Students from Sandy Hook have returned to school for the first time since 27 people, including 20 children, were massacred during Adam Lanza's murderous rampage last month.
Less than three weeks after the gunman shot his mother before breaking his way into the school in Newtown, Connecticut, the children returned to education in the refurbished Chalk Hill Middle School in nearby Monroe, which has been named after their old school to ensure continuity.
A man waves to a child on a bus on the first day of classes after the holiday break
The primary school's former head teacher, Donna Page, has come out of retirement to attempt to bring the school back to normality.
Parent Christine Wilford told CNN she was pleased her seven-year-old son was going back to school, but added: "If I leave my child anywhere, I'm leaving a piece of my heart, so it's difficult to leave him."
Security measures at the school have been ramped up, with Monroe Police Lieutenant Keith White, saying: "I think right now it has to be the safest school in America."
In the aftermath of the tragedy gun sales have surged, according to independent arms dealers in America.
The massacre has reignited the debate over gun control.
Sandy Hook
