We are in the process of deciding whether or not to send DD1 to kindergarten next year or have her do another year of preschool (beginning of July birthday)

Has anyone sent their child who was born after the cut off and regreted it?

We only have a few weeks to make up our minds as the school will be allocating kindergarten places very shortly for next year.

We have sent our twins early this year, they were born on the 5 April. They are by far the smallest in the class, but are up to scratch academically. Last year the preschool teacher kept a close eye on them and we had an agreement that she would let us know if they were not ready for school. She wasn't sure at the beginning of the year but towards the end they came good and went ahead in leaps and bounds. I must say looking back one of the twins in particular was not emotionally ready to deal with things at the start of preschool and her behaviour reflected that.

I would talk to her current teacher, but TBH a July birthday does seem far too young. ACT cut off date is 30 April. I wouldn't consider it if my child was that much younger.

It's funny chat, because we are originally from NSW where the cut off is July 30th. If we were there still, we wouldn't think twice about sending her next year.

We have spoken to her teacher and she is finding out the process we need to go through and can see our point of view.
I definately think she thrives being younger and looking up to the older children, than being older.

TBH, I have met many children who are March/April birthdays and have seen no difference between them and DD1.

Yes. We sent our eldest off to school early (his birthday is 1 May). We certainly didn't regret it at the time. He was and still is (at year 10) academically ready, he was a big kid so fitted in size wise. His childcare centre said he was ready. He passed the psych testing the Dept of Education insisted on. We didn't strike any real issues till around grade 4. He has always struggled socially and emotionally.

As impossible as it sounds I would suggest you try to look further ahead than the next couple of years. Just because your child seems ready now, you cannot know how she will cope in all aspects of schooling. It's not just about academia.

I have very strong feelings on early school entry. It can be a touchy subject. It's not my intention to offend anyone. Just want to challenge anyone considering it to make sure they have thought it thru thoroughly.

We've got an early starter at DS's preschool this year but he was born at the end of May I believe so not that much past the cut off date. While he seems pretty mature for his age (I think this is because he has older parents and two siblings in high school), he is very small physically. He seems to be coping with the demands of preschool from what I've heard and seen. Having said that, I think if he was a few more months younger than the other children he might have a bit of a problem.

DS is very close to the cut off (late April) and is doing way better than we expected. Had he been any younger we certainly would have held him back (if he was a July boy then we wouldn't have even considered preschool this year). And if he had shown signs of not coping early in the peace we would have pulled him out straight away. But he is going ahead in leaps and bounds and we couldn't be happier.

I'd be in consultation with your teacher and decide from there.

I am glad to have read about your experience.
I was really struggling with the fact that, since we moved state, (from an April cutoff to a Jan cutoff) DD1 missed out on going to school this year by 12 days. At first I was going to get her assessed, she is a smart cookie and large for her age (she always gets mistaken for at least a year older) but the more I thought about it, the more I dont think she would be emotionlly ready. As much as I think she would have enjoyed school (she is always asking when she will go to BIG school) and I would have certainly enjoyed some one on one with DD2 this year, I think she will do much much better socially waiting another year.

Another thing to consider is how your DD compares to children 15-18m older than her. She will no doubt end up in school with some children who were born before the cutoff and have been held back (for whatever reason). So they will turn SIX very shortly after entering kindergarden but your DD won't even turn FIVE until mid year. That is a big gap even at this age.

Steph

I personally wouldnt
i would prefer my child to be older and more advance than constantly struggling and having to repeat.
Dont rush her to grow up, theres 19 years of school ahead of her.

I understand what you are saying Steph and I guess having a March child yourself you have considered this issue too.

I am lucky in that DDs school does not encourage children to be held back if they are born before the cut off so hopefully there will not be too many children with Jan/Feb birthdays who were held back.

We know that by doing this DD1 will be behind the oldest children, socially, emotionally and academically, but we feel that it is better than the alternative.While I do not really want to get into it, DD has not taken on a leadership role in her class as you would expect from one of the oldest and had instead regressed in a lot of areas.

