Ten-year-old Noah Micallef Straface summed up his first day back at school after six months as "a bit strange”.
 
“We have to get up with a mask - and going outside: sometimes you have to wear a mask outside,” he said.

Getting used to face masks and visors as part of a ‘new normal’ school uniform is one of many measures pupils have to get used to at the independent San Anton, one of the few to begin the academic year on Monday.
 
State school pupils were also supposed to be back this week after schools were shut down in mid-March. However, after teacher unions protested about Malta’s high rate of infection, their start was postponed.

Noah, who started year six this semester, said the hardest part of school in a pandemic was not being able to meet with his best friends, who are in a different class and not in his approved bubble. 
 
“We have to wear the mask outside, but I can’t play with Nick and Ludo. They’re in the same class together, and I can only play with people from my class.”

Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

His little sister Eva, who is three years old and returned to playschool today, said she had lots of fun but was a little disappointed to find that toys had been removed from the class. 
 
“There were no toys because the virus is there,” she explained, referring to protocols in place to reduce the risk of infection. 
 
She was also happy to meet Kory, a frog mascot introduced at San Anton school to promote hygiene and mitigation measures for the children. 
 
“Cory showed me how to put on the mask,” she said. 
 
Charlie Azzopardi, aged seven, who is in year three at Chiswick school, said she was happy to go to school even if she did not like some of the measures in place.
 
“I prefer going to school, we did games and activities, but we also had to stretch our arms to keep social distance and wear the masks all the time.”

Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

COO of San Anton School, Denise Zammit said with planning and an “all hands on deck” approach, the children’s first day had gone off without a hitch.
 
“Everyone is very excited. It went very well, we were prepared and had planned this step by step,” Zammit said. 
 
“With some preparation, it was relatively easy to get the flow into the school. Today we started the junior sector and early years. We had more people on the ground, even admin staff, everyone we could spare to help.”
 
Sue Midolo, the head of school at St Catherine’s high school, which also opened its doors on Monday, said that while schooling had encountered some technical difficulties, students and staff were happily adapting to a staggered reentry.
 
“It was lovely for us to have the spirit of the students. A school without teachers and students is a dead place,” she said.

September 29: This article has been changed to amend a child's quote.