Switch schools or not?!

[Cantdecidemama]

We moved house last year (not far) and moved ds to a new school in the September. Ds really didn't settle so we swapped back to his old one just after Christmas in sort of a panic about how sad he was getting. We rely on a family member to get him to school now because of medical issues of mine and he goes to breakfast and after school club so that it works time wise. He's very happy there, lots of friends in class, in breakfast club and in after school.

We've been having some wobbles getting him to school due to family members own life and plans etc and them not really understanding that my medical issues mean I cannot get him there if they don't turn up and it's making me realise we really shouldn't be relying on them like this for getting him to school because it's not fair on family member really to be so reliant on them and it's not fair on ds for several reasons.

Logically I know I should move him again because long term we are in trouble if family member can't help us anymore. In hindsight we should have stuck it out but I can't change that now unfortunately. There's a few schools in walkable (for me) distance with spaces and I'd be able to have him moved for after half term. But how do I weigh that up against how unhappy he got last time we moved him? And all the friends he has at his school now?

Has anyone been in a similar situation or does anyone have any advice on what to do?

DS is in year 1 and has been at his current school since preschool aged 2.5.

I really don't know, but could you move back to within walking distance of the school where he is happiest? And so let your family member who is helping you know that the help will be for a limited period?
Or, could you get him to breakfast club/start of school by taxi, or bus? So that family member only had to do one journey a day, rather than two? Or taxi/bus to pick up instead, if that would help?
Ask the school to put a note in the newsletter asking if anyone could help with the journeys, and offering to pay for that?

He is in year 1 so this will go on for another five and a half years. There’s no way you can rely on the family member to keep doing this for that long, so I don’t think the status quo is an option. You either need to find a different way of getting him to the current school or move him back to the new school.

I can understand that it was awful to see him sad. Do you have an understanding of why he was so sad? Was anyone being mean to him, or did he just miss his old friends? At that age I would expect him to settle in fairly quickly, but obviously that didn’t happen. Could you do things to help him integrate with his new class, eg arrange play dates after school, or take him to after-school activities which are popular among his new classmates? Talk to the teacher about what went wrong last time - maybe he could be allocated a friendship buddy or similar?

Taxi to school if you really want to keep him there?

Are there any nearby childminders (and could you afford one) who do drop offs at his school?