Hi everyone,
I have just got a job in QLD. It says on their system that you can enrol your child when they are 4 (June being the cut off).
We will be relocating from Victoria, I was hoping to start my daughter in prep the year she turned 6 not 5. Is it normal for students to start school at 4 1/2 in QLD? If that’s the case my grade 1 girl just turned 8 (she had 2 years of four year old kinder) so what year level would she go into?
QLD schooling
QLD schooling
Posted in:
Education
11 Replies
No it's not, lots of people choose to 'hold back' aka not start their kid at four but to start them the following year. Mine started aged 5.5.
It's a stupid cutoff, because it means the range of age in a prep class is huge. It also means those tiny four year Olds are easy to spot. And as they go up, you can still usually spot the ones in each year group that are a full year younger than most. But you have full choice of which year they start.
For the older one it's a bit more tricky, because it will come down to curriculum and where she's at with everything and where the school wants her to go in, you'll definitely have to meet and talk about it.
Thank you for this wonderful advice! I totally agree about the cut off time. I wanted her to be turning 6 in prep so that makes me feel better.
I’ll chat to the principal about what grade for my older one. Thanks again for your great advice
Absolutely normal. There is 1 child in the entire grade in my daughter's year and none in my son's that started late. Kids know and really question it. My daughter is one of the youngest and copes well. My son [10] is July 4, so the 2nd eldest in his grade. He struggles [ASD]. Ignore your idea of what you expected and listen to what the school say in her intake interview. If she's ready, don't have her be the odd one out as a girl. It will prompt teasing.
In WA you can attempt to hold your child back but it’s up to the school.
Think about it like this kindy/kindergarten is for 4 year olds and those that turn 4 before the 30th of June.
Prep/Pre-Primary is for those who turn 5 prior to June 30th
Year 1 os for those turning 6 prior to June 30.
Even if your child doesn’t complete prep at 5 it’s up to the school not the parent what year they put your child in. You can fight it and you can try and go above the schools head but it’s likely unless their is a medical reason they will not hold your child back.
So say you decide to keep your child out of school until the year they turn 6, if they meet that cut off they’ll be put straight into year one and will have missed out on one year of compulsory school already and one year of non compulsory schooling (kindy).
You’re moving states and the rules are now different and you’ll have a hard times adjusting if you aren’t flexible. Who wants their kid completing year 12 as an 18 year old who can legally go to the pub and buy their mates alcohol all year round. Becasue that what the girl who’s parents kept her back in my school did 🤣 and she didn’t finish high school and her father was a pastor, she was also one of the first to have a baby in our year.
Nothing about the prep curriculum is suitable for 4 year Olds, ask any teacher. the expectations have changed over the years, but four year Olds haven't.
I didn’t say it was, I just said that WA doesn’t let you choose unless there’s a medical reason for it. Ie corrected age, intellectual disability etc I suspect QLD is the same. However my 4 year old is going into Kindy as a 4 year old, my daughter started at 3.5 (just like I did) and I’m 36 and this was in Victoria so it must have really changed over the years for 8 year olds to still be in year 1.
I didn’t say it was, I just said that WA doesn’t let you choose unless there’s a medical reason for it. Ie corrected age, intellectual disability etc I suspect QLD is the same. However my 4 year old is going into Kindy as a 4 year old, my daughter started at 3.5 (just like I did) and I’m 36 and this was in Victoria so it must have really changed over the years for 8 year olds to still be in year 1.
Your daughter will be going into year 3 if she’s before the June 30 cut off. If not she’ll go into year 2. I lived in Victoria and I was in year 3 at 8 and there wasn’t a cut off back then.
We started my daughter when she was four and it has not been easy for her. We should have waited. She will be repeating next year. Go with your gut xx we were told she was ready for school but I just didn’t think she was but we ended up sending her anyway. She became anxious about going to school because she realised she was not able to do a lot of the work other kids were doing. I think it completely depends on each different child. Xx
I decided to do a second year of kindy for my daughter this year (2021 being her targeted prep year). I didn't like the fact she was starting big school on the younger end of the group. She has come leaps and bounds this year and is sooo ready for prep next year!
The grades across the states are the same. As the tests in yr 3,5,9 are standardised across the entire country. So your daughter would be in the same grade. There may be different cut offs across different states but I would put your daughter in the same grade or she will have missed out. Also teachers always recommend kids go to school as late as possible. I’m a kindy ( first year of big school teacher) and i can always tell if kids are younger.