There is something in my head, not sure I will get it onto the screen very well...! The way I read this thread, everyone is advocating a national standard for school starting dates i.e. You must be 5 by January 1 of the year you start your first year of formal schooling, regardless of which state you reside in. So if you turn 5 any time in 2013, from January 1 to December 31, you start school in 2014. And you MUST start school in the year after you turn 5? Because we want to avoid the situation of having a 2 year spread in a single class? Right? (There is a 2 year spread in my DD1's class and as they all begin to hit puberty - she's in grade 5 - the spread is showing.) But what happens to the kids who are not ready, despite the fact that they turned 5 in November? And the kid who turns 5 on January 2nd, they cannot start school, whether they are ready or not?

I agree that the cutoff date should be standard across Australia, but I don't think that we can ever create a situation where we will avoid having a two year spread, because the fact is that kids don't develop at a standard rate in terms of school readiness.

I wonder though, if we did abide by the 'rules' outlined above, whether the expectations and conditions of that first year would change? You wouldn't have kids who are 4 years 9 months starting with kids who are 6 years 9 months, every child would be between the ages of 5 and 6 years. So, even allowing for the spread of maturity and development within that group, perhaps the program would be easier to tailor to address the needs of each of those children? Hmmm....