It is quite noticeable, even to her teacher who has only known her for a term.

Initially I thought the program was too much for her, but upon reflection I think it is simply that she is with a peer group that she is having to regress in order to fit in with them. Certain behaviours have arisen that are alarming to us at her age but would not have been so much so had they occured 6+ months ago at barely 3.

I have spent many a late night thinking about and researching this, but still really have no clear idea about what we should do.

BTW- I was accelerated in primary school and ended up being in year 6 having just turned 10 (I am a December baby). I repeated year 6 as I could not get into the high school of our choice when we moved areas until the following year, but suffered no problems during the years when I was 5 months younger than DD1 will be.

I understand however that school is different these days.

I spoke to a physcologist briefly about this for dd, when I was thinking of getting her assessed for early entry. Your dd is "showing classic signs of a girl who is ahead of her peers" is what I was told when I gave the same examples of going backwards. Apparently girls are more socially aware than boys of a similar age and as a result start to learn to hid their differences to fit in. To this end girls who are more academically advanced than their peers, tend to pretend the do not know how to do things etc. Boys handle the situation differently at this age, but I am not sure how.

MAX - What type of thing started to change your mind in year 4, it is good to know the impact in later life. I already understand about learning to drive / drinking etc with peers and definately the 18month older boys
bu I would like to get a feel for the impacts in the middle years.

Thanks Karen

Karen- it's great to have you as a sounding board too seeing as you are going through a similar thing with your DD.

I just looked up starting ages in different states/territories and it is a joke. NSW has July 31 and a few others have June 30th. From my research it seems that the majority of Australia will have kindergarten children a similar age to my DD next year.

Have you thought of getting a formal assessment done, just so you know IYKWIM, it costs about $120. Even if you dod not use it for early entry you can use it to help discuss with teachers her specific learning goals etc.

Only in terms of the relative ease with which it appears that parents can hold back children who are well within the cutoff and the apparent trend to hold back ATM. Also my DD will be going into a co-ed school which will bring a different mix of considerations than your DD going into a single-sex environment.

We never ever hesitated to prepare our DD for school in 2009 though we might have done so had she been exceptionally small for her age and/or if her playschool teachers had expressed serious reservations about her moving onto preschool this year.

Steph

Karen- I had considered it, but I don't think she is gifted, just more like a child born a few months older is all.

Having said that, she has a good friend who was assessed recently (he is older) and I had thought for a while that he was mildly gifted (as did his mum) but his results came back as profoundly gifted so who knows IYKWIM? She's not that far behind where he was at her age (they are a year apart)

Steph- that's one thing I like about CGGS, they don't encourage children to be held back unless there is a real need for it. A friend of Georgia's was held back at the request of her parents but she is a late April birthday and they agreed she would be assessed at the end of the year to see how she is going.

I really wish I was her parents and had the choice what to do, rather than struggling because DD is born 8 weeks after the cut off.

If we were still in NSW, we would have definately sent her next year without a second thought and she would have been fine. There is talk of having a common starting age in Australia and the research I have read is suggesting a June/July cut off anyway.

Tamara, by the sounds of everything you've written in this thread it would seem that despite what you say you are thinking, you actually really have already made a decision.

In that case, send your DD to kindergarten next year and see what happens. But be very prepared for the fact that she may well need to repeat (like you) at some stage in her primary school years (and not because she can't get into a preferred high school). If you don't want to increase her chances of needing to repeat a year then send her to school as per the standard cut off date.


Edited to clarify my point.

Tamara, don't take this the wrong way, but tbh there is no choice to make. She is 8 weeks past the cut off. She should be held back. The cut off is there for a reason.

I have had experience with G&T kids who have had early entry due to IQ and yes they had the assessment done. They coped really well academically but socially was a completely different matter. The other kids just didn't get them and they seemed quite sad and withdrawn. In both cases they struggled to make friendships. It seemed that they were out of step with the peer group.

If it were me I'd leave her were she should be...preschool. Any good teacher will be able to extend her and give her ample leadership opportunities.

