Probably a stupid question about Kindy

[Guest SophieB]

OK so my son has just turned 4 (in March) and we will go to Oz this August. I know that I can start him in kindy in February just before he turns 5. I also know that I *could* choose to keep him at home until the following February, just before he turns 6. Would he also go into Kindy at this point, or straight to year 1???

 

What I'm saying is do all school starters start in kindy regardless of their age (so there might be more than a year difference in age)? Or do 4 year olds who start Kindy have to do 2 years of it??

 

Quite confused LOL!!! :goofy:

[Quoll]

The cut off date for enrolment for NSW is end July so as he will turn 5 in March he would probably start Kindergarten in 2012 - not many kids would be held back at that age and he would then move into year 1 in 2013 (the ones that are held back would usually be June/July birthdays). Kindergarten is the first year of full time school in NSW and if you held him back, in general he would then go into Kindergarten at nearly 6 which would definitely make him the oldest in the cohort. I'd send him to K in 2012 unless he is seriously socially/academically delayed

 

Theoretically you might be able to find a preschool place from August to December but NSW preschools are user pays so it probably wont be worth the effort

[rebrol]

Hi Sophie

 

I have a daughter who is same age, born in April and although it does seem that most children here are 5 before they go to school I am sending her next year as I feel she is more than ready for it. As Quoll says as long as you feel he is ready and able for school then send him next year. If you send him 2013 he will go into Kindy.

[Guest SophieB]

Thank you both, that answers my question. I guess that is why the school I looked at said that they stream children by ability rather than age, because there is quite a difference in ages in each class.

[Guest flip]

Feeling all nostalgic. We came out with a four year old 6 years ago from Wolverhampton (Wightwick).

 

He was very bored for the first six months as he'd started school in the UK and had lots to do and we arrived where he could only go to 3 year old kindy for half a day a week (Victoria tends to keep kids back a year) and he knew no-one. We put him into prep (full time and free) as soon as he could (in the Feb when he'd be 5 in the April) knowing he'd repeat a year later but it helped because it kept him busy and helped him make lots of friends. Unfortunately he'd forgot everything he'd learned in the six months we were settling in.

 

Obviously the rules are different in each state so it's great to get advice from here.

 

We'll be popping into Wolverhampton for a few days in July - can't wait to see our old friends and the Mermaid pub.

 

Hope your move goes well for you.

[Guest can36]

Hi Sophie

 

I have a daughter who is same age, born in April and although it does seem that most children here are 5 before they go to school I am sending her next year as I feel she is more than ready for it. As Quoll says as long as you feel he is ready and able for school then send him next year. If you send him 2013 he will go into Kindy.

Hiya - sorry to butt into this conversation! I am hoping you can also help clear things up in my mind also! We are heading to QLD August this year. My 3 year old (turned 3 in March there) will be starting pre-school nursery here in August (as one of oldest in class due to where birthday falls) and if we were staying would go to school at 5 1/2 in the august of 2012. The whole nursery/pre-school thing in Oz is a worry for me.

 

From what I am reading from your posts - the suggestion is that he would then not start school until he was almost 6 - 6 months after he would have started here in the UK - which I was already slightly unhappy about - but its' just unfortunate where his birthday falls is past the cut off date. He is more than ready for pre-school now - but can't go until August.

 

Do either of you have any advice for the Oz situation? I would really rather he went to nursery and school as soon as is possible...but I also read the school years are Jan-dec over in oz - quite confused at the mo!! xx Michelle

[Quoll]

Hiya - sorry to butt into this conversation! I am hoping you can also help clear things up in my mind also! We are heading to QLD August this year. My 3 year old (turned 3 in March there) will be starting pre-school nursery here in August (as one of oldest in class due to where birthday falls) and if we were staying would go to school at 5 1/2 in the august of 2012. The whole nursery/pre-school thing in Oz is a worry for me.

 

From what I am reading from your posts - the suggestion is that he would then not start school until he was almost 6 - 6 months after he would have started here in the UK - which I was already slightly unhappy about - but its' just unfortunate where his birthday falls is past the cut off date. He is more than ready for pre-school now - but can't go until August.

