Should I send my child to school after Christmas- Key worker

[pisspants]

We got the message from school yesterday regarding the staggered return of children to school. My son is a summer born year 7 child and school have said they will be off that first week after the Christmas holidays learning online.
I'm a key worker and work from home and am a single parent and work full time. My work is very busy and requires a high level of focus and accuracy and I often have to make phone calls to the public.
The first lockdown I kept my son home until June when the year 6s were able to return.
My son struggles to work independently and needs a lot of assistance from me to do the online work school were setting before. I finished work at 530 then cooked dinner then made a start with his school work after dinner. After a whole day of being left to his own devices and effectively ignored by me he really struggled to do the work and we quickly stopped doing the school work.The prospect of going through that again really stresses me out.
School have said the first week of January will be online but key workerchildren can attend though from the wording they are obviously trying to discourage it.
I have a few days off over Christmas but will be working several days over the actual holidays with the kids home and safe to say the kids will be spending a lot of time knocking about at home this holidays.
I am nervous that the one week home learning may be extended and that if it is then extended I wouldn't be able to get a key worker place. I also worry that the school will judge me as I work from home.
I just wanted opinions really. I definitely cant work as well with him home.
Another factor is my DD is in year 10 and works really well independently and worked very hard during lockdown. So she would be home. My son would also be very annoyed that he has to go in and she doesnt have to.

I'm very surprised at those saying it will just be childcare. It was last time, but there is no reason for it to be now. Our local schools, mine included, will definitely be offering more than just childcare.

Send him in. It will be much less stressful for him and you can't realistically do both with his temperament/needs.

@pisspants

Very mixed responses here! I know it is not just "key workers" who work from home and my hats go off to everyone who has had to combine work with looking after kids and it is as I know how hard it is which is why I am considering sending him this time as obviously I may have the change to use the facility. It is so hard to know what right thing to do is and I don't expect teachers to babysit because I cant be bothered or anything like that it is more that I know he won't do as much at home and it has a negative effect on my ability to work. He is at same school as he was in in year 6 due to the school system here and what they set last time was difficult for him to to do independently as involved various different websites, editing PDFs (as our printer is broken) so couldn't print out and various other bits. He doesn't have special needs but is quite needy partly due to us being a one parent household and him not having his dad around probably. He also struggles with maths and gets disheartened if he cannot do it and kicks off so I try to sit with him to help him and keep him focused and positive so is not ideal for him to do independently. I don't know what their plans would be this time round or if it would be better this time. My work hours are very fixed and workload is allocated and piece based so I cannot work hours very flexibly as I also need to cover the phones regularly so I cannot take chunks out of the day to supervise his work so taking hours out of the day to do that is not viable. Neither is doing school work before I start at 830am either really by time got up and ready etc. I appreciate all the comments on here still trying to get my head around what the right things is to do taking into account his needs, my needs, work needs and school concerns - aargh!

This is strange that you effectively are saying that you either pander to him not wishing to be independent as an excuse to not completing work at home or you in effect choose the easy option and send to school.

I'm a lone parent of a KS1 child, who yes needs some support to complete tasks, but I manage it whilst working and ensuring that my lo has to be as independent as possible which surely should be the aim?

I don't understand why you've discounted all suggestions nor really why you've bothered posting if you're ultimately opting for the most convenient/laziest option for you anyway?

Why not sort the printer so that issue is resolved?
Get up earlier to complete the more academic work and likewise using lunchbreak to support with some.

If a KS1 child who should be the lesser in terms of independence and being easily distracted etc.

Also, this is before I mention that by sending in you add additional risk to the staff and your own child, who surely you want to protect?

You may not have any choice, when it comes to it.

Everyone and his dog claims to be a Key Worker nowadays, and if you're working from home, it may be that he's not eligible.

Wait and see what they say.

Yes, of course. They will keep him focused on getting through his work and you can focus on yours.

Porcupine, But that applies to many, many people. If they all send in their kids, there's little to be gained from the "lockdown," as we've seen in the last half term or so.

Our school is only open to the children of key worker in Y7, 8 and 9. If the OPs sons school is the same and he meets the criteria, why shouldn't she send him?