Education chiefs in Hertfordshire do not intend to take formal action against concerned parents who continue "to keep their children away from school amid concerns about the spread of Covid-19, it has emerged.

Increased hand-washing, teaching pupils in "bubbles", one-way systems and staggered start-times, are among the measures designed to stop any spread of Covid-19 when schools reopen next week.

But education officials in Hertfordshire recognise that parents may still have concerns about the virus.

Although attendance at school will be mandatory, a senior education official has indicated that the authority will seek to encourage anxious parents to send their children back to the classroom – rather than use "formal procedures".

Usually those formal procedures can include sanctions, such as fines or court action.

Read more: Schoolchildren in Hertfordshire urged to follow these new rules by bus company

Speaking to a virtual press conference, Hertfordshire’s head of school standards and accountability Tania Rawle said the authority recognised that parents would have concerns.

She stressed that government guidance was clear that attendance is now mandatory.

However she said the local authority was not proposing to take "formal procedures" on parents at this stage.

Instead she said they would work "very closely" with parents to encourage them and to support them to get their children back in to school.

Read more: What will happen if there is a Covid-19 oubtreak in a Hertfordshire school

Nevertheless, executive member for education Cllr Terry Douris, stressed the importance of children – who had missed out on months of education – getting back into school and back in to education.

He stressed that children only had a single opportunity to learn in any one particular year group and that "we can’t afford for them to miss that opportunity any further".

Read more: Extra buses in Hertfordshire to reduce Covid-19 risk for children on way to school