A primary school is reconsidering its decision to not accept Year 6 pupils when schools reopen.

Bromet Primary School, in Oxhey, originally told parents of Year 6 pupils their children would not be returning to school once it reopens on June 1.

Maria Pace, the headteacher at the school, explained in a letter addressed to parents that the school was following government guidance in prioritising Reception and Year 1 pupils.

Schools must undergo a series of social distancing measures once reopened, including separating classes into smaller ‘bubble’ groups to avoid children interacting and mixing around with many people.

Current government guidance says that bubble groups are made up of 15 pupils, but there may be less pupils depending on the evaluation of a school.

The school originally feared that the “configuration of classrooms” meant it would be difficult to school Reception, Year 1 and also Year 6 groups in these separated bubbles, so a decision was made to keep Year 6 pupils away.

But one parent told the Observer that parents in the school were originally not given a survey to check if they intended to bring back their children, meaning the school would not have an accurate estimate on the number of children returning to school.

Many other schools have handed out these surveys to see the numbers of parents who want to bring their children back into school.

One parent said many Year 6 parents want their children to return, as a “transition” between primary and secondary school.

The parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “It’s a scary time for them to go into a new school. They’ve been away for months now and they need a school environment before heading off to secondary school.”

A survey has now been sent to parents, and the school has confirmed they are working to find a way to safely welcome back Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 pupils.

Mrs Pace said: “I can confirm that we are following all aspects of the guidance issued by the government and Hertfordshire County Council as we plan for the re-opening of the school.

“When we have completed the final analysis of the recent survey we sent to parents, we will update them further on our plans for children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6.

“The internal configuration of classrooms in Bromet presents us with more challenges than many other schools in terms of having enough rooms to accommodate all the children from the three year groups in separate small ‘bubbles’, but we view this as a challenge to be solved and we are working on it.

“I and the staff are looking forward to welcoming as many children as possible back to Bromet next week.”

According to Department of Education guidance, students will also have staggered start, break and finishing times at schools to keep children distant from one another.

There will be increased cleaning stations, limited shared items, one-way systems and more to ensure that children do not contract Covid-19.

Schools can begin welcoming children back to school on June 1, and Bromet school will later update Year 6 parents if their children can also return.