Firstly, I would like to say I have respect for all schools and teaching staff through this tough time and I know that they are under a huge amount of pressure and all that.
Generally the school (primary!) dc go to is fantastic, supportive etc.
But I feel they haven’t really been fair at all!
Firstly they prioritised keyworker children which is great but they’ve given spaces to children who still have one parent at home. They’ve given children with just one keyworker parent a full 5 days as those parents were given first choice before anyone else.
As there is a fair few keyworker children at the school it’s left little to no capacity for any children that are vulnerable!
Aibu to think they should have prioritised those children with both parents being keyworkers, then vulnerable children and then keyworker children with one parent still at home if spaces available rather than no provision for vulnerable children. Some children have been given 1, 2 or 3 days depending on space. Some go the full week.
I only ask as DS is somewhat vulnerable and hasn’t been given any provision. He is on the spectrum and has an EHCP. He didn’t go during the last lockdown for various reasons but we didn’t anticipate how bad things would get. The social skills we built years learning become too hard for him, it took several weeks to settle him into school in September - to the point where he was screaming outside the school every morning sitting on the grass just refusing to budge. He started suffering from severe anxiety, panic episodes. He wasn’t himself at all. He was biting himself in frustration etc. Lashing out at us. All issues he didn’t have before lockdown and it was just the anxiety about the virus and not seeing anyone apart from us - for someone on the spectrum he is a very sociable boy and thrives on it.
Basically he went from a happy go lucky child who was generally settled and happy at school with support to an over anxious, snappy and at times would lash out which isn’t like him at all . To the point that I had the school putting a cause for concern record on us and blamed us after he changed so much during lockdown. Very little work got done during lockdown (I was always honest about this and the school knew this from the start!) and he’s already behind his peers by 2 years.
Thing is things have got improved since September. He’s more settled and usually enjoying school but I’m worried sick a prolonged time off school is really going to set us back and we will be back to that again.
His behaviour at home isn’t great and it affects Dd. Partner doesn’t qualify as a keyworker but has worked throughout all lockdowns and long hours. The pressure is on me.
As well as this we had a terrible 2020 as family not just due to covid but various other things - death in the family etc etc.
This isn’t the case of me trying to get him into school for my own benefit. Of course it would take the strain off me but it would really benefit DS being in school as well as benefitting the school after they knew how hard things were settling him back in. I would rather keep him home safe but I feel the benefit of DS being in school outweighs the risk.
the school have said he isn’t classed as vulnerable as no social care involved but he has an EHCP and we’ve had all these issues above and I’m drained and scared to be honest.
As far as I know that only only child in DS’s class has both keyworker parents and they are going 3 days a week yet another child with just one keyworker parent is 5 days a week.. there’s just no logic.
To add, the work on google classroom is way too hard for DS and we haven’t been given anything else yet. He has 1:1 support at school and I just can’t motivate him to concentrate like he does at school. 😭
If they are off for weeks or months it’s not just the case of him going back to school. Settling him in takes him so long.
They can’t magic up a school space can they 😭😭