Leanne also raises some very important points. She will always be young. She will be young in Year 11 & 12. She will be young when she hits Uni or CIT. I know I wouldn't want my child having to deal with the social pressures at those ages when they are much younger than most of the cohort. JMHO.

How do you get them to start early????

My DS1 was born July 2nd so he has to wait a year to start kindy/prep etc. I know he would of been ready this year for kindy but was not allowed cause he was born 2 days late.

I am not sure if it is all that relevant, but I went to school in SA and had just turned 5 in year one. As such I was just 17 when I would have started university. It was never a problem during my schooling to be younger, but it was when it came to University. I was just too young for that environment. No lasting problems, I went and worked for 15 years before doing a degree part time, but I think I would personally try and think longer term and not send her too early.

Based on my experience as a G&T child going to school with my age peers (I turned 5 in March of kindergarten in NSW), I suspect that a portion of the "just didn't get them" will happen whether G&T children are with an age peer group or not. Having to dumb yourself down to fit in and/or being bored out of your tree while everyone else spends ages practicing what you pick up very easily does not make for a happy child .

Steph

I always find subjects like this hard to convey in typing, I am so much better at expressing myself face to face pmsl!

Anyway just wanted to comment from our experience here with Zoe. She is really finding it extremly hard not going to preschool this Year!

Her birthday is the 22nd of May! Being a girl and having a brother only 19 months older than her, but curently in Kindy, has mean't that academically she is way up there! I have totally no doubt that she would definatly "hold her own", and then some!

We did look, briefly, at the possability of sending her early but, as some one already pointed out, we had to stop ourselves from looking at it in the NOW, or even the next couple of years but rather looking at where she would be in year 6, year 7, year 10, year 12, long term!!

Some people have already posted on here saying that they never had problems with being the youngest in the class..... I was one of the youngest, 28th of Feb, so obviously there could of been younger but never seemed to be!

To put it bluntly girls, especially now days, can be right little b**chy cows socially and it worried us that when Zoe got to the older years of schooling that she would find it extremly hard to cope!!

I really think if I was a year older I would of had ALOT more self confidence and would of been able to hold my own more on a social level!

Now maybe thats dependent on the actual school the child is attending, I don't know! I remember getting to year 10 and there being a couple of others who where younger/same age as me and they did well academically but this was in a very very small school setting (we had about 35 children in the year split into 2 classes)

Also there is the point that while she is in the CGG then yep she may be able to move up quicker and be nurtured and supported and not feel out of the ordinary as they don't hold others back, but what about when she leaves there?? As some one else said what about Uni?? But then maybe CGG will give her such a strong basis that when she comes out the other side its not going to be a problem as her confidence etc will have been buit up to a high enough to cope with being younger iykwim!

My issue is you mentioned her behaviour changing, ie being a follower rather than a "leader" atm I am just wondering if she is put in the position of being one of the youngest is she going to find it even harder to excel, more socially than academically, if she dosen't seem to be able to do it now?? Being younger will she have the confidence to stand up for herself?? or will she be pushed down even further??

There is the opition I guess of repeating a year down the track, if need be, but tbh I don't think I would want to have to! Not too sure I would want to wave bye to my friends as they went up a year!

But thats just me and I am sure some children have no problem!

It honestly does upset me to see Zoe so ready, and yet not at preschool, but for her I do belive we are doing the right thing and its just mean't that I have to make much more of an effort this year and next to keep her busy

Basically at the end of the day she's your daughter and only you and your Dh really know her, and what is best for her Maybe sit down and write down the pro's v con's, I find things always look easier in black and white!

Gooluck with which ever way you go

Muppet you have some really good points in your post.

QUOTE

There is the option I guess of repeating a year down the track, if need be, but tbh I don't think I would want to have to! Not too sure I would want to wave bye to my friends as they went up a year!

Avoid this at all costs. I think holding a child back while friends go ahead is the most awful thing you can do to a child imo I would avoid having to be in the situation where that could be imminent down the track.

