Starting school in 2015 or waiting until 2016?

[MummyNaomi]

We went through this dilemma recently too. We are in SA (cut off April 30). DS's birthday is 23rd April so he will be 4yrs9m when he starts.

We changed our mind a million times, but in the end decided to start him in 2014 instead of 2015. He is ready now quite frankly. He used to be quite shy, is now very outgoing and loves the the schoolroom type environment in the childcare kindy room - can spell and write heaps of basic words already, knows his full alphabet, left, right, and his vocabulary at 4.5 is very developed. He only goes to CC twice a week but we consulted with his care givers on their thoughts (one is a Junior Primary Teacher) and they thought he was ready too. We have chosen a private school so the classes are smaller etc and are really comfortable with him starting in 2014. I'm sure I'll think he's too little on his first day though!

Every kid is different - I think you need to make a judgement call on your kid, rather than a generalised opinion, my first thoughts were wait a year - I've now realised that holding DS back would actually be to his detriment, he is ready.

[MrsFabuloso]

I would wait. I waited with my DD, whose birthday is in mid April. She *could* have started school lest year, but DH and I waited. She was meeting all of the prerequisites for starting school last year, but I just felt it was too young for her to go. I wanted to let her have a childhood for longer. Let her be a baby for a little longer.
I also had practical reasons- I want her to excel in school. Whilst she is highly intellegent and very suited to a school environment, I wanted to give her the best opportunity to be the best that I could, which was giving her an extra year to mature, grow and learn. I didn't want her to be one of the younger ones in the year. I wanted her to be older than her peers and I want her to be (hopefully) more responsible and reasonable when she is in high school. One year isn't that long in your life, but could make all of the difference in your child's schooling. There are not many financial gains that are more important than that, I don't think.
If you have concerns for his social maturity, then I would definitely wait. Social maturity is one of the more important parts of going to school. As well as the fact that you will be going back to work, he will be going to school. So you likely won't be seeing him much at all, which will be really tough to go from seeing you 24/7, to school and you working. IMO, I would wait, have your DH do the at home thing for a year, and then he can go to school as a more mature child, used to you working. Then your DH could go to work part time or full time, depending on your family needs.

[HotI]

my kinder has council run 4 year old program, and privately run 3 year old program and works off the April 30 date. Is your kinder a nation wide one? if it is Victorian, or local, then they don't have any reason to not use the same cut off as the schools. it's been that cutoff for years now.

[AnyDream]

Are you sure about the cut off? I thought we were moving towards a nationally consistent school starting age? Why would NSW cutoff be different to other states in 2015?

[wysiwyg]

Are you sure about the cut off? I thought we were moving towards a nationally consistent school starting age? Why would NSW cutoff be different to other states in 2015?

I have heard this said many times but so far have seen nothing which states any changes apart from in SA moving to one intake. Only Vic and Act have 30 April, NSW has 31 July, others have 30 Jun, TAS has 1st Jan (most sensible in my mind as ties in with school year and means there isn't a proportion of year which gets a choice and proportion that doesn't). I would think any changes to dates would need to be announced fairly far in advance, so assume dates would hold true for 2015.

HotI - assume you are referring to black_rose comment about confusion in daycare kinder with dates? Daycare don't have to go by dates as kids there anyway just in different rooms. E.g DD has been in 3 year old kinder room since Sep 2012, although not eligible for 3 year old till jan this year. Also is in 4 year old for a proportion of the day. Is a benefit of in childcare kinder program if you ask me, along with fact she will know some kids in year above her at school. Whatever dates are childcare centres will always use with flexibility I would think.

[Lenny]

BBC News - Formal school lessons should start 'above age of five'

[wysiwyg]

BBC News - Formal school lessons should start 'above age of five'

:-) I just commented on this article on facebook

I think this is the crucial bit in the article "These extra few years, in my view, provide a crucial opportunity, when supported by well-trained, well-paid and highly educated staff, for children to be children." - all the headlines and much of the reporting on this is all about starting "school" later when really it is about the structure of "school" - this campaign is actually about the formalization of early childhood learning - that is being pushed in the UK at the moment.

Finland is always quoted - but changing the starting "school" age is not going to make anywhere like Finland - "Finland has had access to free universal daycare for children age eight months to five years in place since 1990, and a year of "preschool/kindergarten" at age six, since 1996. "Daycare" includes both full-day childcare centers and municipal playgrounds with adult supervision where parents can accompany the child. The municipality will also pay mothers to stay home and provide "home daycare" for the first three years, if she desires, with occasional visits from a careworker to see that the environment is appropriate".

My view is if 'school' is not right either here in Aus or UK, then 'school' should be changed not the entry age (unless they are going to provide everything Finland does) - or as like the article states it simply favors those who are able to afford to stay home, or pay for childcare for longer.

[Lenny]

You might be right wysiwyg, but in the mean time, if the system is not going to change, then I am prepared to adjust to fit the current system, ITMS.

[wysiwyg]

You might be right wysiwyg, but in the mean time, if the system is not going to change, then I am prepared to adjust to fit the current system, ITMS.

The thing to also remember is that the article is about the UK, where as long as you are 4 by September you start that September - so it is a younger starting age than here and from my understanding (my parents are still in UK and my mum was a nursery teacher over there) it is also already a more formal school system than here - so really I am not sure the article applies to the original post.

