The chairman of the Holy Cross school’s Board of Governors, Fr Aidan Troy, has spoken of his fears for the upcoming term.
With sectarian fighting spreading across north Belfast in to the Short Strand in east Belfast over the summer, Fr Troy today said he believed tension in the area was at its highest point since he arrived in the parish. He also confirmed the number of new pupils due to start at the school has fallen by one-third.
The north Belfast primary school has been a target of sectarian hatred over the 12 months, and a huge security presence was needed to escort girls as young as four to school after loyalist protesters in nearby Glenbryn demanded parents take another route, claiming their homes were being attacked.
"I think now that the guns have come out on to the streets, the temperature has been raised quite significantly," Fr Troy said.
"I know there was a young man injured in a shooting in Glenbryn earlier in the year but there is a feeling now that there has been a concerted effort to intimidate or to make life very, very difficult for the people in the [nationalist] Alliance Avenue".
Fr Troy said he hoped the school would be recognised as separate from the current violence. He said it was imperative for the school's long-term survival that there was no trouble this year.
"With the drop in enrolment, we need a calm year to show parents who are nervous that we have conquered this problem and the people of Glenbryn will stand aside from this," he said.
Fr Troy said the Holy Cross pupils had been failed by politicians in both Stormont and Westminster: "The local politicians on the ground have tried to calm the situation but we have had very little help from Tony Blair or the MP for the area, Nigel Dodds".
PA