confused about school years?

[Gracie]

Hi Guys,

 

I'm a little confused and would be grateful if somebody could clarify what year my little boy will go into... He started Primary school here in Ireland last September age 4 and has since turned 5. I read somewhere that kids only start school at 5 in Australia... this worries me a little if it is true, as i don't want to have to keep him home until next January :confused:. He was in preschool here for two years before he started so i think keeping him back would actually be quite detrimental as he has been doing really well.

Any light you could shed on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

[k8bug79]

I was getting confused about it but actually its very easy. THe school years are the same as ours except they are different names. Their school year starts in January as opposed to our September. I think the only difference is that where as our school year is selected by the birthdays 1 sept to 31 Aug. They go 1st July to 30th June. Except NSW (there may be others) that take birthdays 1 Aug to 31st July. So if you son's birthday is in July/ Aug he may be effected but otherwise he'll just shift where the academic year is, not the actual year.

[Gracie]

Hi k8bug79,

 

Thanks for your reply. If i'm understanding you correctly then he will join the 1st grade or is it Kindergarten 1??? (Junior infants) when we go over in May. I was worried that because he only turned 5 in March he wouldn't be able to start until January 2013.

 

I really hope that's the case anyway.

Thanks again.

[theonetruechris]

The cut off is the end of april in vic. We 'had' to wait the extra year for our son as his birthday was in may. I say had to wait but we could have challenged it saying his development was geared to him starting school at 4 1/2 glad we waited though he was much more emotionally ready when he started. I think they are more open to positioning children where they need to be rather than simple age groups.

[pintpot]

Education is a state responsibility, and "cut off" dates vary from state to state

 

By "cut off", I mean that if your child is born after that date in the year, then they start school in the year in which they turn 6. If they are born earlier than that date, you can either send them in the year they turn 5 or the year they turn 6

 

E.g., in NSW the "cut off" is 31 July for public schools. Our son is born in June (2007) and started in Feb of this year 2012, although he is still 4. We could have sent him to school either this year (2012 start) or next year (2013 start)

 

Private schools tend to set their own cut off dates, to add to the confusion. From a legal point of view, they have to be in full time school by the time they turn 6 (this is often misinterpreted/misreported as people believing they don't start school until they are 6)

[shellybr]

Depends which state you are going to, they are all different. WA's cutoff is 30th June. My ds is 4 will be 5 in May so he is in Preprimary this year, he will go into Year 1 in Feb. WA is quite strict on the year the kids go into.

[pintpot]

WA is quite strict on the year the kids go into.

I think they all are. The "cut off" date is just that, there's no leeway on it

[k8bug79]

By the sounds of it Gracie your son will stay in the equivalent school year. My son was 5 in dec and is in reception if moved next jan he would go into year 1 only repeating the bit beteen sept and jan. But fully expecting it not to be 'repeating' as it's a different curriculum

[Guest legselevn]

hay there

 

it is slower my young one will be 4 in aug and would of been in j infants 5 days aweek 9.20am 2pm over in ireland from this sept. she will start kindergarden 2 days one week and 3 days the flllowing week next feb.over here in perth so first year of school only part time.lots of home school needed me thinks.i'm very woorried bout how this will effect my 3 chaps when we move back as i think they will be behind.hopefully they be grand.

 

best of like with the big move

[Quoll]

Rule number one, forget all you know about education whence you came, dont get hung up on year names or starting dates or whatever, just go with the flow.

 

A child with a March birthday in any state will start full time school at the beginning of the year they turn 5 so a kid who turned 5 last month will be in the first year of full time school (names change according to state) this year 2012 and will go into year 1 (which is the second year of full time school) 2013. However some states (ACT and Vic mainly) will look at a child with a March birthday and if they are not ready for school, may suggest that you keep them at home for another year.

 

Rule number 2 - a child will not be "going back", "repeating" anything because they have not been in school in Australia, they will just be going along with their age cohort and doing new stuff.

 

The only time you need to worry about their level of education is if you are going to take them back to UK in which case they may well need some additional support when they get back so they can catch up with what they have missed.

[Guest Relocate Northern Beaches]

Yes all that has been said above very sensible . Go with flow don't think of it as "backwards" just different . In NSW in The Kindergarten ( first year of school) there can be some 4 year olds turning 5 along with 5 year olds turning 6. Some people recommend putting boys into school later rather than earlier as developmentally they can be a little less mature .

private schools and Catholic schools all have their own cut off rules which may be different than the Public schools