Kinder/Preschool/Kindergarten

I have been seeing lots of threads where people are confused as to when their kids start kinder/preschool/kindergarten. I know that there are different terms used in different states, so I was wondering what is what??

In NSW, we have pre school ('propper' preschools offer the hours of 9-3 like schools do), which is for children aged 3-5yrs. It is not compulsary.
The children in NSW start school (kindergarten) anywhere from the ages of 4 1/2 up to the year they turn 5. This is compulsary, it is actual school.

So to clarify things for me and you tell me, what are the 'rules' in your state?

okay i will make an attempt, and do this by starting backwards...

as far as i know, in victoria they start 'proper school' when they are 5, or turning 5 before April 30 that year.... the year before this they do kindergarten (so when they are 4, or turning 4), and the year before this they can do preschool/3 year old kinder if they choose to (so when they are 3, or turning 3)...

for example my little girl is 2, turning 3 at the end of march... so at the moment she does preschool/3 year old kinder, and next year she will do proper kinder, and start school the following year. She will actually be 4 when she starts school, but will turn 5 at the end of first term. You can also elect to send them to school late, which would mean they are nearly 6 when they start school if they aren't socially ready etc.

In WA we have Kindy first which is non compulsary, but is part of the primary school system, onsite in the primary schools and all part of the same school, it is currently 2 full days or 4 half days (very rare though these days) and is curently being phased in to 2 1/2 days a week (or 5 days a fortnight) and child start when they are 4 (turning 4 before 30th June the year they commence, otherwise they start the following year).

Next is Pre-primary, also part of the primary school system- this is also non-compulsary (but there is a push to make it compulsary) and it is 5 full days per week. Children start pre- primary the year they turn 5 ( 5 before 30th June the year they start, or they have to wait to the following year).

Then we head into the primary school school years 1-7. Currently though they are working on moving year 7's into high schools- the catholic and private system have started already, with the public schools set to follow soon.

At the moment, Kindy and Pre-primary are not compulsary, however if you think your child is too young for kindy the year they are supposed to go, you can not send them the next year to Kindy, they have to go straight to pre-primary. Same goes for missing pre- primary, if a child misses it year they were supposed to go, they have to go straight into year 1 the next year.

in QLD we have kindergarden ( 3.5 yrs and up) so Jack goes in 2011 he will be 4 this sept his class will be kids born july 1st 06 to june 30th 07 (this is not compulsory )depends on centre but usually 3 or 2 day week

then prep in 2012 so he will 5 turning 6 but the younger ones will be 4 turning 5 (this is not compulsory but nearly everyone send their kids) mon fri school hrs

year 1 2013 (compulsory)

OMG, no wonder I'm confused!! I wonder why it isn't the same in all states??

cause our goverment sucks when its comes to making each state the same :lol:

Defintely Rachel!!!
When I taught in Darwin they start once they turned 5 and there was 3 intakes throughout the year into "Transition" which is NSW's kindergarten. Then they went on in Yrs 1-7 in primary school whereas in NSW we start high school in yr 7.

I posted this in another thread but thought I would put it here as well:

In Queensland the school year is based on birthdays from 1 July to 30th June either having already turned 5 (if their birthdays fall in the last half of the year) or about to turn 5 (if their birthdays fall in the first half of the year).

Kids who have turned 5 or about to turn 5, start prep. They start grade one a year later (either just having turned 6 or about to turn 6).

Prep is not compulsory in Queensland but kids that don't do it would start well behind everyone else in grade one. All it means is that if there aren't enough places available, school don't have to take students into prep. Completely sucks! Prep is located on the school grounds and the kids wear full school uniform when they attend.

Prep is also full time and has only replaced a half time pre-school program in the last 3 years. The age of each grade was also done on birthdays 1 January to 31st of December so Qld has seen significant changes in the last few years to try and pull it inline with other states, but still a completely different system to other places.

As for kindy - completely optional and often located within child care centres (like daycare). Kindy kids turn up for shorter hours than daycare kids and that's about the only real difference. There are a few C & K's around the place which are often only for the purpose of kindy and are community based. These are extremely hard to get into - I put DD1's name down when she was 6 months old, she was 3rd on the waiting list and she doesn't start until next year. I just put down DD2's name last week and she is the 5th on the list so she is in.

C & K's take kids only the year before they go to prep. They are similar to the old preschool system and the set up of their centres are very similar. The kids go for 5 days a fortnight (or equivilant). Usually 3 days one week and 2 days the next or 2 full days and one half day (usually Wednesday) every week. It would be fine if your kid was in the morning group but to do a half day into the afternoon would be horrendous!

The old old preschool system (going back 10 - 15 years) used to have kids attending 5 days a week for half days and either they were in the morning group or the afternoon group. I know why they changed this system - it would have been torture for everyone, especially for those in the afternoon group!

Various private schools run kindy for kids from 3 and pre-prep for kids the year before they go to prep. My kids would only be eligible for kindy in this situations for 6 months before having to go to pre-prep where some kids would be going for over a year before being eligible.

It really is silly because what happens before kids go to school is so different from centre to centre in Qld. There is no set program.

I have a friend who has just pulled her little boy out of the daycare kindy program he goes to as the teachers' aren't doing much kindy stuff with the kids, more just straight child care. I know of other centres that are just brilliant though but their waiting lists are also huge.