Cerebal palsy, epilepsy, asthma, return to school

ben2021

Hi, my son has cerebal palsy epilepsy and asthma and I have been stuck in regards to sending him back to school, especially with the government guidelines of children who have been in contact with someone with covid no longer have to isolate. Last week there was a positive case of covid in his year group, now if the others in class don't have to isolate and taking a test is at parents discretion then surely it puts him at higher risk of contracting covid and we have no clue on how this would affect him with his disabilities. Any advice/info welcome. Thanks 

Tori_Scope

Welcome to the community @ben2021 Thanks for joining, and for posting your question. Sorry for not getting back to you earlier.

I wrote a short post recently about the return to school, which contains a couple of links to pages on the NSPCC and Contact's websites. Contact have plenty of useful information on their website, along with a handy helpline service. Perhaps it'd be worth getting in touch with them? 

Have you spoken to the school about your concerns? 

ben2021

Hi thanks for getting back to me. I will give contact a call/message and see if they can help. I have had a meeting with school recently in regards to the concerns we have but all it seems like they are bothered about is getting him back into school I've ask for work for him to do at home while this is happening and they won't do that it feels like they are pushing me to put him back into school or take him out full stop there doesn't seem to be any support to help us find an alternative way.

L_Volunteer

Hi @ben2021, 

Welcome to Scope's forum. It is great to see you have joined us. Thank you for reaching out to us. I appreciate it can take courage to reach out for the first time.

I am sorry to hear that you are feeling worried about your son being back at school given his medical conditions. As I have been shielding myself, I can fully empathise with your concerns about 'getting back to normal'. Your natural instinct is understandably to want to protect your child! Have you tried speaking to your son's headteacher, SENCO and GP? 

I hope you receive the support you need soon. Please feel free to let us know how you get on 

gw1

Unfortunately some schools and colleges are not able to provide bespoke educational services to individuals or groups with more vulnerability to Covid. Our experience is either shielding and remote learning or back into school/ college with the increased risk of infection. My daughter has CP, numerous health issues and is on immunosuppressive medication and despite three doses of the vaccine is still vulnerable to a severe reaction to Covid. The approach from her educational provider is similar with no alternative as yet  to attend or don’t attend.