David Pittam
BBC News Online

John Gadsby, PE coordinator at Chellaston Primary School, said seeing today's break time was "bizarre".

"Usually they would be much closer together but we've not had to enforce the distancing yet," he said.

"Even if we did, we'd try to do it gently. At the moment they're just enjoying catching up with each other."

He added: "We've been thinking of games we could do, like football or football golf.

"There's not been much guidance from the government so we're just having to use our best judgement."

Rob England
BBC News

Charlie Herbert, from south Oxfordshire, said his son Ollie was "very happy" to be going back to school today.

"He is 11, and very happy to get to see all his friends again," Mr Herbert said.

"My ex-wife has been dealing with this nearly entirely on her own as I was away for most of lockdown. I have no concerns about sending them back at all."

Image source, Charlie Herbert

Mr Herbert, who also has a 14-year-old daughter, continued: "I feel like this has gone on for too long and we have to learn to live with Covid-19 in the medium to long-term."

He added he was more concerned with his daughter missing out on six months of education, than he was of sending his children back to school.

"However good the schools are, you can’t compare to face-to-face teaching.”

Judith Burns
Education reporter

“I’m excited to see my friends and see everyone but not excited for the work,” says 11-year-old Sean, who has just arrived back for his final few weeks at St Mary Magdalen’s Catholic Primary School In West London.

He says he has kept up with the home schooling “but it’s nowhere near the amount we normally do”.

Jennifer Meierhans
BBC News

Gary Spracklen, head teacher at The Prince of Wales School in Dorchester, gave his returning pupils a colourful welcome this morning.

BBC Breakfast

Image source, Adele Armstrong

Adele Armstrong, from Walthamstow told us what it was like to take her five-year-old daughter back to Reception today.

She had filled in a form to inform the school she would be sending her child in.

"I heard nothing in reply from the school and there wasn’t much information on the website.

"I have taken her into school this morning – up until then I wasn’t sure she would be going back."

Image source, Adele Armstrong

Ms Armstrong said she's a single mum with an only child who was excited to see her friends again.

"It was only us and one other set of parents at the school gates, so I don’t know how many people are actually sending their kids back," she said.

"At the gates it was a bit weird because the parents can’t go into the school.

"She got a bit nervous having to cross the playground on her own.

"It was like dropping her off on her first day of school all over again."

David Pittam
BBC News Online

I'm based at Chellaston Junior School in Derby today which has been welcoming back pupils this morning for the first time in 10 weeks.

The school said 108 of the 129 Year 6 pupils eligible to return have done so.

The children arrived through two entrances over four staggered start times, 15 minutes apart.

Head teacher Alex Smythe said: "We had cones out to show where two metres was but we didn't need to enforce it - everyone did it naturally. I think they're so used to it now.

"Most of the work in the classroom, at least for the first few days, is going to focus on mental health, self-esteem and coping with change.

"It's been extremely calm so far, although we'll see what happens at lunch and break."

Daniel Wainwright
BBC England Data Unit

Children returning to school from today will be taught in classes of up to 15 to maintain social distancing.

However it would be difficult to keep to these small class sizes if all year groups were to return.

Department for Education data shows the average class size in England’s primary schools last year was about 27 children.

Last year more than half a million primary pupils, about 13% of the total, were in classes with at least 31 pupils, including 41,723 taught in classes of 36 or more.

Jennifer Meierhans
BBC News

Here are some of the scenes at Queen's Hill Primary School in Costessey, Norfolk as some children went back after 10 weeks at home.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

BBC Breakfast

BBC Radio Suffolk

The headmaster of a primary school on the Essex/Suffolk border says there is an "air of excitement" as some children return to lessons this morning.

Littlegarth, external private prep school in Nayland says around three quarters of its reception, year one and year six pupils are going back to school.

Headmaster Peter Jones said there was a "different" but positive feeling around the school.

"An awful lot of work has gone in to comply [with coronavirus regulations]," he said.

"The key thing is doing all we can to make sure the children abide by the rules of cleanliness... and that we reinforce that by leading by example."

Judith Burns
Education reporter

I've been speaking to parents dropping off their children at St Mary Magdalen's Catholic primary school in West London.

"It really is best for the family," says mum Sophia as she drops her two sons.

She has managed to do some home schooling with the boys over the past few weeks but it hasn't always been easy.

