Parents said they were “happy and excited” to see their children get back to normality as the majority of Aberdeenshire pupils returned to school.
Secondary school students are the final pupils to return to full-time teaching, with primary schools already resuming before the Easter holidays.
Children in other local authority areas across the north and north-east returned to schools last week.
However, for some Aberdeenshire pupils, this will be their first week of face-to-face teaching since before Christmas.
Dozens of parents were eagerly waiting at Ellon Academy’s parking lot to hear about their children’s first day back.
Wendy Paterson, whose daughter is in her last year of school before heading off to university, thought the last few months have been “detrimental” for children’s learning and mental health.
She said: “All I can really say is that I’m happy she has returned to school.
“This lockdown has had such a detrimental effect on their learning and it’s been hard.
“Of course there are no exams this year either, so it’s like children didn’t have a purpose or aim to keep them going.
“But it’s so good that she’ll finally have the chance to reunite with her friends and get that important social interaction every teenager needs.”
Cater assistant at Ellon Primary School, Sylwia Krzepina, was also impatiently waiting to welcome her son Olivier after the last classes.
The 45-year-old said: “I think it was time to move forward and get past that point of being afraid, so children can return to some form of normality.
“School gives them that kind of learning environment that’s just not possible at home, so I’m really happy that he can go back to the classroom and continue his studies.”
Dad-of-three Ron McAllister told the P&J: “The last lockdown has had a massive impact on kids of all ages in terms of learning and socialising, and certainly my girls have missed it all a lot.
“I’m so glad she can finally go back.”
Difficult transition
Although the two-metre physical distancing between pupils in secondary schools was removed, face coverings and other safety measures remain in place.
Pupils will also not have to sit National 5s, Highers or Advanced Highers this year as they have been cancelled due to the pandemic. However, many students will still be completing assessment tasks.
Joanne Aitken, children and young people development manager at the Scottish Association for Mental Health, highlighted the importance of understanding the impact of these changes on young people.
She said: “Young people have been out of the normal school routine for a long time and may have seen a dip in their mental health and wellbeing.
“This could all have a significant impact, as fundamentally good mental health is a prerequisite to successful learning.
“It’s important that we recognise that for many young people it won’t be a case of simply slotting back into the ordinary school routine.
“Some young people will really welcome getting back into the swing on things but others will struggle and they may need time and space to adjust.”
Benefit for local trade
Meanwhile, businesses across the north-east were looking forward to a significant pick-up in trading following the return of secondary pupils.
Simon Burnside, who owns the Ride Coffee House in Banchory, was expecting an influx of parents to nip down to his shop for a quick hot drink before picking their children.
He said: “When the schools go back, obviously mums and dads get a lot more time to just come down and grab a cup of coffee.
“So having more parents out and about will definitely have an impact on the business.
“We’ve been very lucky to be able to continue to operate throughout lockdown, but of course any extra trade will be very much welcomed and hopefully things will be just getting better from now on.”
Elsewhere, owner of the Mid Street Bakery (Bruce of the Broch) in Fraserburgh, Alistair Bruce, hopes students will bring more trade into his businesses following several quiet months.
He said: “Last week sales started to pick up a bit with more people getting out and about, but hopefully we’ll get a bigger boost with school kids going back.
“Unfortunately, we can serve only a limited number of students, because of the restrictions in place, so this will still be a challenge.
“Usually, we would get around 200 children coming to our bakery for lunch, but now we would probably only manage around 40 or 50.
“But in any way, this will still be very beneficial for us and we just hope to see more students return to our bakery.”