 

Do either of you have any advice for the Oz situation? I would really rather he went to nursery and school as soon as is possible...but I also read the school years are Jan-dec over in oz - quite confused at the mo!! xx Michelle

 

A child in Queensland born in March 2008 will start full time school in February 2013 when they are about to turn 5 - the first year of full time school in Qld is called Prep. The year before that (2012) you might be able to find him a place in Kindergarten/Preschool which is a part time program. I dont think Qld has a universal free preschool program but the Qlders will be along soon and will tell you what it is like to get places and whether you will have to pay for them.

 

Best thing is to forget all you know about education in UK because this is a foreign country and each state has its own system with the only constant being that the school year begins at the end of January and goes through to December. The only reason you would want to know what is comparable in UK is if you are proposing to return to it.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Australia is a good place to start

[Guest can36]

Many thanks for that.... definitely not proposing to return to UK - but it's quite hard going into the unknown isn't it! I guess as long as I can get him into a good school, then it doesn't really matter too much about the age - I see Australia ranks in the top 10 (above the UK!!) for education - which you start to wonder if it is because they don't push their kids at such an early age....thanks again! Look forward to some QLD replies on the subject

[rebrol]

Hiya - sorry to butt into this conversation! I am hoping you can also help clear things up in my mind also! We are heading to QLD August this year. My 3 year old (turned 3 in March there) will be starting pre-school nursery here in August (as one of oldest in class due to where birthday falls) and if we were staying would go to school at 5 1/2 in the august of 2012. The whole nursery/pre-school thing in Oz is a worry for me.

 

From what I am reading from your posts - the suggestion is that he would then not start school until he was almost 6 - 6 months after he would have started here in the UK - which I was already slightly unhappy about - but its' just unfortunate where his birthday falls is past the cut off date. He is more than ready for pre-school now - but can't go until August.

 

Do either of you have any advice for the Oz situation? I would really rather he went to nursery and school as soon as is possible...but I also read the school years are Jan-dec over in oz - quite confused at the mo!! xx Michelle

 

Hi Michelle

 

Another good link http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/about/enrolling.html

 

But basically as Quoll says children turning 5 by 30th June go into prep which is non-compulsary, children turning 6 by 30th June go into Y1. The school year here starts at the end of Jan and finishes December which is the summer hols here in Oz. There are 4 terms usually lasting about 10 wks each - depending on whether you go state or private. But the link above should give you all the info you need.

 

Good Luck

[Guest SophieB]

:cool:

Feeling all nostalgic. We came out with a four year old 6 years ago from Wolverhampton (Wightwick).

 

He was very bored for the first six months as he'd started school in the UK and had lots to do and we arrived where he could only go to 3 year old kindy for half a day a week (Victoria tends to keep kids back a year) and he knew no-one. We put him into prep (full time and free) as soon as he could (in the Feb when he'd be 5 in the April) knowing he'd repeat a year later but it helped because it kept him busy and helped him make lots of friends. Unfortunately he'd forgot everything he'd learned in the six months we were settling in.

 

Obviously the rules are different in each state so it's great to get advice from here.

 

We'll be popping into Wolverhampton for a few days in July - can't wait to see our old friends and the Mermaid pub.

 

Hope your move goes well for you.

 

Hello Flip!!!

We're in Finchfield, so the other side of the hill

Very interesting that you did the same 6 years ago.

 

I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with Eddie up until Feb when he'll start. I have heard wind of a 'head start' programe he might be able to get a place on where they have small groups of kids ready for Kindy go into school and get familiar with the surroundings. Other than that we'll be tearing each others hair out like we do on the afternoons here. Fun!

Oh, and I meet up with 'the girls' once a month and we either go to The Mermaid or Miller and Carter (formerly the thingymebob Cottage on the A449) for a bite to eat. They do table sevice at the Mermaid now, very much a food pub nowadays. Will be there in July no doubt so will listen out for a mix of an Aussie/Wolvo accent :biglaugh:

[Guest flip]

I'll try and put on the accent for you but I'm afraid I'm originally from Manchester so I'm not very good at the "fasta's" and the " her am's" - how about I try to mix a "ripper" or "fair dinkum" with a "blummin 'eck"?