"I was 10% worried but 90% thinking it was the right thing to do," says Julia, who has just dropped off her son.

"The main thing is for normality and for his mental health. He needs the interaction with his friends. He's been begging to come back," she says.

Daniel Wainwright
BBC England Data Unit

Despite being closed to most children, schools have continued to look after vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers, such as NHS staff and carers on the coronavirus front line.

They closed on 20 March and on the following Monday there were 330,000 children in attendance but this fell swiftly after the lockdown was announced and key workers were urged to keep their children at home if at all possible.

It fell to a low of just 36,000 on 13 April. However this was the Easter Monday bank holiday and schools would normally have been closed altogether.

Yet some teachers and other school staff were still on duty, even when they would normally have been expecting their time off.

BBC Radio 4

The president of the Association of Directors of Public Health England says she is "concerned" about more pupils going back to school in England because the five tests the government said were needed to ease restrictions "haven't yet been met".

"A lot of people, including local directors of public health across the country, are increasingly concerned that the government is misjudging this balancing act and lifting too many of the restrictions too quickly," Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The R number - the number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to - she added, on average is between 0.7 and 0.9. While it is below 1, it leaves "very limited room for manoeuvre".

"We know how quickly this virus can spread. It is difficult to predict then, with quite a lot of the measures being relaxed all at once, what impact that will have on the R value," Ms de Gruchy said.

Judith Burns
Education reporter

At St Mary Magdalen's Catholic primary school in West London, teachers are welcoming pupils back.

"You look like you've grown , Arthur," says teacher Catherine Hughes to a Reception pupil who hasn't been in school since March.

The school is expecting to welcome back 70 pupils who have not been in school since the lockdown, alongside 15 children of key workers who have continued to come into school.

The classrooms have been completely reorganised, with desks in rows, facing forwards, instead of pushed together into big tables.

There's lots of hand washing and the windows are open to let in as much fresh air.

Read more here.

Dan Johnson
BBC News

There is a big case of "wait and see" around sending children back to school, and that is what you hear from parents - who perhaps do not want to be the first to send their children back.

Most of the schools have been open throughout lockdown for the children of key workers and those who are vulnerable. The aim today is to take back in the youngest and oldest kids in primary schools.

But not every school is able to open its doors to more children today. There are councils around England that say their schools aren’t ready to do that yet.

Image source, Getty Images

It has been left to headteachers to manage this themselves. Unions estimate that only half of the kids eligible will return to take up their places today because of the worries of parents.

The practicalities of this are very difficult. We’ve seen schools have to reorganise the way they are laid out, the way people move around, introduce one-way systems, and reduce classes that would normally have taken 30 kids down in some instances to just five, to try and enforce social distancing on a group who may not always be able to manage it.

Amy Woodfield
BBC News

A school in Derby will not be reopening today after a member of staff tested positive for coronavirus.

Cavendish Close Infant and Nursery School said the worker was at the school on Friday 22 May but the following day started to feel unwell and later tested positive for Covid-19.

Image source, Google

Anyone who was at the school on the Friday has been advised to self-isolate for 14 days.

The school's acting head teacher said deep cleaning is planned for 8 June and that the school is "working towards" a reopening date of 10 June.

Mark Shields
BBC News

"It's like doing a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces are green."

That is how Debbie Whiting, head teacher of North Denes Primary School in Norfolk, described remodelling her school during a pandemic so that three classes can return on 8 June.

"The more you look at things, the more there is to think about," she said.

"The 1 June date might be convenient for being after half-term but it's not given us anything like the time we need to put things in place," said Mrs Whiting.

She estimates she can make her plans work if about 40% of the 180 children return. If they all came back, she would need an extra 12 classrooms at the school, she said.

BBC Breakfast

Schools in North Somerset have delayed re-opening after the spike in Covid-19 cases at Weston General Hospital.

Two trusts that run schools in North Somerset have delayed re-opening schools until 8 June for more children in Reception, Year One and Year Six.

Explaining the delay both trusts referred to the closure of Weston General Hospital on Monday following its spike in coronavirus cases.

North Somerset Council has been approached for comment.

The Lighthouse Schools Partnership runs 21 schools, mainly in North Somerset, and said it would re-open for limited year groups on Monday, 8 June.