The gradual reopening of primary schools across England alone is unlikely to lead to a second wave of coronavirus, Midland academic research has suggested.
Admitting more children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 to schools in isolation was unlikely to push the coronavirus transmission R-rate past the value of one, according to researchers, but "uncertainty" remains over the impact of other recent changes that have eased the lockdown.
Any school reopening policy should be "implemented gradually" to mitigate risk - especially in light of other policies to relax the lockdown, infectious disease experts from the University of Warwick said.
The findings came as children across England returned to primary school this week after the Government eased lockdown measures across the country.
But a survey from the National Education Union (NEU) suggested more than two in five (44 per cent) primary schools in England did not open their doors to more children on Monday.
The proportion of schools that reopened to more pupils varied significantly by region, as only eight per cent of primary schools in north-west England opened to all the priority year groups.
The researchers investigated a range of school reopening scenarios, including the current policy for England, to model the impact upon the spread of Covid-19 across the country.
Prof Matt Keeling, lead author of the study at Warwick, said: "Our work indicates the current policy of Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 children returning to school is likely to result in a small increase in the reproduction number.
"In isolation this is unlikely to push R above 1, but there still remains uncertainty over the consequences of other recent changes that have relaxed the lockdown."
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The researchers called for the impact of schools reopening to be carefully monitored - and for the Government to consider reintroducing lockdown measures if there was a significant rise in new cases.
Schools, colleges and nurseries closed more than ten weeks ago due to the Covid-19 outbreak, remaining open only for vulnerable youngsters and the children of key workers.
Anne Longfield, the Children's Commissioner for England, warned MPs on Wednesday that the scale of children failing to reach their potential amid lengthy school closures was "immense".
She said eight million children could have been out of school for six months by September - and headteachers feared some disadvantaged children would never return.
A separate report, from the Centre for Education and Youth and the University of Exeter, found the majority of students felt learning at home was harder than learning in school or college.
Findings from a poll, of 230 students aged 16 and over, suggested around a fifth of pupils did not have access to a quiet study space in their homes, rising to a third among disadvantaged students.
