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[Tishtash2teeth]

Have I understood this correctly? My son is in year 7 - as an a adopted child he is able to go into school under the vulnerable category? I really hope so as the first lockdown was not good for his mental health. I know it’s only a week, but he needs to be at school if it is possible.

I have told DD that if she is uncomfortable with her friends knowing she is classed as 'vulnerable', which could lead to all sorts of personal questions, she can just say I am an essential worker. No need to 'out' yourself - I think this is one occasion where protecting your privacy outweighs a harmless lie if people are being nosy.

Thanks @Allington I think being in reception DS's friends won't be too interested in people being classed as 'vulnerable'. It was more the mums I was thinking about as they were pinging their key worker statuses into the WhatsApp group as I was writing. Quite a few of them know where I work as well. We've now been informed that the class will be open tomorrow at least - subject to whatever Boris declares tonight - so it's avoided for now, although probably just temporarily. Hopefully the WhatsApp group won't need to raise it again. I think the key workers just wanted reassurance that their children would have friends at school. If the school/class does close and the subject comes up with the key workers at the school gate, I'll just say something like I can't discuss it and/or go for a quick change of subject. Should be easy to do when standing 2m+ away and wearing a mask.

We’re in Hackney so schools aren’t fully open.

Obviously our children are vulnerable so can go in, my son wouldn’t cope with school being different so he is at home. Luckily I have been able to juggle a bit to make it happen, my partner is looking after him monday/tuesday and he is catching up on his work in the evening, on wednesday/thursday my friend is looking after him.

I’m working from my friends flat monday/tuesday as he wouldn’t be happy with me essentially being shut in a different room, so on wednesday thursday my son will go to my friends flat.

Luckily I work four compressed days a week so my partner can start work at 4pm on the days he has him so he isn’t up late catching up.

Today went okay, my partner has only looked after him alone for very short periods before so I was quite nervous. If Bojo bans bubbles my friend is going to move into our spare room and I’ll make his flat my office.

My two are off now until 1st February which is difficult from a work point of view but in all honesty I’d rather them be home, key worker provision is too different to their usual school experience so I either care for them and balance everything that goes with it or cope with the levels of stress and anxiety caused by them being in a different place with unfamiliar people. My employer is very flexible and my DH is adjusting his hours to help so hopefully between us we can keep things ticking over.

Interestingly I contacted school earlier today as DD struggled hugely last time. They were great and organised a counsellor straight away for her at that time.

I mentioned that whilst our aim was to homeschool full time, if it got bad again could we consider her attending a couple of days a week.

The response was quite vague and mentioned that she didn’t have a social worker. But they would see what they could do if necessary. The gov guidelines just state adopted children with no caveat that they need to have a SW.

@magicshoppingtrolley
That's a fairly basic lack of understanding on their part. Adopted children generally don't have social workers. Who were you speaking to? If it was just someone in the office could you try speaking to the head or senco if you want to go down that route of having her attend?

I called DS's school to ask if I could bring him in. They checked the 'vulnerable list' and confirmed he was on it and that was it. So he is able to go in.

@sunshineandskyscrapers It was actually the SENCO/Deputy. It got me thinking I was wrong with the definition. I generally never raise her adoption with school as it doesn’t normally impact on her there too much. Her school are generally great so I backed down. I think I will see how we get on and if her mental health deteriorates again, I will contact them.

@Magicshoppingtrolley I am sure yesterday was really overwhelming for schools having to quickly sort out who can and can't come in, in many cases with really no notice at all. Hopefully she'll have a bit more understanding when things have settled down a bit. Good luck.

Yes they are a great school with a handful of adopted kids. I felt for them yesterday having to deal with last minute announcements/ scrapping planning/replanning etc. We’ve only had one lot of tears today so fingers crossed!!