QUOTE

To put it bluntly girls, especially now days, can be right little b**chy cows socially and it worried us that when Zoe got to the older years of schooling that she would find it extremely hard to cope!!

Oh absolutely!

I was young for my year and struggled socially - until I went to a G&T class at another school, then all my friendship issues disappeared. I think the pool of available like-minded friends is more important than the actual year level.

I don't know about Grammar, but I have observed that Burgmann are very flexible with age cut-offs. Within the junior school it's quite common for children to repeat between 3yo preschool and year 1 or 2, and I think it works very well. (I've also seen the odd child skip a year).

At Burgmann, if the teachers thought a child was ready to skip preschool and go into kindergarten, I'd feel very confident that the child was ready socially and academically, and wouldn't think twice about an 8 week cut-off issue. And if it didn't work out, repeating in some environments doesn't hold the stigma it does in other schools.

I think I worked out that 10% of Isabelle's age cohort had repeated or changed years by year 3 at Burgmann, and they all seemed to be fitting into the places well.

I also have a sister who went through school 4 weeks younger than her peers. She didn't shine academically, but did just fine socially. She was also in a single ed school for high school, and I think it was a more gentle environment for a younger girl.

Has she been going to the Grammar preschool, Tamara? What do the preschool teachers recommend?

Thank you all girls for your advice.

Helen- I know that it probably comes across that I have made up my mind but I am still seriously considering (and want to consider) different aspects of our decision.

Thankyou especially to Muppet. I can hear that you have had similar thought processes to us about the issue.

We went and saw DD1s teacher today and she is very supportive. She went through how DD1 is doing and said, academically she would have no problems with agreeing to the acceleration, it is more the social aspect of it that concerns her.

Funnily enough I had the opposite worry prior to the meeting.

We now have a meeting with the headmistress tomorrow because her teacher recommended that we sort it out before term ends so it will be interesting to speak to her and hear another point of view.

chat- if we do start DD early it will not be with the issue of repeating down the track at the back of our mind. I think repeating should be the last cause of action in any case, especially in this one.

Just curious, for those who have children close to the cut off, do you think about some of the issues you have raised before deciding what to do?

For example, Helen's DS is only 2 months older than DD and when we are talking about an older boy versus a younger girl that is nothing.

I strongly feel that DD is ready for kindergarten next year which is further strengthened by the fact that we will more than likely be in NSW by the time DD is in high school so there will be many others in the same situation as us.

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

DS was born before the cut off so was eligible to go. Having said that though (and as I mentioned in an earlier post), if he had shown signs of not being ready or was struggling once he got there, we would have delayed a year or pulled him out sometime this term. Yes, he is amongst the youngest in his class right now but he is doing just fine according to the teachers.

IMHO age cut offs for starting school are not something to be taken lightly (not that I am saying you are Tamara but some people I know do). I am sure whoever decided April 30 made this decision after some serious research and consultation with the ACT curriculum specifically in mind was done.

QUOTE

Just curious, for those who have children close to the cut off, do you think about some of the issues you have raised before deciding what to do?

Yes I thought about them all before deciding. I think talking with the preschool teacher throughout the year helped with our final decision. It sounds like this school are very good with open communication with your thoughts on this decision.

Our toddler was born in March so will be close to the cut off date too. She is a totally different child to what the twins were at the same age. She is much more mature and advanced (starting to learn sight words already @ 2). I think the order of birth in the family is a factor to consider too. She learns social behaviours from her older sisters. Even at this early stage I think she'll be more thatn redy to start the year earlier.

Just a couple more things to consider lol.

Helen- the thing is, you would think that there was some research done into age cut offs, but there isn't any.

From what I can see, the cut offs have been randomly picked out of the air, thus different states have different cut offs.

As it stands, IF a national cut off is introduced, it is looking like it will be a June 30th one, meaning that I place nothing on an April 30th one.

When I referred to your DS'a age I was stating that there is no way to know whether or not your DS is more 'ready' than my DD, just because he is older. He is a boy, she is a girl. There lies a difference in itself.

