A Godalming headteacher has praised his staff and reassured parents that they have nothing to worry about as the schools go back today.

Godalming Junior School head Adam Samson said teachers and support staff had been looking forward to seeing the classrooms full again, and were "all set up and ready to go".

All the hygiene rules and social distancing measures are still in place from when schools reopened last September, and the children would be given a reminder when they returned to class.

"There is nothing for parents to worry about," he added.

Over the course of the last lockdown, as with the two previous ones, staff had gone above and beyond to ensure children had been able to continue their learning.

"The staff have been fantastic, they have been very supportive. There was no more I could ask from them," he said, adding that "Children and staff alike have not stopped working."

The majority of parents had been very supportive of the staff, he said, and emails of thanks from parents were on display in the staff room.

The school has offered live teaching every day during this last lockdown, and extra learning time over the summer to boost children's academic progress, as has been suggested, was not necessarily what is needed in the near future, he said.

"We don't know what those deficits are going to be. Certainly there will be emotional and social ones," he said. "Catching up academically might not be so bad, as the children were receiving live teaching every day after we went into lockdown."

And he says that although this has been a traumatic time for many, for a lot of children the crisis will have taught them resilience.

"We need to remember some of the positives that have come out of this," he said. "In time I am sure this will give them the tools to deal with more minor things that come their way. I have no doubt it will stand them in good stead going forward."