My little pirate is a June baby. In terms of school enrolments this is not such a great date of birth. In NSW children are supposed to start school if they turn 5, on or before the 31 of July of the year they would start school. If everybody followed this guideline then Baby Pirate would be one of the youngest in his class but there would be no more than a years gap between the children. However, what is more common is that children that turn 5 from January on are held back to start the following year, yes so already 6 or almost 6 when they start kindergarten.
The Captain, born at the end of October is the third youngest in his class....
So the dilemma is if I send Baby Pirate to school next year he could be up to 18 months younger than some of the kids. In his pre-school group there are kids that have already turned 5 in January/February. He doesn't turn 4 till the end of the month. Are you following? I barely can make sense of all of this! He is fine in Pre-School and academically he is so far ahead of some of these kids that I know he would be more than fine at School. Physically however, these kids are huge compared to him and they are probably more emotionally confident.
When I have discussed with friends and family the situation we are in almost universally people have said, "send him next year." I have decided not to though and not because of noble thoughts about an extra year at home of play based learning or because I don't think he would cope or because I have read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. In fact I know he would be totally fine and would settle very happily into school next year, but I am holding him back (and yes I really feel like I am holding him back) because I think that it is absurd that he will be in a class room with kids up to 18 months older than him. In primary school this won't be such a big deal but when it comes to high school it will be and so another year of Pre-school it must be little Pirate! Anyone else out there with thoughts on this?
My eldest only turned 5 on April 22 the year he started school, there were 2 kids younger than him in his class, both May, but also a kid 13 months older than him. I still think it was the right decision to send him, he's in year 2 now and doing great and loved school straight away. But some people have said to me the problems can happened when they're older and the other kids in the class are maturing quicker than the younger kids. Pity there isn't just a hard and fast rule that you have to go if you turn 5 before end of July, would get rid of making the agonising decision, took me months to decide for sure!
ReplyDeleteYou will know in your heart the right way to go and whatever you choose will be the right decision.
ReplyDeleteYou say you are holding him back. My first thought was at least he will be able to legally gain access to pubs after the HSC. Looking back, if I wasn't legal after all that hard work, then I would have been mightily unhappy.
Carolyn
PS Lovely to catch up last week
ReplyDeleteCarolyn
I certainly would be concerned too with such a big age gap between your little one and his peers especially as he gets older. My friend has a daughter who is 16 soon and she is in year 12 as she was accelerated, now she has the worry that next year she wants to go to uni and she'll only be 16 while her peers will be quite older. I know I would prefer that my two would be going to school with others their own age. x
ReplyDeleteI held both my boys back. My eldest was (May baby) was 5.8 months when he started, and my youngest who is a Jan baby will be 6 when he starts school next year, both boys did 3 years of preschool instead of 2 and for them it was that they weren't ready emotionally, physically they were small and I also recall friends' experiences in yr 12 who had not yet turned 18 when they did HSC and couldn't go out legally to celebrate (this could be even more important as a boy) or who emotionally weren't mature enough to deal with the pressures of the HSC years. Plus choosing to send them to a private school which has an earlier cut off date of 31 March for turning 5 also helped (at least in relation to eldest son).
ReplyDeleteIt's madness, Em - I agree. Thankfully, by returning to Tasmania, we've escaped that dilemma as 1 Jan is 'the day'. Best of luck in deciding. J x
ReplyDeleteDo you know Emma, I'm a teacher and the whole new cut-off age thing here in WA does my head in too :) I totally understand what you mean about being academically ready but emotionally/physically etc. 18 months is a big difference between children. It's like I would never recommend a child who is well above his/her peers to skip a grade (not done much thesedays anyway) because while they would cope academically, socially they are behind. Only you will know what is best for your little pirate, but I understand where you're coming from. Grace is a May baby so she'll be one of the youngest in her kindergarten class when she starts in 2013.
ReplyDeleteI went with my heart on this one and will be keeping our son back till 2014 when he'll be turning 6. I want him to play for another year and have a proper childhood, but in any case he wouldn't be ready emotionally next year. Read about the research surrounding Finnish education... how they don't go to school till 6/7. It's very compelling. Btw, what does Gladwell say in his book? I've never heard of this book. Vanessa x
ReplyDeleteI agree with you as we are going to hold Luca back (May baby) and so he'll be 5.9months when he starts school. Totally going on emotional readiness and what it will be like when he's in high school.
ReplyDeleteGosh H would look so tiny compared to the 5 year olds if he started next year. Such a cutie!
Hi Emma, We had the exact same dilemma when we were in Sydney last year as my son is a May baby. We held him back for exactly the same reasons as you did as well as the fact we knew we were returning to Tasmania and he wouldn't be starting full time school down here until this year down here anyway. 30 years ago it wasn't a problem as EVERYONE generally adhered to the 31 July cut-off. I was a May baby so started early, no dramas. But it's different now and even though I thought my boy would cope, I didn't want him being 14 1/2 in a class with 16 year olds, especially being a boy. Personal choice but sounds like you've done the right thing :-)
ReplyDeletehi emma, just looking through your blog and thought i'd comment here. my son, now 20, has a june birthday. having held my daughter back i wouldn't have considered sending him. it's much better when they're turning 6 in the year they start kindergarten. although academically they would have been fine, i think confidence is more important. they are both glad they were the age they were and it definitely helped when they were teenagers in high school. also school is so structured, i think they need more play & freedom at that age.
ReplyDeletex
Wow! Such a different scenario than New Zealand. Every child here starts school on their 5th birthday all through the year!!!! No holding back/ no decisions to be made! Off they go! We also have composite classes where children can be in 2 different year levelsin the one class, co can be a 2 year old gap between kids!
ReplyDeleteThere is also a Ministry of Education cut off for June 30 - if you start after that date you are year 0 till the end of the year, then year 1 the year after. If you start before that date, you are year 1 and then year 2 the next. However individual schools can do what they like and can choose their own cut off dates ! My son is year 6 , but if he was down the road at another local school he would be year 7!