WA schooling, how does it work?

They start kindy at 4? Preschool at 5?
Is kindy full time?

Considering the big move...

Yep, usually kindy at 4 then pre-primary at 5 but it depends on whether their birthday falls before or after July - if it's after July 1 they'd start a year later, so the year they turn 5 and the year they turn 6 if that makes sense.

Some kindys do full days but only 2-3 days a week to begin with, others do half days but 5 days per week, it'd be worth checking with those in the area you're thinking of moving to. Pre-primary tends to be full time.

The Department of Education Western Australia has a section for early childhood education and info for older kids as well :)

Thankyou :)
Good to know it's not full time. Is it same as primary school & free? Or general school fees? Or is it like day care/pre school & expensive?
Ds turns 4 in march next year, so would start next year.

Thanks

Most public kindys are free or small contribution. There are private ones of course, but they come with private fees.

Just wanted to add to what CK has already said that there is the new standardisation coming in soon where all kindies will be working up to 5 full days a week - way too much for little ones I think but that's a different story.

Anyway, they are all gradually phasing in the extra days - some more quickly than others. I know a few kindies, albeit private ones, that are full time already. My DD2 will be doing 4 full days of kindy next year, whereas DD1 is doing 3 full days this year.

That's not a bad idea. One or 2 days isn't much preparation for the 5 full days they're gonna be doing.

Thanks again :)