Fewer than one in five primary pupils returned to school as expected in Suffolk last week, new data shows.

That figure was reflected on the peninsula with slightly fewer than 20% of Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 pupils at Shotley and Stutton primary schools back in their classrooms.

Richard Dedicoat, head teacher at Shotley Community Primary School said: "Our schools are looking a little different - the classrooms have been stripped back with resources and activities very limited.

"Children and staff have shown excellent learning attitudes on their return and it was an amazing feeling to see children back in their schools once again.

"We have under 20% of our children back in both schools but are very fortunate to have large outdoor spaces where we continue to offer a selection of outdoor activities. For the children who are still at home staff are continuing to provide remote online learning opportunities via Googleclassrooms and Tapestry."

Both those schools are part of the ASSET Trust, and chief executive Clare Flintoff added: "Across our 14 schools we have just under 20% of the children back at school this week. Until we can be sure that local infection rates are reduced and the test, track and trace programme is fully operational we anticipate that numbers will remain low.

"Schools have strict measures in place to keep both pupils and staff as safe as possible and our full remote learning offer is continuing for the vast majority of our children who are still at home."

Chelmondiston primary school opened its doors to Reception and Year 6 on Wednesday, with parents there following the county trend.

The Chelmondiston school is part of the St Edmundsbury and Ipswich Diocesan Multi Academy Trust, and one of its sister schools in Sudbury closed again after being open for a couple of days, after a staff member developed coronavirus symptom and was tested for Covid-19. Tudor primary school closed as a precaution, has undergone another deep clean but is expected to reopen on Monday.

Data collated by Suffolk education chiefs for the return of Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 pupils from June 1 found that upwards of 69% of Suffolk's primary schools opened in the last week, but a much lower proportion of pupils within those actually returned.

According to its data, just 16% of Reception pupils returned, 14% of Year 1 pupils and 17% of Year 6 children.

Suffolk County Council's education team said the number of pupils was much less than had been indicated to them from surveys the week before, but the return of pupils had largely been positive.

Now, more parents have expressed a desire for pupils to go back, said Adrian Orr, assistant director for education and learning.

"I think it was parent caution," he said. "We did a survey the week before and this data looks quite different to the survey. In the survey we thought only about 40 or 45% of schools would be open but a higher proportion of children. Clearly more schools opened but parents were more apprehensive than we expected.

"But the big issue that came out of the discussion with sector leads was that schools are now getting lots of requests to have their children into school and schools just need a bit more time to organise the bubbles."

Among some of the common feedback the team said it had received was how positive children found being back with friends, and how much they had adhered to one-way systems and floor markings because of the novelty of them.

The county council said recovery plans were being drawn up for key learning such as phonics, numeracy and literacy, but also for children's wellbeing.

Councillor Mary Evans, cabinet member for education, said: "It is likely our children will be bereaved, and there will be children in our schools who have lost their grandparents, and for many of them they have a very, very special relationship with grandparents. That's a very difficult thing, and to see their parents grieving as a small child is something they are not used to. There are things like that which are going to be very tough on our schools and our young children."

More year groups are expected to return from June 15, with bosses saying the next challenge was to ensure the next cohort does not disrupt the progress already made.

Mr Orr said: "There are going to be some bumps – we have had a much better start than we thought but we have got to be realistic that there could be some problems down the road.

"It is going to be how a progressive increase in numbers is managed without creating the very problem social distancing and bubbles are trying to avoid. Because there aren't certainties there is an element of faith about what we are doing."

The team has urged parents to be patient with allowing their schools enough time to make preparations for the return of their child, and stressed that any child who was ill, whether it was Covid-19 related symptoms or not, needed to be kept at home to protect everybody.