are lots of reasons to feel hopeful. Volunteers, charity workers and frontline professionals are working tirelessly to make Christmas special for vulnerable people.

In this newsletter, we meet the wonderful teachers who are bringing festive magic to kids in poverty. And read to the end for a lovely story to send us off into Christmas about the choir made up of modern slavery survivors who are rediscovering joy through music and friendship.

I’ll be back in your inbox in January but, until then, have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. 

If you have a story to share, we want to listen. Get in touch at isabella.mcrae@bigissue.com or share your story here.

'We all deserve magic': Meet the teachers working to bring Christmas joy to children in poverty

School staff all over the UK are gearing up to make this holiday season special for children and their families – no matter their income.

“Our school is in the most deprived areas in Coventry, and one of the most deprived areas in the country,” says Danielle Kingham, headteacher at St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School.

“We’ll make sure to give them the best time over the next few weeks.”

Celebrations kick off with the start of advent, when all the classes make Christmas decorations. Teachers then stay on after school to make a Santa’s grotto in one of the classrooms.

“We buy a selection box for each child, out of the school money or donation, and wrap it up, and then they all get to visit Father Christmas in the grotto,” she said. “A couple of years ago, one of the girls said to Father Christmas that she wanted warm socks.”

Teachers and families make donations for hampers to be delivered to the homes of the families most in need. The little girl who asked for warm socks had them in one of the hampers, much to her delight.

Every activity they plan is donation only – no child is excluded when they can’t pay for the pantomime or concerts. And on a chosen day, staff and children sit together to enjoy a proper Christmas dinner, with crackers and all.

“Everybody is always really thankful,” she said. “You see what a difference you can make to people’s lives.”

Read about the teachers going above and beyond this Christmas.

In case you missed it

TikTok star and teacher Shabaz Ali: 'Kids should not be going without food in this country'. He speaks to the Big Issue about why he's teaming up with Save the Children to call for more to be done to tackle child poverty. Get the story.

This is the reality of life in temporary accommodation at Christmas: 'Where would we put a tree?' More than 159,000 children will be living in temporary accommodation this festive season, yet it remains a fringe conversation. Find out more.

Prices rise at highest rate in months: 'Families are still struggling with the cost of living'. The inflation figures are ‘no immediate cause for concern’, experts said, but represent a challenge for the government. Read the latest.

'We are sick and tired': Hundreds of renters demand 'rent controls now' in Christmas protest. Scores of renters took to the streets on one of London’s biggest shopping days of the year to demand rent controls to cap sky-high rents. Here’s the story.

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'It's changed our life': These modern slavery survivors are finding hope at Christmas through music

Seven women, each a survivor of modern slavery, stand together in front of giant glistening Christmas trees, wearing Santa hats with big smiles as they sing. This choir is one of few places they feel safe and hopeful that, one day, their voices will be heard. 

‘Dreams’ is a singing group for modern slavery survivors run by The Salvation Army, with the most recent performance at the charity’s headquarters in South London attended by Labour MP Jess Phillips, minister in the Home Office responsible for safeguarding and tackling violence against women and girls.

I met the choir at The Salvation Army Church in Hendon, at their last rehearsal a week before the performance. There was nervousness and laughter as they ran through some of their favourites – Jessie J’s Price Tag and Shallow from A Star is Born, as well as Christmas classics. There is so much joy as they sing and chuckle over little mistakes.

“When you do music, you can express your feelings,” one of the women told me. “I would like other people to be encouraged to join and feel the vibration of music in their hearts. I hope people hear our voices and do not get tired of helping us, because the help has a big impact on us. It has changed our life.”

Read the full story of the choir here and listen to their song on Spotify here. 

This Christmas, you can make a lasting change to a vendor's life. Buy a magazine from your local vendor in the street every week, if you can’t reach them, buy a Big Issue Vendor Support Kit.