As you say, he is doing just fine and I have no doubt that my DD will do just fine as well IYKWIM?

Kirsten- interesting that you say that about Burgmann because I actually rang them yesterday (DD1 was on the list for preschool this year but missed out) and they wouldn't entertain the idea of her starting kindy next year. It may be because they know nothing about her, but I was told it wouldn't be possible based purely on her age.

She has started at Grammar and as I said, her teacher feels that in terms of most of her developmental areas- fine motor, gross motor, language (both expressive and receptive), cognitive skills she excels. It is only socially she has some reservations (though I have none, but can see why she does)

You are right. I do have faith in her teacher saying that she could handle it academically, and I know she can handle it socially. She just hasn't shown it this term which is a reason we started this process in the first place.

I feel lucky to be in an environment though where they will discuss this with us and are open to the idea without asking me to jump through hoops to prove it.

But you don't know that for sure. You can't (unless you can see the future). The best you can do is see if she copes with the acceleration when/if it happens.

DS wasn't accelerated but we had concerns with him starting Preschool this year because his birthday is just eight days before the cut off. We thought long and hard about this, consulted his Playschool teachers, and discussed it with other teachers we know. All said the same thing, that they thought he would be fine but warned us to be prepared in case he wasn't once he got in the environment. And this wasn't just because of his young age - the teachers all told us of plenty of cases of older children having coping issues too. Developmentally they did think he was ready so that's what guided us.

Sorry but I find that extremely hard to believe.

That's pure speculation as no decision has been made.

And IF your point about there being no research being done in deciding current cut offs then what makes you think there is any real research being done to make this possible decision?

IMO I would think that if a national cut off is decided then it would be governed by what the bigger states, ie. NSW and VIC, want rather than what is best for each state or territory's curriculum.

Personally I would wait until next year. As others have said, she may be fine now but as a 13 year old how will she feel having girls a year older than her in her class? Why not wait until next year, then she will be among peers the same age as her?

Why rush?

My DD2 is a May baby and there is no way I would even think about starting her early. Just me anyway.

Because Grammar ELC is expensive Skipping the preschool year is a big financial consideration.

Oh Sue.

LOL Susana. I can assure you that isn't even part of our consideration.

Kindergarten is only marginally cheaper than ELC anyway. If I wanted to save myself money I would put her into government preschool next year. That'd save a tonne of it!

Interesting the differences in prices. At Radford Pre-Kinder is $3000+ more than Kindergarten.

But seriously if she is 2 months past cut off, hasn't had an educational assessment proving G&T and is not going to cope socially (as her teacher has indicated) then I figured the finances must be coming into play.

Yes Susana, the ELC is only $200 dearer than Prep at CGGS.

Maraleigh, does your daughter attend the before/after school program as well?

Now you've got me checking my fee statement, too! Burgmann's ELC would be more expensive if it were full-time, but 3 pre is still less expensive than Kindergarten, and 4 pre will be only marginally more.

But if I were paying for childcare on the other days, it would be cheaper to skip straight to kindergarten next year. Hmmm, August birthday - pretty close?

My daughters are August and December babies and I am actually quite glad I don't have to worry about this per say.

I do think it is nice for kids to have lots of play (creative, challenging,imaginative and fun).

The way I look at not sending kids to school too early is you will probably never regret keeping them out of school for a year but may regret sending them early.

In this day and age kids get so much pressure, activities etc that I think another year before school is not such a bad thing.

I know it is hard sometimes to challenge bright kids but there are certainly things you can do to stimulate them.

I hope you find the right decision for your daughter and reading these posts no one is taking this decision lightly and we are all wanting the best for our kids.

Good Luck

Susana- Yeah I am considering putting my child into kindergarten early to save $200. Sure.

Just to clear one thing up, her teacher never said she would struggle socially, but that her reservations lay with her on the social side of things. Her teacher is really supportive and encouraging about the situation and can see we are only trying to do what is best for her.

I am feeling very blessed to have teachers such as her. Obviously not all teachers have the same broad and flexible approach to the issue.

arniet- see I think the opposite. We may regret sending her early (if we indeed do so) but I think we will also regret it if we don't look into it. I went with my gut and she went into the preschool room at child care early and thrived there (it was on recommendation from them that we did it)

Maraleigh,

A question for you. If your daughter does not go kinda early, what are your concerns? Are you worried she won't be challenged academically, or for some other reason?

ETA - after reading over my post, I just wanted to clarify that I am not trying to be a smart butt by my question, I genuinely am asking why as I am interested :-)

Nicole

For those interested:

CGGS Fees

My DD is 4 at the end of June to me it is a no brainer she misses the cut off date by 2mths so she will be going to pre-school next year. Abi is a very social little girl who made friends her first day at Playschool(her first formal away from mum setting) and she would cope at pre-school but she is too young and I'm happy for her to have another year at home.
I don't understand the hurry to get children off to school. On the other hand I don't understand holding March/April children back because other people do.

I completely agree with you.

I would still really like to hear from anyone who has sent their child early or has a child near the cut off.

Though I can understand why you might not feel comfortable with posting so feel free to pm me.

I don't see the point in keeping DD where she is if we feel she would do better in kindergarten, just like I don't see the point in holding children back when they don't need to be, or sending children just because they just meet the cut off when they would be better in the younger class.

We did. DD's birthday is in June. We went through the psych testing process before she went to preschool, and that was equally as much about her social readiness as her academic readiness. Without both aspects, we wouldn't have gone ahead. Without the transition of preschool (standard 4yo preschool, although she wasn't 4 until partway through the year) we wouldn't have done it. Without the support of both preschool and primary school teachers/principal, we wouldn't have done it. And we were fully prepared to pull her out of preschool and start again the following year if it wasn't working well.

The psych testing was really important for us, particularly the social aspect, as we wanted to make sure she was going to fit in (as much as you can make sure of these things in advance!). And I spent preschool and kindergarten avoiding any age-related questions so as not to bring attention to it (she's part of the furniture now, so it doesn't really matter any more). If you do go ahead, be prepared for comments from other parents, and work out ahead of time how you're going to respond, and be prepared for the odd little spat at school when another girl overhears her parents talking about how your DD shouldn't be there because she's too young and then repeats it back to your DD

One thing I didn't worry about was the question about whether she'll be able to go out drinking in Year 12 - I'm hoping she'll be smarter than that anyway

I'm the first to admit we've been very lucky - DD has slotted straight in, and we have no regrets, but think it through very carefully, and if you go ahead be prepared to be very involved and monitor things closely, and be prepared to change direction if things aren't working out.

Oh - and a friend started her DD in kindergarten the year she turned 5 in April (on the recommendation of the preschool teacher who said she was ready). She is doing Yr 1 again now for maturity reasons and has suffered major dents in her confidence. Something happens to a lot of children somewhere between preschool and the first term or two of kindergarten, and the child you thought you knew can develop completely alien personality traits!

There is a little girl in Emylies class (year 2) who didnt turn 5 until august when starting Kindy. (so she wont turn 7 til August this year).
It wasnt her parents fault, they moved from Queensland, wasnt sure of the school structure here and the school accidently placed her in the kindy class. She was warned she would probably have to repeat. (which didnt happen)
Academically she was fantastic, still top of the class, she is the smallest by far, So teeny tiny, which gets a lot of the older kids attention, in kindy they really babied her, which isnt a bad thing.
but socially, im not sure how shes doing now, but i think she had issues making friends, she was very quiet, still is.
and at things like swimming lessons run by the school she couldnt dress herself an organise herself after the lesson. i could definately see the difference in her and the other kids, but i tihnk she will catch up socially and be fine.

Have you looked at the more academic side? like can she write her name? she can she write letters? hold a pencil properly, Is her speech and languages OK for her age? Can she sit still and concentrate?

