Photos: Boston’s first day of school

Thousands of students returned to full-time, in-person learning in Boston on Thursday, some for the first time since the pandemic closed schools in March 2020.

“This is the third school year that is impacted by COVID-19. It has been a difficult time for the entire city of Boston, certainly our families and our students, but the energy today, the excitement today, of our young people, of our students, is so encouraging,” Acting Mayor Kim Janey said outside the Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School on Thursday.

Globe photojournalists captured Boston’s first day of school on Thursday from around the city.

Fourth-grader Ethan Reyes boards his bus on Bowdoin Street.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

Families waited for a bus to take children to the Joseph P. Tynan Elementary School after a Boston Public Schools bus had engine problems on Bowdoin Street.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

Shalese Herring took a picture of her niece, sixth-grader Aanari Herring, 12, outside the George H. Conley Elementary School in Roslindale. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

Sharon Walker hugs her 7-year-old daughter Danessa on her first day of second grade at Orchard Gardens.Erin Clark/Globe Staff

Director of Language and Literacy Loredana De Graca provides hand sanitizer to students before they enter Orchard Gardens.Erin Clark/Globe Staff

Students stand in line as they wait outside of Orchard Gardens.Erin Clark/Globe Staff

Danessa Walker, 7, helps her teacher Khari Rigueur hold the sign for her second-grade class.Erin Clark/Globe Staff

Children and parents wait outside of Orchard Gardens.Erin Clark/Globe Staff

Aanari Herring, 12, (center) got a hug from classmate Quinn McMahon-Ruda, (left) 11, after arriving at the George H. Conley Elementary School with her aunt, Shalese Herring (right).Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff