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DS1 was born May 2010, and so won't be 5 until after the cut off for 2015, therefore will be starting in 2016.
I was a young'un in school, but I won't be pressing for DS1 to start early - there's no rush.
Is anyone else in this category already thinking about it? Searching schools?
How are people deciding where to go?
Or getting an idea of whether their children are ready for school?
I've decided on Amelia's primary school, though my mind might change by the time enrolment actually starts. The first school I wanted is too expensive, so it was just going to be the one that's a five-minute walk away, but then I learnt one about ten minutes' drive away does AUSLAN for their LOTE, and I was sold. Hopefully the rest of the school is up to standards - admittedly the only thing I know about it is the LOTE - and if so I don't see a problem. Maybe the traffic I'll inevitably encounter...
If it turns out the school's not up to scratch in other areas, I'm happy to send her to the one my brothers went to, and that I spent a year at. It's a good little community there, almost like a small town school in the suburbs. Everyone knows each other :)
Like TeniBear, there was a school we wanted to send him to (where DH went), but the fees are $11,000 for prep. I find that ridiculous, so we are going for the next best school which is also closer to home.
At this point, my only pre requisite was a good reputation and religious education. Hopefully the rest fall into place when we go and actually see it and get more info about the school. Everything I have read so far I have been happy with.
DD goes to her kindy next year which is part of the local school she will go to the year after..... So pre-primary 2015. Our kids are the same age nutter.... Now I'm confused!!
Cut offs must be different, ours is 30 June.
I enrolled my boys in secondary schools within 2 weeks of their births, so I don't find looking at schools early at all odd.
Our local primary school is the best in the area by far, so there was no need to go elsewhere. I was incredibly lucky.
My DS will go to prep in 2016 I have contacted the school I want him to go to and cause we are JUST outside the zone the principal advised to ebeoll him first week of term 2 of 2015
So I'm not crazy for considering schools this early then? At the moment we are planning on sending both girls to the local public school. We live in a good area so the local school is great (as far as I'm aware). I wanna look at a few of the local schools though but figure it's best to wait til next year when she's 3.....
chody - Not crazy at all!
Yules - Yes, different. Vic cut off is 30 April. :)
Div - We booked both DSs in to DH and my school the week they were born, but with the intention of that being for secondary, not primary. We could of course have them in for primary, but I favour the idea of public school for primary (and my mortgage prefers that option, too).
There's several schools in our area, but many of them have performed really, really badly on the NAPLANs. One has done really well, and has an alternative style of education based on teaching children to think and learn with assistance from others, but largely self directed - but the school is really, really small and I'm not sure how DS1 would go. He has a very big personality. It's $7K per annum which is manageable, but a lot of money ($100K for the two boys' primary schooling) if it's not actually going to be better for them. That's a lot of tutoring, holidays, books and activities.
And then, how much weight can I put in the NAPLANs? And how will I even know whether I should be following an academic route for them? What if they are kinetic learners? Or sporty? Or arty? Or musical? Or giraffes?
Eep!
Peanutter - As a teacher, I can say that whilst the naplans can give some indication, they aren't necessarily a true reflection of the school. The school I work at for instance doesn't always look awesome if you look just at naplan results. The fact is, we are a small school, with usually only around 15 kids sitting each test. We also have two special education classes in the school. These kids are entitled to sit the test too. If they sit the test (as often at least one does), you suddenly have 1/15 (sometimes much less, some year levels have less than 10 kids in them) who gets a very low score which then skews the schools results heavily.
We booked DD into several schools the week she was born too :).
We are in the same boat as you Nutter and have decided on the 2015 school just this week. The head wants her to start next year but that could mean that she is a full 2 years younger than some if the kids in the class (specially the boys) and we don't feel the need to rush her.
I've read all the NAPLAN results etched but also the demographics on my school etc. the one public one that we considered (we ruled out several for various reasons) has bad NAPLAN results but also has more than 40% migrant population with little or no English spoken at home which I think will skew the NAPLAN a lot.
My thinking for primary school is that it is so much more about being exposed to new experiences, learning how to behave and get along with others and I know that I'm informed enough to know what academic standards she should be meeting and teaching DD how to learn and research and making sure myself that she is reaching her full potential academically.
So while I think NAPLAN results are interesting I know they aren't the be all and end all, you just need to see here how many people choose to exclude their kids, and it's so much about the feel of the school.
I'm the crazy lady who goes to the fetes of schools I'm interested in, and drive across town to walk my dog past during lunch times etc. and if I'm in a playground where a kid is wearing the uniform of a school I'm immediately quizzing the parents. Lucky we have made our decision...I think people were starting to avoid the socially awkward woman who asks way too many questions... ;)
Attending local school fetes is a great idea!
Miss P was born November 2010, so will start Prep in 2016. She will start ELC next year at the school her siblings attend, 9am-3pm Monday to Thursday. Choosing was easy as we already have two kids at the school and have been there for 8 years! I enrolled her when she was a couple of months old as, even with sibling preference, the ELC in particular is in hot demand!
As Miss P is so familiar with the school and knows most of the kids, I am hoping for a smooth transition. She is excited about starting ELC and we often go in to visit. Her brother and sister (and half the kids at school) are also very excited that she'll be coming to 'big girl's school'! :)
My DD was born in April 2011 but will start prep in 2016. It's strange to think that she wasn't even conceived when your DS was bor Peanutter! I know where she will be going though as we have decided already for DS. Assuming all goes well DD will be attending the same school. I'm still not 100% convinced as my heart is set on a different school but our hip pockets don't stretch that far ATM. If things change, I wouldn't hesitate to change them over. ATM, they will be attending a local public school in walking distance. It has a great reputation & I do love where we live but the school I really want is a 10 min drive away and private (mid range price for our area) and when I went there, I was ready to sign up on the spot. My only reason for not shoosing that school is the cost. I figure if local public school doesn't work out then I will look to change them earlier but as it stands, the private school will be our choice for high school as the local public high school leaves a lot to be desired. In the meantime, we'll be saving our pennies lol. As for readiness, I'm sure DD will be fine. She's already showing signs of being ahead academically. I'm more worried about DS. I think he will be fine though as he has made significant improvements in just the last 6 months.
Wow so many different starting ages! Ds is the same as you PN, Aug 2010 so starting in 2016. We also would have loved the small private one but with three kids it was out of our price range. We found a public school which runs similar models of learning has chickens, veggie patches and lots of open space. Dd1 is there and loves it. The kids do a subject called investigative learning and get to focus on subjects they love and do research and build projects. When we moved three years ago we intentionally thought about the schools in the area that the kids could go to.
DS2 I am thinking of starting in 2016 rather than 2015 he will be 4 in jan 2014 but I wonder if that little bit too young and also puts a bit of space between DS1 and DS2 at school as well.
DS2 will go to same small local primary that DS1 is enrolled at for 2014.
DD will also start Kindy in 2016. We have just bought a house and it turns out to be 500m from the local primary school which just happens to be a quite good one. We have her name down at 2 private high schools for Year 7 in 2024.
My ds will start prep in 2016, he will still be 4 and turns 5 in march 2016. I think that's ok for Vic..? My brother was the same and started school before he turned 5 (in nsw in the 90s).
Ds will be young, but at 2 he is the size of my 4 year old and if he is going to keep growing at this rate he will be bigger than his 5 year old peers at 4. I want him to blend in in the playground and I have faith I can get him school ready. He is a very active child so the hardest part might be his capacity to sit and listen.
Arcadia dd2 is going next year and will be 4 turning 5 in March we are in Vic too, she is keen to go to school and is already showing signs of being bored with kinder can't imagine keeping her there another year! She hates sitting still too so we are working on it, dd1 is the same and manages most times but she isn't the only one a lot of parents in her class are commenting their kids fidget too.
In Vic you have to be 5 by 30 April of the prep year.
So DS1 (may) and DS2 (march) will be in consecutive school years.
Black rose - could you please PM me the name of that school?
DD3 will most likely start in 2016 (Kindergarten in NSW) She will be young but at this stage I am sure I will send her. She was born March 2011. My 2nd DD I held back so she turned 6 shortly after starting Kindergarten this year. That was the right thing for her but my youngest is very outgoing in comparison to her sister and having her two eldest sisters at school she already wants to go with them. DD3 with start preschool next March when she is 3.
Has anyone else started thinking about this?
DS1 will be starting school in 2016, DS2 in 2017.
My dd should be starting (NSW) Kindergarten in 2016. She will be just about to turn 5, as she is a feb baby, so if we feel she's not ready we can hold her back, but I don't think we'd need to.
I dont wanna think about it yet! :cry: she's still my baby!!
Yep ds will be going in 2016, he is already excited but still has 3yo then 4yo kinder first!! Have you decided where to go yet PN?
DS2 could have started 2015 but I decided to keep him back so he will start 2016.
DD could potentially start midway through 2016. SA has changed to one intake at the beginning of the year, and she turns 5 in June 2016 so is eligible to start beginning of 2017. However the private school we're looking at is continuing with a mid-year intake and have said if she's ready and they have space she could start in June 2016. Very unsure of what we'd do, we're going to wait until we're a bit closer but for now we're assuming 2016 because at least we'll be ready if she is, and we can delay it if we like.
Yep my DS will be going in 2016 and he was baptised 2 weeks ago so he could go to a good school in our area. All the public schools have very bad reps and I want him to have a better eduction than I got.
Scary to think we have to think about it already lol
My DD will be starting 2016 she will turn 5 in September 2015. It's going so fast where has my baby gone :( :)
My DS will start in 2016. He will be 5 in August 2015.
We would like him to go to the local catholic school (we're not catholic, but it has a good rep), but we need to check it out properly and make sure we can get him in even though we're not Catholic. We are Christian, and I went through Catholic schooling so I'm hoping it'll be ok.
DD1 will be starting in 2017 :o Woah.
DD1 will be starting in 2016 too. She will be 5 just before term 1 starts. I have started thinking about it. We have great schools around us, but I'm undecided where I want to send my girls.
Yep, DS1 is starting 3yo kinder this year, so prep 2016. I've got it easy - barring any major mishaps between now and then, or sudden tree changes, he will go to the same school that DD is starting at in a few weeks ( :o ).
Yep. My DD will be due to start prep in 2016. DS is starting this year and I'm actually less worried about her readiness than his, even though she is born later in the year. She is just seems so confident and clever, I think she will love school.
I had a little giggle at this thread before, and then I thought about it....it applies to my Miss Not-yet-2....:(
She will start 3yo kindy next year, preschool in 2016 and school in 2017....far out. I remember when DD1 was waiting to go to school and those years seemed like eons......now it feels like tomorrow.
I've looked at all the schools in a reasonable distance from home, and then culled any definitely "no"s ...
That leaves 11 :o
We're aiming to get the shortlist down to 4 by education week (May) which is when all the open days are. I think 4 is a realistic number of schools to check out in person, meet the principals, etc.
Then we'll hopefully pick a school by mid year.
Once we've picked the school, we'll ask which the main feeder kindergartens are, and enrol DS1 there, to make sure he's got some friends in prep, and we'll know some of the parents.
There's so many kinders around us, that there shouldn't be any issues getting him into a kinder if we're enroling him by late May, early June.
I find it kind of amazing to only just be looking at schools. There are less near us being a smaller area, but the one we're interested in has wait lists. DD is on a wait list for mid-year 2016 and term 1 2017, and she's been on it since she was 18 months old. So her potential class was full four years before starting. They told me a lot of people pre-enrol their kids asap at all the schools, so they're assured of a place, and then decide which one they want. Seems pretty far out to me.
My DSs were both enrolled at birth for our preferred high school (private) but for primary school, my understanding about public primary schools in Vic is that if you're in the catchment, the school must take you, so early enrolment isn't a huge deal.
Kinders can be trickier, but in our suburb there's millions of them, so we're not too concerned at this stage. Seven months early (as per our current plan) should be tons.
Completely not the case in some states, or in the inner 'burbs in Melbourne for kinder where there's substantially fewer per capita.
Kinder applications here must be done at age 2 to have a chance! I sent DS1 to kinder that is next door to the school, 6 from his kinder group are going to 3 prep classes (2 straight and 1 is a prep/1) and he only has 1 friend in his class and rest are all on another class!!! So the having friends for school doesn't really work!!! He will be fine but ahhhh wasn't my plan!!
Wow peanutter thats a lot of schools!! I looked at 2 only and liked both, the one we picked for DS1 won because it is close and walking distance so DH can do drop off at before school care where as other one I would always need to drive them to and pick up on way to and from work! Plus this is a much smaller school.
Ah it is hard work!! Starts with pick a hospital or OB, pick a CC, Pick a kinder, pick a primary school then high school!!! Constant stress and decisions and always worry have you made right choice!
**Just changed the thread title to Foundation to be inline with the Australian Curriculum **
I've chosen which school I want DD1 to go to, hopefully they're able to take her. It's across town, and there's about four schools that are closer. I want this one purely for their LOTE program - they do AUSLAN :) I've heard other good things about the school of course, but that's what drew me there to begin with.
I really should check if it's easy to get public transport there, I doubt I'll have another car by then :wall:
With the 'foundation' thing, is every state going to call the first year Foundation? In SA we call it Reception.