Coronavirus: Cardiff school reopens to excitement and nerves

As schools across Wales re-opened their gates to children on Monday, BBC Wales spent the morning at Marlborough Primary in Cardiff to see how it would work.

It was an emotional start as staff welcomed back 95 pupils - roughly half in the morning and half in the afternoon.

Children bounced with excitement at seeing friends they had not seen in months and parents appeared relieved.

For teachers, it was the first step on the path back to a form of normality.

With 530 pupils at the school, in the suburb of Roath, the return has had to be staggered.

Attending on Monday morning were pupils from years two, four, six and pupils with special educational needs, and in the afternoon years one, three and five.

The school had gone to extreme lengths to ensure pupils could be in the same class as their best friends, and had maintained consistent and meaningful contact with parents during lockdown.

For example, head teacher Geraldine Foley owns one of the school's two "wellbeing dogs", Rollo and Maisy, and estimates she saw 150 families with Rollo during lockdown.

"In a really difficult situation, Marlborough has been at the centre of the community - we have really realised that the parents have needed us and the community do," said deputy head Leah Crew.

The result has been that 90% of parents felt comfortable enough to send their children back to school.

"The school have communicated really well - what they are doing, how they were managing it," said Zoe, whose daughter Olivia returned to school on Monday.

As Ms Crew entered the school grounds shortly before 08:00 GMT, she was faced with her first problem of the day.

Two-metre distancing markers stuck to the school playground on Friday afternoon had been dislodged by the weekend's stormy weather.

Social distancing measures at the school have been developed with the school's narrow corridors in mind.

The buildings are split into a number of zones - including rainbow, dream and heart zones.

Pupils are told not to cross into other zones and there is a one-way system in the corridors where children are guided by arrows on the floor.

Tables and chairs in classrooms have been arranged to allow social distancing and all children are given their own plastic envelope to keep their pens, pencils and other learning materials in.

All surfaces and toys are cleaned after they are used or are put away in storage for a week before they can be used again.

School breaks are staggered, with a maximum of 24 children monitored by six member of staff.

There were fears that children, particularly younger ones, would not be able to abide by social distancing rules.

But there is a "fine balance" between keeping children physically safe from the virus and keeping them mentally well, according to Ms Crew.

With pupils unable to see each other for so long, year four pupils discussed their favourite memories from the academic year before lockdown was announced.

Asked how they felt before returning, pupils expressed mixed feeling.

"I was excited but nervous because I thought I would accidentally break the rules," said Charlotte.

In reception class, children played with toys and spoke about what they had done in lockdown by referring to a collage of images they had created.

For teachers, this day has been a long time coming.

"I got really emotional seeing them running up the road, excited to come back," said headteacher Geraldine Foley.

"And it was emotional seeing parents as well. Teachers were drying their eyes. It was lovely."

Maggie, six, says she was so excited to return to school on Monday that she had prepared her clothes on Saturday.

"I was excited because we haven't been to school in ages," she said.

"I've missed my friends. I was really excited and couldn't stop jumping."