Can my child have a different surname for school and work?

I think you can have a “known as” name on the register these days, given a huge variety of family situations. Ask the school about it. I’m pretty sure that’s very doable.

As long as the name is on the child birth certificate you can use it

“Schools and GP’s often provide the option to register a ”known as” name in addition to registering the child’s legal name. The legal name will be used on official documentation, i.e. school record, medical record, prescriptions etc. The known as name, on the other hand, could be used on less official documentation and teachers would address the child by their known as name.”

https://childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/changing-a-childs-surname/#:~:text=Schools%20and%20GP's%20often%20provide,%2C%20medical%20record%2C%20prescriptions%20etc.

For the record, that document is just entitled “changing a child’s surname” :) I’m not suggesting you do that ;). But in there, there’s info about having a “known as” name.

Wow I’m really surprised this is great!

thank you so much xx now just need to convince the dad 😅

Your welcome

Ha, indeed - that’s probably the harder task 💕 at least it’s useful to have the childlawadvice, to show it can be a legitimate thing to do. The legal surname would generally still be on report cards etc - just saves the child’s awkwardness when the register is called out.
Good luck 👌🏻

So my brother has his legal name and then the one used at school that's completely different (he's named after his dead beat dad so goes by his middle name and my mum's last name at school) and there's never been an issue except sometimes his legal stuff that comes home from school is in his legal name just for paper trail purposes but none of the teachers call him by his legal name and none of the kids know his real name

My friend has a hyphenated last name but only goes by one name professionally. I didn't even know he had a hyphenated name until he went on a rant about his one parent one day. All his documentation had only one last name

Anything you can do to make school life easier is a good thing. Why set them up for a hard time.