DS will be 5 in March for prep 2013

[Caz1971]

Hi there,

I take it that your DS is doing 4 year old Kinder this year.

September is not too early to decide as there is a bit of a process to get through to access a second year of funded four year old Kinder.

Your son's Kinder teacher is the best person to guide you as she/he will know whether your DS is acquiring the necessary skills to be ready for school.

Check out the Victorian Department of Education website as there are factsheets there on what is needed to access a second year of four year old Kinder but basically your Kinder teacher needs to assess your son as having delays in at least two of the following areas:

From the Department website:
"The areas assessed include:
• self-care
• the ability to speak and/or understand language
• cognitive (intellectual) development
• social development, and
• emotional development
Other factors may also be considered."

You may also need to have an assessment by the Preschool Field Officer to support a second year of funded 4 year old Kinder. I believe most councils in Melbourne have these and your Kinder teacher should be able to advise what the department requires.

If your son is fine with his development and you simply want to delay his entry to school and you have already accessed one year of four year old Kinder, you may find yourself in the position of having to send him to school anyway or fund the second year of Kinder yourself. The Department of Education has to approve your son's funding for second year of four year old Kinder on sound developmental reasons.

There are plenty of sources about school readiness and there is research about holding kids back from school. I am going through the same process as you with DS2 and have been through it all with DS1. Let me know if you would like me to point to any of the resources I found helpful.

Good luck with it all.

thanks Ticklish, googling, reading the site now.

[Caz1971]

I think if you are concerned then talk to your Kinder teachers. It's not unusual at this stage (during Kinder) to not be interested in writing etc. I work at a Kindergarten (pre-prep) and we have a range of children from ones who can read simple words to kids who can write their names to kids who are just simply not interested, and all of them are ready for prep next year. The only time we would consider keeping a child in Kindergarten rather than moving on to Prep is if emotionally they are not ready to deal with prep and we think it would be in their best interest to stay in Kinder so they build social/emotional skills for one more year. It is also a bit of a process to keep them back for a second year - extra funding, enrollments etc. Talk to your Kinder teachers this week and get their advice - they are probably thinking about transitions by now and will be able to give you an indication on if they have considered your son for a second year of Kinder.

In Melbourne, when is the cut off for Prep? Do they have to be 5 by the end of June that year? Because if yes, he will be the 'average' age. There will be children older and younger and of varying developmental levels. My focus would be on if emotionally he will handle the routines and processes of Prep rather than if he has an interest in writing, but really the best person to answer specific questions about if he is ready is his Kinder teachers. Kinder teachers are often in close contact with Prep teachers, and have a thorough understanding of the schools area and the expectations and limitations of the local schools, especially at this time of the year when considering transitions, and please remember and respect that they are actually registered teachers who have the same qualifications as they school teachers so even though they don't work in a school classroom they do understand what is expected of children when they go to school.

Yeah the cut off in melb is end of april. he's in march. Ill chat to the kindy tomorrow. Yeah didnt realise will be running around if he can do 4 yr old kindy (again)

[Caz1971]

Thanks all I have just re-read all of your posts/answers/advice. We had the school prep interview the other week. The teacher sounded like it was so full on. She could'nt tell me in a nutshell because she had just met DS for say half an hour. DS didnt recognise the alphabet, just his name letters. He did ok with all the other stuff, drawing, tracing over, cutting, numbers . She asked him to repeat a few sentences, but had to ask him twice to repeat the sentence (then she would have to say the sentence again) so I thought maybe his comprehension skills were not the best. I dont think DS could cope and he seems not too interested in school - he just wants to play. She asked if he gets frustrated easily too. Which could mean he is still not ready. I don't think he gets frustrated. I went back to his kindy teacher and pointed out what happened and how my mind wasnt made up for DS starting school next year. So have decided to keep him back! Almost every mum I see with boys said they kept em back.... Just hope I've made the right choice for my son.....