Students spoke of the “weird” atmosphere and the strangeness of new signage, teaching arrangements and social distance measures when they returned to school for the first time after the coronavirus lockdown.

Ninety-six days after they last set foot in the building, around 40 14 and 15-year-old Year 10 students returned to Shirebrook Academy this morning to encounter a very different school to the one they left back in March.

Not only did they have to line up standing no more than two metres to one another, they had to go straight to their classroom, where they would spend the rest of the day with no change-overs between lessons – and the same members of staff at all times.

They all sat at separate desks, did not wear their school uniform, were issued with books and laptops – which they had to wipe down with anti-bacterial spray at the end of the day – and all left at different times to one another to minimise the chance of contact.

The school, in Common Lane, had kept its doors open for vulnerable children and those of key workers, but is bringing its Year 10 students in for two days’ face to face learning each fortnight until the end of term.

Among the students returning was Lauren Millband, 15, who said that after the last few weeks juggling schoolwork with lockdown activities such as baking and spending more time with her family, coming back into school felt like a highly unusual experience.

She said: “Everything’s weird. We’re not in our normal classroom and we’re not with the normal people, and there wasn’t the usual flood of students coming into school at the start of the day.

“Studying at home during the lockdown was difficult at times and could be stressful, although it was good sometimes to be able to work without distractions. I liked being able to email my teacher though, you could ask them for help and they answered promptly.

“I’ve done a lot of baking and I’ve done a lot more things with my family, which I’ve enjoyed, but I did miss my friends and it wasn’t always easy to stay motivated to learn.”

Fellow student Modesta Mezanec, 15, said: “It’s strange being back at school and having to keep two metres away from everybody, but we’re used to it now and we’ll get used to it.

“I have enjoyed being able to study at home because there is less distraction and I can carry on working at a subject if I wanted to. I have done a lot more of my textiles work than I would have been able to do in class and I think that I would like to be able to have a balance between being in school and working from home from now on.

“I did more baking in lockdown and I spent more time with my family, which I think has helped to bring us closer together.”

Mark Cottingham, principal of Shirebrook Academy, said: “It has taken an enormous amount of work for us to get the school ready and put all the social distancing and measures into place and we’ve been quite anxious about how well everything would work.

“It’s a relief to get the students back and now we’ll see how well they’ll adjust to everything.

“There is a lot of expectation on our teaching staff as well, who are going to have to be adaptable and think on their feet about how they can teach their subjects while observing the social distancing measures at the same time.”

The lessons will involve theory tutorials in all subjects, but the school is not yet ready to allow students to get back to the more practical elements of subjects such as art, technology or PE.

Shirebrook Academy’s Year 11 students, who would normally be currently sitting their GCSEs, left on March 20 and will receive grades based on their mock exams and coursework.