The headmistress of the Holy Cross Girls Primary School has said she does not think her staff and pupils could endure another protest outside the school.
Representatives of Protestants living around the school have stressed they have no intention of resuming last year's 12 week protest but tensions in the area remained high yesterday afternoon.
Pupils from both Protestant and Catholic schools made their way home down a heavily policed Ardoyne Road. Most of the Holy Cross girls were driven down.
It is understood that cross-community projects, which were regularly carried out between the school and neighbouring Wheatfield Protestant Primary school before the dispute, have yet to resume. Each class would have taken part in at least three activities a year with classes from the other school. These have been postponed since last September.
The Holy Cross principal, Mrs Anne Tanney, said the three-month protest had taken a heavy toll on all those in the school, who feared its resumption.
"I don't think any of our kids could go through it again," she said. "I would hope it's all over and we can get back to being a normal school."
The afternoon was relatively peaceful but at about 3 p.m. Protestant children from nearby Boys' Model School attempted to return to their homes off the Ardoyne Road. Police initially stopped them from going down the road as pupils were still leaving Holy Cross primary.
An angry stand-off took place between police and locals as a group of Protestant parents attempted to get through to their children. Eventually the Protestant pupils were allowed to pass on one footpath, the Catholics on another.
A representative for the Protestant residents, Mr Stewart McCartney, said the incident showed the need for the police to defend the rights of both communities.
Shortly after, one Protestant woman made threats against the local parish priest, Father Aidan Troy. At the junction of Twadell Avenue, a Protestant street, and the Crumlin Road, crowds from both communities assembled and briefly stoned each other before police intervened.
Pupils from the Boys' and Girls' Model Schools were taken by bus down the Crumlin Road as normal but with police officers on the bus for protection. None of the buses was attacked.