In case anyone is following I thought I would update. We received the judgement this morning. The judge said he wouldn't consider our application in a case for full custody on an interim basis at this stage. We heard one of his staff ask if he was aware of the application and he read it quickly before speaking to us.
He has ordered shared care (50/50) to resume again, starting tomorrow. He has granted my partner 'leave to apply' which he said means if the mother doesn't comply then my partner can contact the chambers, and the judge will consider our interim request to change the residence of the child. He asked if the mother had any questions and she actually asked the judge what should she do if the child doesn't want to go. He told her to exercise her capacity to parent and her responsibility to parent. He also told the mother 'not to rev the child up' and to make sure he is aware my partner will be collecting him tomorrow. The judge also asked the mother to seek legal advise as she hasn't been supplying much evidence and isn't making much sense to him.
He has ordered an ICL to be appointed and next court date is set for 12th October. He said he's not satisfied the shared care arrangements will work much longer, given what has been occurring.
He didn't seem impressed with the school principle either, and I think he said 'you can probably cease orders to the school'. We weren't sure what that meant, as we did request orders to stop the school from releasing the child, but maybe he hadn't read them?
Overall we feel positive! Hopefully tomorrow we will finally see the child and things can return to normal.