 

I love Finchfield (is that little kids clothes shop with the rocking horse still there?), Compton, Tettenhall - in fact the only thing that moved me to tears in my first couple of months was when I looked on the Daisy Freezer Centre's website and they had an image of snow falling at the front of the shop. ... well at least with regards to tears of homesickness - I also shed a few when a pipe burst on my driveway and blocked us in for days, by Optus (Oh what I wouldn't have given for your IT cable network - can't remember the name now), power cuts ... the joys of moving definitely brought on the waterworks but for us it's all been worth it.

 

When you get here there are so many playgrounds and the weather's much nicer for them to play in and I found it easy to make friends there. There's also day care which is expensive but we indulged on one day a week - such a relief for both him and me. Other than that he learned to use his sister's XBox and DS at a much younger age than he'd normally have been allowed.

 

If you do hear someone talking oddly and non-stop by all means come say hello and ask any questions you have ... obviously I can only help from a Victorian perspective but am always happy to witter on.

 

Have fun with your plans.

 

Cal

[Guest shusselmann]

Hi all,

Thought I’d share our experience as we arrived in Australia when our eldest son was 3.5 so were in a similar position regarding decisions about starting school.

We’re in NSW and our son’s birthday is in May so whilst he was eligible to start school aged 4 he was one of the youngest in the year. We could have waited and started him the following year but as he’d attended a preschool in the UK, and in the end in Aus, we decided he was ready. His Kindergarten class here has a number of children around his age and many who are turning six. From our experience, the broad age range isn’t a problem. The children seem unaware of the age difference and the teachers are used to dealing with the mixed academic and social abilities of the children.

We arrived in the January of the year before he started school so he also attended preschool here, which was very good. Children tend to do two – three days a week. If you can find a dedicated preschool with school hours (rather than a long day care centre) it will be cheaper. We also found some excellent playgroups run by Playgroup Australia, so had plenty to keep us busy on the days he wasn't at preschool.

Good luck with your plans!

Sarah

[Guest]

My understanding (my Aussie hubby explained it all to me so I could work out when best for us to move to Aus in relation to our son turning 5) is that kindy is like the UK reception. Children start when they are 5 in Aus. Not before. So a child born in the early part of the year will start in the Feb or after Easter (depending on their birth date) and therefore do 3 or 4 terms in kindy before moving up to year 1. Those in the latter part of the year, birthday from May onwards would start either in July or the last term. And the usual thing is its dependent on the child but most stay in kindy for 6 terms (so doing a half year then another full year) before going to year 1. Some kids who are able having only completed 1 or 2 terms do go up with their actual age group but many do not. There is no stigma or problem in them doing 5 or 6 terms in kindy. Its quite normal.

 

I'd personally start your child at the usual time, the term after turning 5 and if 3 or 4 terms are completed going up to year 1 should be fine. If only 1 or 2 terms are finished it might be worthwhile doing another year in kindy with some of the others his age who will do so also.

[Quoll]

My understanding (my Aussie hubby explained it all to me so I could work out when best for us to move to Aus in relation to our son turning 5) is that kindy is like the UK reception. Children start when they are 5 in Aus. Not before. So a child born in the early part of the year will start in the Feb or after Easter (depending on their birth date) and therefore do 3 or 4 terms in kindy before moving up to year 1. Those in the latter part of the year, birthday from May onwards would start either in July or the last term. And the usual thing is its dependent on the child but most stay in kindy for 6 terms (so doing a half year then another full year) before going to year 1. Some kids who are able having only completed 1 or 2 terms do go up with their actual age group but many do not. There is no stigma or problem in them doing 5 or 6 terms in kindy. Its quite normal.

 

I'd personally start your child at the usual time, the term after turning 5 and if 3 or 4 terms are completed going up to year 1 should be fine. If only 1 or 2 terms are finished it might be worthwhile doing another year in kindy with some of the others his age who will do so also.

