More than 6,000 Covid-19 lateral flow tests undertaken as students in the Cheddar area return

After 39 days of home learning, the Wessex Learning Trust says it is incredibly proud to welcome all its learners back to school this week in line with government guidelines.

The return to school comes following more than 6,000 Covid-19 lateral flow tests being carried out across Kings of Wessex in Cheddar, Nailsea, Hugh Sexey in Blackford and Fairlands in Cheddar schools to help find any asymptomatic carriers of the virus, ensuring a safe return for all learners.

Children were welcomed back to school in a number of different ways, for instance at Wedmore First School there were balloons, music and a bubble machine at the front gate, as well as smiling staff welcoming the children back.

Across the trust, any nerves the children had were soon overcome by the excitement of being back to normal and seeing friends and staff again.

A number of parents commented on how easy it had been to transition back to the school routine and praised schools for going "above and beyond" in helping children settle in quickly.

In all of the trust's schools staff continue to implement a large number of safety measures to ensure that schools stay safe for everyone on the sites.

This includes increased cleaning of regular touch points, bubbling of year groups, social distancing, and more.

The trust is encouraging parents to remind their children of the importance of sticking to measures such as social distancing and regular handwashing to ensure that school can remain safe and open for all.

Chief executive, Gavin Ball, said: "It's wonderful to see so many smiling faces as our learners returned for their first day back at school.

"Although we are not out of the woods yet when it comes to overcoming coronavirus, it is great to take one more step back towards normality with the return of children to our schools.

"I very much look forward to seeing what every gets up to now that they are back in the classroom."