IT'S great to be back! Heart transplant schoolgirl Amy Morris settled back behind her desk on Tuesday just three months after undergoing life-saving surgery.

Her delighted friends at Washacre Primary School, Westhoughton, gave her a warm welcome and then it it was straight down to maths and literacy lessons.

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"It is only like she has been away a couple of days rather than a year," said headteacher Howard King.

It was just as Amy had wanted it after her tremendous struggle for life and a dramatic race against time to undergo the transplant at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

No more fuss was made and the nine-year-old slipped quietly behind her desk in Year Five, next to her best friend Carla Townsend.

The only outward sign that she is any different from her 26 classmates is the emergency necklace she wears around her neck to warn of her medical history and the drugs she needs to take daily to prevent her body rejecting the new heart.

The biggest test of her new-found health was at playtime, when Amy was running around the playground as fast as the rest of the schoolchildren -- something she could only dream about for most of last year.

"It is great. It is a day we have been looking forward to for a long time," said class teacher Lisa Mitchell.

Miss Mitchell ensured Amy remained part of the class last year even though she was too ill to attend. The pupils would regularly send her messages in hospital, four children paid her a visit and the whole school sent homemade get-well cards.

And there were celebrations when pupils and staff learned that a donor had finally been found for Amy.

"We have talked a lot about her. The children are just happy to have her back," said Miss Mitchell.

Even the prospect of getting down to taxing schoolwork did not daunt Amy. "It is good. I am really enjoying it," she said.