 

 

Not quite right. AFAIK SA is the only state still to have continuous enrolment and what you have said is only true for SA.

 

The other states all have a cut off date and children with a birthday turning 5 before the cut off date will start their first year of full time school in the February and they will do just the one year at that grade level (it's called various things depending on the state - Kindergarten, Pre-prep, Reception, Transition and Preparatory) then comes year 1 which is when the kids turn 6 before the cut off date. The cut off dates depend on the states as well - from 1 Jan (Tas) through to 31 July (NSW) and all stops in between.

 

It would be so much easier for everyone if the states would get their act together and have a universal starting and finishing age with a definite starting process. There is a fair bit of mobility between states and that, too, can be very confusing for the kids - in some ways it is far easier to come from overseas and just slot into the system.

[Guest can36]

Not quite right. AFAIK SA is the only state still to have continuous enrolment and what you have said is only true for SA.

 

The other states all have a cut off date and children with a birthday turning 5 before the cut off date will start their first year of full time school in the February and they will do just the one year at that grade level (it's called various things depending on the state - Kindergarten, Pre-prep, Reception, Transition and Preparatory) then comes year 1 which is when the kids turn 6 before the cut off date. The cut off dates depend on the states as well - from 1 Jan (Tas) through to 31 July (NSW) and all stops in between.

 

It would be so much easier for everyone if the states would get their act together and have a universal starting and finishing age with a definite starting process. There is a fair bit of mobility between states and that, too, can be very confusing for the kids - in some ways it is far easier to come from overseas and just slot into the system.

 

So - would that mean for example that my little boy whose birthday is mid-march - he would start prerp just before he turned 5 i.e. in the feb?? if we were staying in the UK - he wouldn't start primary 1 until he was 5 1/2! So that would be good then...I am getting a bit confused with the terminology - but is prep basically nursery or is it primary 1 equivaent? Sorry DUH!!

[Guest flip]

So - would that mean for example that my little boy whose birthday is mid-march - he would start prerp just before he turned 5 i.e. in the feb?? if we were staying in the UK - he wouldn't start primary 1 until he was 5 1/2! So that would be good then...I am getting a bit confused with the terminology - but is prep basically nursery or is it primary 1 equivaent? Sorry DUH!!

 

As Quoll says it depends which state you're heading for. I'm in Vic and my son's birthday's in April - Our cut off date is the end of April so he started Prep in the February before he was 5.

 

He was the youngest in the school and our teacher said within the first week he'd be repeating Prep because other children in the class were nearly 18 months older and much more advanced. The kids who start Prep here aren't toddlers or little ones, they're still ridiculously cute but are much more independent than the little dots we first send to school in the UK.

 

They hold children back here because they don't want them to struggle to keep up which is why you'll find 4 year olds in 3 year old kinder and 5 year olds in 4 year old kinder. Some parents prefer this way and some find it incredibly frustrating. I understand that depending on which age level of kinder and which kindergarten they attend they can be in from 1 morning a week up to 5 mornings a week.

 

As Prep is full time (except for the first few weeks/term when there are different ways of settling them in including giving one day off a week, finishing at 1.30, etc) and they're already expected to know the alphabet and various other things it is more advanced than we'd expect from our Kinder's and Reception kids.

 

It is confusing but I found in the UK depending on the council you were under, kinder, infants, reception etc could be interchangeable or meant entirely different things.

 

As for fees, and this could have been changed since we started here and again I'm talking about Victoria, there was a charge for kindergarten for which permanent residents would get partial rebates but not if you're temporary residents. Prep to Grade 6 School fees in public (government) schools cover books and a contribution to maintenance and can vary from around $100 to $500.

 

Hope this helps.

[Quoll]

So - would that mean for example that my little boy whose birthday is mid-march - he would start prerp just before he turned 5 i.e. in the feb?? if we were staying in the UK - he wouldn't start primary 1 until he was 5 1/2! So that would be good then...I am getting a bit confused with the terminology - but is prep basically nursery or is it primary 1 equivaent? Sorry DUH!!

