Back to the classroom – at last

Thousands of students from across Christchurch returned to school yesterday after weeks of home learning.

There was a sense of relief mixed with a bit of worry as parents dropped their children off at Waltham Primary School.

Christina Blake, who was dropping her 5-year-old son Zander at school, said she was looking forward to ‘‘a bit of a break’’ and getting back into a routine, but remained ‘‘anxious’’. ‘‘Anything could happen at this stage.’’

For Tristan Gabbitas, his 9-year-old daughter Kayla was rearing to go and was awake at 6am. ‘‘She’s been itching to get back to school to get back to learning and catching up with her mates.’’

Gabbitas, who works in the construction industry, started back at work a couple of weeks ago and had no major concerns about sending Kayla to school.

As 3pm rolled around, it was all smiles at Christchurch East as parents, grandparents and caregivers came to collect their children.

Mum-of-two Kirti Lata said the level 3 and 4 lockdown restrictions were ‘‘not that bad’’ for the family. ‘‘Me and my husband were working, and we had to manage the kids.’’

She said it was ‘‘quite good’’ bringing them back to school after the lockdown.

‘‘They had to line-up and sanitise their hands and keep social distancing. It is a bit different for them.’’

Eight-year-old Arush said his first day back was ‘‘amazing’’ and he was excited about seeing his friends again. ‘‘The best bit was a new teacher.’’

Accountant Ventesh Permal said the lockdown went well but his two children were glad to be back at school. ‘‘We had lots of online learning activities, and we spent a lot of time with the kids, so it was good,’’ he said.