Back to the original question - I still think that each relationship between a family, a child, and a school is different and it really only with an understanding of those three components can you make a decision, and that really you can only make that decision when the child is nearer to school age (basically at last possible moment). There shouldn't be any 'mama guilt' associated with it, it isn't wrong to send your child if you and other professionals think they are ready whatever their age. As another poster said, for some children it could be considered detrimental to wait. Sometimes you have to look at the pro's and con's over a much wider period than just that first year (and if you have multiple children you have to factor that in too) - depending on careers a year not working or an additional year not working can have a big impact on future - and thinking about your careers and financial future as a family is not something that should be dismissed - it is an important part of being a parent too.

[Ginger]

Would I send a 4.5 year old boy to school? No, personally I wouldn't.

[Olive]

My DD2 is 4.5yrs....there is no way she's ready for school, she's not even going next year, she's not ready emotionally. She's starting prep in 2015

[MummyNaomi]

Would I send a 4.5 year old boy to school? No, personally I wouldn't.

I used to feel the same Ginger, but looking at my own DS (who is currently 4.5), he is much more mature than boys his age and loves the structure of an organised day, and I guess 'against the norm' that boys of that age need to expel their energy rather than sitting and being expected to conform to a classroom environment, my DS is perfectly suited to this personality wise. He also loves to do the normal boy things that require a bit of sillyness and physical activity but I have no doubt that the school we have chosen for him is perfectly suited to his needs. Anyway, my point is that I think generalising that a 4yo boy is not school ready is too much of a sweeping generalisation.

However having said that one of my work colleagues wives is a junior primary teacher - her observation is in line with popular though that boys take longer to adjust to school than girls, so there definitely is merit in waiting if its appropriate for your boy. She does however also observe that boys coming from the childcare environment into school, rather than the home environment into school, actually transition much better and pretty much hit the ground running as already feel comfortable in a similar environment - just another interesting point to consider BR if your son already attends childcare

[wysiwyg]

This is an old article but I thought was quite good http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...569786596.html

One bit that stood out in relation to the above

"However, she says it's ``too simple'' to say that a younger child will not cope as well as an older one, or that it's better for boys to wait a year, adding: ``If we expect boys to be behind, we tend to treat them that way and that is how they turn out.''

[MummyNaomi]

Interesting article wysiwyg. I was pleased to read the part about social readiness and the ability to make friends easily - this is DS, all the feedback we have from CC is that he plays with everyone, all the kids like him because he is kind, and gets along with everyone (adults included) really well - great social skills that will make all the difference in the school environment.

We've talked about when to start our kids before in our belly buddies group and I'm sure you know that a year ago I had no intention of starting DS before he was five. I would never have anticipated the huge development he has gone through this year. Amazing that we've done a total back flip on our thinking.....

[Beatrix]

I had to decide this recently (being SA it was to start her term 3 so only 3 terms before heading up to year 1 or to start her term 3 where she will get 6 terms before going up to year 1) now it's changing to one intake a year though as of next year.

I decided to hold her back and it was def the best decision for her. She is currently 5 1/2 and still struggled to settle in. She has taken almost a term to really settle.

Each child is different though if its only because of finance you want to send him that to me says he could need to wait but it is a really hard decision.

[Rouge]

My DS was one of the youngest. I copped a lot of flack. But I'm glad he went. He is probably now one of the more mature boys, has no problems socialising and is not suffering academically. He is also the second child. So I think every child is different. However I think the cost of keeping a child back, or the inconvenience of doing so should never ever be a reason to send a child to school. School readiness is so important. And the individual needs of each child.

[wysiwyg]

However I think the cost of keeping a child back, or the inconvenience of doing so should never ever be a reason to send a child to school. School readiness is so important. And the individual needs of each child.

I would rephrase this slightly and say that "the cost of keeping a child back, or the inconvenience of doing so shouldn't be a reason to send a child to school if they are not school ready"

For example - if I was told and felt that my child was 70% school ready but an year at home wouldn't do any harm and I had the capability to stay at home - I would. (An interesting point in the above article I thought was it also depends on what the child is going to be doing in that extra year). If I was told the same but staying at home was going to be very difficult financially and might have implications career wise for several years - I would send the child to school.

If I felt the child was no where near ready and others had indicated the same, then I wouldn't send them and would have to work out the financial implications.

I wouldn't ever base a decision on age - really age only comes into it because there are arbitrary ages set by which they are allowed to be or must be enrolled in school (to me the fact they are different in different states is a good indication of just how arbitrary they are). Generalizing that all 4.5 year olds are unlikely to be ready is just as bad as saying that all 4.5 year olds are likely to be ready.

[Rouge]

Eloquence is not my strong point when I first wake up :P but yes exactly that.

I wouldn't though put a child in school over my career. I just couldn't. I guess for me I've seen that happen. And children are rarely kept down these days (once they are in the system) with a fight unless there is extreme social concerns so I have seen children struggle academically/socially/emotionally who should have stayed home. And the social problems only arise in the second half of primary school and is directly related to confidence academically. And by then even choosing to keep them down at that point has social ramifications. Emotional maturity as well as social maturity are so important to me because for a large part of primary school these kids can coast until thy reach the second half of primary and then their confidence starts to break. And this impacts hugely in secondary school. And then you have the concerns of how well a child can handle the stress of exams and study in the final years. I have high school teacher friends who often comment on the emotional maturity being extremely obvious in the last 2 years and how that impacts greatly on how well they do. So for me even though I have a younger child I wouldn't hesitate in holding them back if it were necessary because it would feel to me like a short term solution with long term effects.