Hi
My daughter's birthday falls at the end of May and the wa education system is insistant that she go into a class that she would be the youngest, I would prefer if she started school a year later and was one of the oldest.
Has anyone found a way around this??

Hi byby, my youngest is a June child, so he's pretty much the youngest in his year. He is bored at school - if he'd been made to wait a year, it would have been even more of a nightmare .

My eldest was born in the year that they changed the birthdays for starting school and had to wait a year - torture for all concerned, as he's been bored for years .

I don't believe that school work is challenging for a lot of children in WA, and they don't start Year 1 until the year they turn 6. In WA they are now at primary school until they are 12.5, although some will be almost 13.5 years. Speaking as a female, I think it's better for a girl to be out of primary school as she hurtles towards menstruation, if possible.

Occasionally a child repeats a year, often pre-primary - but down the track, when all their classmates are turning nine, say, they are turning 10, and the other kids find it a bit odd (and might wonder if the child had some sort of problem). This is the situation for a boy in my child's class, although mine turns 9 in June, the other boy turns 10 in April and he's also very tall compared to his classmates. Sometimes a child gets put up a year, also. Please don't hold your child back - let her start with her peers. If the school feels that she's not coping, they will talk to you (note that I said if she's not coping, not you).

I am thinking the opposite for my daughter - technically she is supposed to be the oldest in her year (1st July) which if she had not been in full time schooling already I probably wouldn't have a problem with it. But she is half way through Year 1 here in the UK and I feel she would gain more by being put up a year. She is almost the youngest in her year here in the UK and has had no problems with it at all.

When I was enquiring at schools in Perth the general feeling I got from various schools is that they don't mind allowing children to start a year later if you think they are not ready but have more of a problem in putting them ahead. I have been told it is up to the individual principals. Have you emailed or phoned the Department of Education about your concerns? They may allow her to do Pre-primary twice?

Keep her age appropriate, it will pay dividends as she gets older.

I wanted to address a previous posters comments about primary school age cut offs. As the mother of an extremely mature menstruating 12 year old girl I am happy she is still in primary school. If she was now in High school along with 16 year old boys I would be having a whole lot more worries than I am now. I would rather delay that for another year if possible.

Zenshin, try not to worry too much about your daughter. When you get to Australia ensure you bring copies of work and ask your current school to do some kind of report highlighting your daughters abilities. I think I have said before that we just accepted a child at our school in exactly the same boat as you and put the child up a year.

Hi Northern Bird
Thanks. I know I shouldn't worry because at the end of the day I may not have too much choice and we have explained to our daughter she may end up being the oldest in her class as opposed to being the youngest and what she is used to. I have told her to enjoy her last 3 days at school this week and we are going to make her last day pretty special as her classmates are going to be just as affected by her leaving too. It is amazing how much of a bond 5 year olds can form. I think if she can form the same type of friendships in her new Australian school then it probably won't matter to her what year she is in.

Getting stressed enough about all the other stuff that needs organising so will deal with the school issue when we get there and we have all this other stuff behind us. Can't wait to get back home!