Talks aimed at resolving the confrontation at Holy Cross school are to start this evening with no sign of an early end to the protests.
The Northern Secretary is due to meet representatives of the Protestant Concerned Residents of the Upper Ardoyne (CRUA) this evening as part of a joint effort with the Northern Executive, but the residents gave no indication they would call their protest off.
Yesterday's protests passed off peacefully.
Protestant residents turned their back as the children walked past and there were none of the crying faces of last week.
On the parents' return journey in the morning and as they walked to the school to collect their children the residents blew whistles and sounded horns.
Some yelled insults such as "fenian scum"' at the parents, but there were no violent incidents.
As they walked up to the school in the afternoon, one loyalist taunted a disabled woman asking: "Where did the wheelchair come from?".
There were fewer protesters, only about 100, than on previous days, and the crowds of young men that had also been present had mostly disappeared.
By contrast, the numbers of children and parents had swollen, with about 150 children being taken up the road, and only a handful using the school's rear entrance. Mr Jim Potts, a spokesman for CRUA, said he could not rule out the possibility that the protests would continue even while talks were under way.
The residents had stayed silent "to pay their respects to the children" but had "given the parents a bit of noise on the way back down to emphasise it's you we have a problem with".
An NIO spokeswoman said negotiations with the Northern Secretary and other talks would build on discussions over the summer but conceded: "We're very much at an embryonic stage in this plan".
Father Aidan Troy, chairman of the Holy Cross board of governors, said the talks must take place urgently.
"It's absolutely essential because if talks don't begin we could settle into the long haul. That's my main worry," he said.