 

A child with a mid March birthday can start full time school (dont know what the UK terminology is for that and as this is a foreign country you dont really need to be bothered with it) when they are 4 years and 9 months so they will be turning 5 during the first term of their full time school.

 

The year before that (and again this is very dependent on the state) they may be able to access a "pre school" (terminology changes by state!) which will allow them to attend between 12 and 15 hours per week (depends on the state again). In some states this is a universal free provision and in other states it is user pays and hard to get into.

[Guest flip]

Just thought, for an Aussie perspective on children have a look at http://www.webchild.com.au - they have different magazines for all the states

[LKC]

Our eldest has just started kindy this year, she turned five on 24th April so she is one of the youngest in the class (we are in NSW). From what I have seen in class when I go to help with reading, academically there isn't much difference between the children. They are all pretty much at the same level with their reading and handwriting, but physically there is a big difference between the 4/5 and the 5/6 year olds. Not just in physical size, but in strength, coordination etc too.

 

We agonised for ages over whether to send her or wait until next year, but after speaking to the teachers at the school, we decided to give it a go on the understanding that she may have to repeat a year at some point if necessary. From speaking to my Aussie friends (who have kept their children back), they prefer their children to be the oldest in the class, because they are more socially, intellectually and physically mature, and far more able to cope with school. Putting them to school earlier is not seen as being a good thing necessarily.

 

I would imagine that as she gets older, the intellectual and physical differences will get smaller, but the social ones will get bigger (eg, her friends who are 1+ years older than her becoming interested in boys and make-up before her).

[Irishgirl1]

WOW so much difference between States, My daughter started Kindy on Feb 1 2006 and she was 3 did not turn 4 till May, it goes July 1 to June 30 here in WA

So she was 4 in May and her good friend was 5 on the July 2nd.

My Son is in Pre-Primary now and turned 5 in Feb.

So do they expect them to read and write in other states in Kindy????

 

Cheers Laney

[Rob64]

Just to be clear Australia is not higher than the UK in Education. It depends on what you are measuring against. They do the equivialant of SATS here in Year 3, 5, 7, 9. Which puts a lot of pressure on the children and are only measuring the school not the child. Wales abolished SATs a number of years ago but stilll have measures in place to ensure that your child/children are progressing in the basic skills etc. Each state has a different curriculum, we live in NSW and generally the children are spoon fed especially in HSC and when students get to uni they struggle with a high drop out rate.

[LKC]

Just a little update on our daughter who started kindy this year aged 4 (she has since turned five) on my observations so far. She is the youngest in the year with an end of April birthday. I go to the school once a week to help with literacy/reading, and to be honest she is in the top quarter of the class for reading and writing. She has gone from knowing her letters (which we taught her before she went to school) to being able to read pretty well, within the three months she has been at school. She is also writing well, and is being taught how to write stories already, not just 'This is a cat, this is my house', but proper stories with a beginning, middle and end. Super impressed with the school academically.

 

However, physically she is way behind the others. She had a cross country running event (a lap of the school playing field) and she came last by a considerable way. She was fine about it, and smiled the whole way round, after all she is still little and hasn't developed a competitive streak yet, but I would imagine that as she gets older she may not be so happy if she is always coming last. Size-wise she isn't the smallest (she is pretty tall for her age), but in terms of co-ordination and ability to run, catch etc, she is no where near the others. You can definitely see the difference there.

 

We'll see how she goes. She has made lots of friends and loves school, plus she is doing well in an academic sense so overall so far I am pleased that we sent her when we did. However, we may find that the physical thing is a bit of a stumbling block which we have to deal with later on down the line.

[Guest sanda]

I have lived in both Victoria and Queensland I came a year ago with my then 3 year old. He is at Kindy at a private school. The state option was terrible here. In Queensland we went to playgroups run my mother's (some are excellent, others not so good!?). My son goes kindy 2 days a week has had trouble settling. Which again concerns me as in the UK loved the two pre-school's his nan took him to whilst I worked. We have struggled to keep him busy and amused but together we have been working on artwork and things. http://www.redbubble.com/people/sarahtrett/t-shirts/7027381-dino-t Kept us both sane. That and going to the park... You do adjust but it is hard.