Carina started school this year, shes a march birthday and shes fine so far a bit wiggly, but absorbing a lot and starting to read, she remembers her notes, knows what needs to go to school each day.
Going to the BCC playschool definately helped, they practised eating lunch at the big seats etc etc etc.

karenmc Thankyou so much for taking the time to post, I found it really interesting

Its such a hard decesion to make, for ALOT (not all) of people to make (me included)! I think basically it comes down to a decesion based on the individual child!

Although we decided not to apply for early entry for Zoe I do have to agree that I think the age thing is abit of a sticking point!

There HAS TO be a line drawn somewhere, ie if whether its the 1st of Jan, 30 of April, 12th of October, some one was always going to "just miss out" iykwim! I don't personally belive the date was picked as the "be all and end all" I am sure thought was put into it but how is that date 30th of April really any different to any other??? We know that children "Peak" and pick up different skills at different times but obviously, for the sake of ease a general rule was put in to place, obviously it would be a nightmare if it wasn't with every one needing to be checked on an idvidiual basis etc!

But then isn't that sort of what preschool is for???

Teachers are so extremly clever and I really do admire them alot and the service they do! They should have the ability to be able to determine if a child is struggling or is achiving above and beyond and help them with whichever situation!

In saying that though what if a teacher can't?? What if 20 students are at one level and one other child in the class is at a level ahead? Does that make it hard for the teacher to give the time needed to said child??

Also my thoughts are with the people who access the children..... I am sure they are absolute specialists and take ALOT into consideration but surely they must be looking at a child in the "here and now" rather than being able to see them down the track?? No one has a crystal ball obviously, I just don't see/know how just because a child is showing they would cope now means they will cope in the future???

But in saying that the flip side is do you therefore hold back a child who is bored to death, craving extra knowledge etc just on the off chance that down the track, many years to come, they may not be able to cope?????

Just me putting my thoughts down on paper as I really find it an interesting topic, and love reading every ones opinions!

Actually, there is a solution to the cut-off dilemma, and SA have been doing it for years . In SA, your child goes to preschool in the TERM after they turn 4yo. Then they start Reception (kindergarten) in the TERM after they turn 5yo.

Children can spend anything from 2 - 8 terms in kindergarten, moving up to year 1 when they're ready. There are just so many advantages - children enter a classroom that already has a number of "settled" children, and a teacher doesn't need to cope with 20 brand new children at the start of the year. And the early entry kids or those who need a little extra time in kindergarten don't stand out as much .

At any rate, it worked really well for us about a decade ago when we were starting school in SA . My DS had 3 terms in kindergarten then moved into a combined 1-2 classroom that suited him really well .

See I know NOTHING about all the other states and the way they do their schooling!! Yes that certainly sounds like it would be far more appropriate than what we have!!

I am pretty sure that England do something similar (Shine are they still doing it like this?) As it sounds similar to the way Dh was trying to explain to me their schooling system!!

Thank for all your advice. I didn't want to reply until after we had met with the school today.

Karen- I especially really appreciated reading about your experiences.

Well our decision has been made and DD will be starting kindergarten next year. It is unlikely that this will be where she currently is, but we have found a terrific school that is more than happy to look at our DD as an 'individual' rather than a number.

I am happy and confident that we are making the right decision for our DD.

Alex, thankyou, you have summed up our reasons for making the decision we have:

I'd heard a little about the SA system - it sounds great

And I just wanted to add - DD saw the psychologist twice (a year apart), which was reassuring as (like muppet said) children 'peak' and surge ahead at different times. The psych looks at not what they know, but how they think - whether they understand concepts and can work things out.

I've also remembered another BIG factor with early entry - DD was very verbal early, and very clear in her speech. I wouldn't have considered early entry if she couldn't communicate very clearly, with other children and adults, esp. those who were unfamiliar with her.

Maraleigh, so where will your DD be going next year?

Just interested!

It's not definate that she will be moving, our hope is that we would be able to have her continue where she is.

If that is not possible, well we have sought other options, one of which is another school that is vastly different to CGGS.

It was refreshing to speak to someone on the phone who was willing to look at DD as a whole person rather than dismissing it based on when she was born.