Should i send her to Kindy?

Just wanted to get a few opinions.....

My DD3 is 5 in June and has been quite shy up until recently, well last time i spoke to her pre-school teacher she said that she would be better off waiting another year (that was quite a few months ago at parent/teacher interview) so i decided to wait another year.

Well now since pre-school broke up she is just jumping out of her skin and really come out of her shell and DH and my mum are both saying i should send her. She wants to go and all three girls have been dressing in school uniforms and playing school games etc. But that doesn't necessarily mean she is ready.

It was never such a huge decision with the other girls but with #3 its so hard. She will be 5 and 7 months if she starts next year.

She can write her name and do all the things that she is meant to do when starting school so that isn't the issue, she will also know some of the kids in her year from pre-school.

What do you think?

If she doesn't attend school at 5, what other option will you take?

I was under the impression that all children had to start school once they turned 5?

If it were me, & she is enthusiastic about the prospect, I would send her.

They have to go by the time they are 6 in NSW.

To go she has to be 5 by end of July this year which she is 5 in June but she can also start next year.

I might try and ring the school maybe someone will be there...

Lucy the law is all children MUST be in regular school by their 6th birthday. Kameron defintely wasn't in school when he turned 5 as he was kept back in Kindy for 18mths.

I am assuming here that Kindy means our prep/reception.

From having a child that was extremely shy and didn't say boo to others, i have really noticed a huge change in him since he has started school. So in my opinion I would be saying send her, but I did also get offered to keep Kameron back in Kindy (preschool for you) for 6 months, which I accepted.

Love

Ahhhh, got it, thanks girls.

I would send her next year, but give her full time pre school this year. Most schools in my area discourage you from sending them if thier birthday is after April, as they usually are just not ready, and end up being kept back at some point. But you know your daughter best!! maybe ask the school what they think? Starting school too early can be very detrimental. If she goes this year, will that make her a year younger than all of her friends as well? Will she graduate at 17 instead of 18? She may be put into "younger" sports teams if she's in a different age brackett too... Not sure if I helped or not, but good luck!!

ETA: Now I know what I mean...in NSW the "norm" is they have their 6th bday in kindy, and their 18th in year 12. If your daughter goes this year, she'll turn 18 6 months after graduation. Hope thats clearer, sorry!!

Yeh, in Victoria they prefer if the child's 5th b'day is after I think the 29th of April U start 'em the nxt yr !!!

.... My daughter's b'day is the 5th of May,... And I'm much HAPPIER for her to start later no matter how ready she appears.

I myself started school at 5yrs & 3wks back in the 1971 AND I truely believe I would have been beta off startin the yr later.

Hi,

My daughter just turned 6 in Jan and has just started Prep last week. It is an individual thing, but I am so glad I waited. Academically she was ready last year, but emotionally she wasn't.

I talked to a lot of parents about this subject and I found that I never came across a parent (with older kids) that thought 'I wish I had started my child in school earlier' but I came across many that said 'I wish I had waited another year'. Personally I think it could be socially damaging to hold a child back in prep, so once you start your daughter in prep it would be hard if she then doesn't cope as well as you had wished.

I lot of parents talk about their children being ready for prep because they can write their name or they know the sounds of the alphabet, but there is also social and emotional readiness. How would they cope if their friend told them they didn't want to play with them? How will they cope with the long school day and following instructions?

I did find last year a bit of a challenge with my daughter - She was 5.5 mid way through the year, and she started to need further stimulation than what she was getting at kinder. She also does other activities (swimming, gym) so this helped a bit.

On her first day of school last Thursday I really thought 'thank god' that I didn't send her last year.

With my daughter, however, she never thought she might go to school - we didn't buy her a uniform and she just always knew that she was going to kinder. We didn't repeat kinder because I had held her back from starting (she started 3 yr old kinder at 4, 4 yr old kinder at 5, etc.). I'm wondering if it may be harder in your case because your daughter thinks she might be going. She may now find it hard to repeat kinder because all her friends are moving on.

Sorry, probably have given you some conflicting advice here, but good luck with your decision.

Cheers, Mary

wow, that seems so late to be starting school... my girl will be 4 years old turning 5 when she starts school, provided she is ready, which going by her personality she possibly will be... but yeah i guess anything can happen so will have to play it by ear and reassess when the time comes obviously...

i have a family relative that turns 7 this year and is only in grade 1, it just seems so odd to me, but that said he is quite immature and would never have been ready to start school any earlier...

so i guess you just have to 'know' your child and what he or she is ready for and how they will cope... some kids will do well and take it all in their stride, whereas other either more shy kids, or slower to develop etc will benefit from starting school later. i guess we are lucky that it isnt black and white - they have to go at this particular age - and we have the option to choose!

Noah has just started Kindy and he will be 6 in May. So he is 5 and 9 months. He was just not ready to go last year and I had no qualms whatsoever in holding him back. This year he is more than ready. They do say though that girls are usually more ready than boys at this age.

Tehya will be 5 in the March, the year she starts. I will be sending her then for sure. If she could go now she would be there.

I too think, that you know personally if your child is ready or not. If you have doubts then hold her back. She will benefit either way. From being at preschool and at home with you, or from going to school. You don't want her to be held back next year if she isn't ready to move on though.

Emma, Noah will be the same, turning 7 in year 1. There was no way I could have sent him last year, it would not have been fair to him or the teachers. I am so glad that I held him back, even his dad who wanted to send him can see that we did the right thing now.

Thanks for all your replies,

I ended up calling the school and they said that she can do what they call the transition period where she can go for 4 weeks and if they think that she isn't ready then i can start her next year.

She started last Thursday and was very excited and keen and when i left her she was absolutely fine. the teacher said she is coping really well so far, following direction and being involved in all activities. She even got up early this morning asking if she is going to school.

So i feel better that she doesn't have to stay all year if she isn't ready and like astrolady said, i can really see it making a difference in her already after only 2 days, she is coming out of her shell.

That is great news! Well done: I hope she continues to enjoy it........

wow thats great, good on her!

I was going to ask if your school had that option. How great that your DD is going and enjoying school. Hopefully she settles in well and all this worry will be forgotten. But if it happens that she doesn't still love school or can't emotionally cope with it, it's great to know that you have the option of holding her back too.

Thats an interesting option, is it a public school? We don't offer that at our school. I have found that different areas have different ideas about what age to send kids, at my current school they seem to hold them back very early (like Feb birthdays) but another school I taught at I had a kindy class with 14 kids who turned 5 in june or July.