StevelandWonder Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 We are hopefully going to be in Sydney in April this year, Northern Beaches I think. My son is eligible to start school straight away into Kindergarten as he is 5 in July. He will not have been to school in the UK yet. I would consider holding him back until 2014 but thought it might be more harmful to have him at home with me for 9 months, as I think pre school might be very difficult to get into. My question is does anyone know if it is a similar start in Kindergarten to Primary 1 (we are in Scotland) in the UK? As in do they very quickly start with letter sounds, number work and reading or is it more social interaction? I am worried that he will have missed too much in the first term to feel like he is part of the class. Any comments or experiences would be gratefully received. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I would be inclined to hold him back. He will be VERY young for his year - undoubtedly the youngest in his class - and will miss the all-important first few weeks when everyone is new. We started our son at a touch older than that (June baby) but he is physically and academically advanced and had already been at school at home, otherwise we would have thought about it. It hasn't been without issues but we are sure we did the right thing. If we'd come part way through the school year I don't think it would be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevelandWonder Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 What options do you think we would have for some sort of pre school? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevelandWonder Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 Also we are only going to be in Oz for 2/3 years. Don't want him to be behind returning to Uk. Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playghirl Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Steve, such a tricky decision. STeiner schools do not begin the reading and writing process until later, but might offer a lovely nurturing environment for a year....though then you may not want to move him to another school for academic learning per say... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Also we are only going to be in Oz for 2/3 years. Don't want him to be behind returning to Uk. Thanks, Pre schools, I don't really know. I've heard anecdotal "evidence" that places are easier to come by because people are struggling to pay the fees. But don't rely on that as we don't live in the NBs and haven't personally tried to find one If you're only going to be in Oz a short time that might put a different complexion on it - and make it more worth putting him in school when you can. I would be very careful he's coping with it though, try and develop a good relationship with the school and especially the class teacher so you can get as much feedback as possible on how he's handling it I assume you'll be on a 457 visa - trust you are aware you will have to pay fees for government school? ($4500 per year) Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevelandWonder Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 We have PR (175), but always the plan just to go for that amount of time. Thanks for your advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purpleal Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 We have just moved to the Northern Beaches (Forestville) from the Lower North Shore (where we lived for 7 years). Our daughter just makes the cut off date - 11th July - however we decided to start her in Kindergarten this year 2013 at 5 and a half. We have another daughter who is now going into year 2, and despite having an October birthday was one of the youngest in her class - some of the kids were already turning 7 in the Jan/Feb. If we had started our 2nd daughter last year, she would have been 4 and a half in a class with some kids going on 6. Finding a preschool place can be difficult, depending on where in the NB's you want to live. We put our son's name down for our local preschool beginning of last year and he got a place for this year - we did say that we did not want him to start last year, so not sure if any places became available during the year. I do know however, know of a family who moved here mid year and their child was in the preschool when we went for our orientation towards the end of the year. In saying that, Sydney is transient - there are always people coming and going and even at our daughters previous preschool in Mosman, despite them having a long waiting list, I never heard of someone who wasnt accepted. With your son being 4, he would get priority over a 3 year old for example as they give precedence to children who are older as they will be starting school sooner. We had a friend move to Cromer and she ended up sending her son to two preschools as she was working 4 days and each centre only had a two day position available. Another thing to consider is that the preschools usually only do a two day or three day program - at my son's preschool, you have the option of Mon/Tue or Thur/Fri and then Mon/Tue/Wed or Wed/Thu/Fri. At the girls preschool, they only had two choices - Mon/Tue/We and then Thu/Fri so it can vary between places. I am not able to compare Scottish and Aus schools, but if you check this link out, it tells you what you can expect your child to learn in Kindergarten: http://k6.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/go/parents/parents-guide-to-the-nsw-primary-syllabuses/early-stage-1 Your son, from mid to year end should have the basics included in what they do in preschool. Hope this helps. Purpleal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevelandWonder Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 Thank you for your time, very helpful indeed. I think I maybe shouldn't make the decision until i visit the school and get a feel for what stage his peers would be at. I am a teacher in Scotland, so always think i could fill in an academic gaps but this doesn't help with the social side! Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cam Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 I'd visit the school and get a gauge, with you having an educational background you'd know straight away. From our experience of childcare and our daughter now going into pre-school the standards are really low, however this most likely varies between establishment. We were talking the other day to a lady who said that the goal at the end of Kindy year is that all children should be able to count to 20. I was shocked!! Just from comparing our daughter now to her friends in the UK she is way behind, they aren't doing much around writing letters or anything, whereas her UK friends are all writing their names and the siblings names, etc. bearing in mind she's almost 4. We were concerned that putting her into school here and then moving back to the UK that she may be behind at school in the UK. But that's only from what we've seen at a couple of childcare centres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickyNook Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 I wouldn't be too shocked about the counting to 20 because - from memory - they do no maths in Kindergarten in NSW. Maths is started in Year 1. Kindergarten is all about reading and writing. My kids went to an excellent, private Primary school in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney. All the kids could read by the end of the kindergarten year. Both my sons went on to take 3-unit Maths (one level below the very advanced 4-unit) at HSC so the lack of maths in kindergarten was hardly detrimental. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 I agree with NickyNook. Our eldest has just gone in to year two at a public school. They concentrated mostly on literacy in Kindergarten, and would spend two to three hours every morning on reading and writing or doing things like word matching games. During that year I saw the kids go from not being able to read and write to being able to read and write stories, not just learning letters (I used to help out in the literacy lessons). Other than that, they did various types of sport, computing, developmental play which they did with other children up to year six which improves their social skills and also seems to build a real community within the school, music, they did lots of craft, and they did do maths, but it was more about building a foundation. So they learned about patterns, shapes, groups and sorting, for example. In year one they continued with the literacy, but also did maths and science and so on. Certainly in my experience of the schooling here, the standard isn't low at all. In fact the standard of the education that my daughter is getting, in my opinion, is actually very high and I have no worries at all. I don't think that you can compare the two education systems, they are like apples and pears. The end result is the same, it is just the journey that is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 I'd probably give it a go - there are kids who repeat if they are struggling with their year level. Often it can be done in a composite class environment so they just move along with the younger age group. Of course, if you think he is socially immature and likely to flounder then, no don't do it. Kindergarten isn't taxing - more about how to be independent and open your sandwiches and juice bottle and put your shoes on the right feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevelandWonder Posted February 2, 2013 Author Share Posted February 2, 2013 Thanks everyone. No I don't think he is socially immature and he attends a pre school here in Scotland which are putting the foundations in, so am fairly confident he would cope. You just worry about them..! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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