Before-and-after photos of a five-year-old’s first day back at school have been shared thousands of times online after her mother posted the “really funny” images on Facebook.

Lucie, from East Renfrewshire, “likes to be clean” and looked immaculate before she left home, mother Jill said.

But by the end of a day of playing with her friends, her clothes were “a mess”.

The photos were liked more than 10,000 times after Jill agreed to let a local newspaper put them on their page.

“She absolutely loves school and this was her first day in P2 so she absolutely loved having her new things on,” Jill said.

When Jill saw the “state” of her daughter on Monday afternoon, she asked what Lucie had been up to.

“Nothing much,” Lucie said.

“The wonders of primary two,” Jill said. “The teachers are really good, they do a lot of active learning and things with them – so I take it it was down to that.”

“She’d obviously had a really fun day,” she added.

Jill said she often likes to take pictures “off-cue” because they are less “posed”.

“I knew if I’d asked her for a picture, she would have said no, because of the mess of her. She likes to be clean and things,” she added.

Jill, a mother of three, sent Lucie’s father the photo after he asked how her first day back had been.

“He thought it was really funny so we shared it with friends and family on our Facebook,” Jill said.

After that, they sent the photos to Barrhead News, which said the images were its “favourite” set of back-to-school pictures.

“I don’t think they quite anticipated how it would spread,” Jill said.

She said Lucie has “taken it in her stride” and has been telling everyone “Oh, I’m famous”.

“I think she’s still just a bit too young to understand,” Jill added.

Wearing shoes wrongly

Lots of parents responded to the post with their own before-and-after photos.

Laura’s four-year-old daughter Harper was “so excited” for her first day at school near their home in Broxburn – and looked a little worse for wear by home time.

“I said to her, ‘your shoes are on the wrong feet,’ and she said: ‘But I had a great day today mummy,'” said Laura.