Nix and Mike

By the looks of how slow our visa is taking to get through the system, we probably will not be able to make the Feb 09 start date for our daughter to start in Grade One in Aus.
As we have to sell property and that can take 6 - 9 months, it more likely we will be there in June / July of next year.
In Aus, she starts Grade One in Feb next year.
Here she only starts Grade one in Aug next year.
As such, when she gets to Aus, she will be entering the year 5 - 6 months behind the other kids.

Are there any Moms of Grade One kids that can tell me how much "foundation" stuff she will miss and whether missing the first half of Grade One will be a problem for her?
Any opinions?

Nix

SillyOldBag

My daughter started grade 1 late - she missed the first term and a week or so of the second term. Because of us travelling, she had also not gone into Prep/Nursery in UK. She is a clever girl and is doing really well and is catching up!

I think the best thing you can do if this is the situation that you are going to be in is just make sure you work on her alphabet and numbers - just the basics and she'll catch up! The school my daughter goes to has been great and she gets some one to one help each week from the Learning Support teacher - when you enrol her at a school, just be honest with them about what stage you feel your daughter is at and if you feel she might need some extra help be up front about it and ask!

Good luck with it all and if you want any more info feel free to pm me.

Jan4kids

She'll be fine, everything is much more relaxed here....a bit worryingly at times Lots of kids come and go at school...so she won't stand out as a new girl. She'll be assessed whenever she starts and if need be (unlikely)she will repeat the year (which is quite common here....my eldest son redid year 1) as a previous poster said just get her familiar with a few basics...it's not as academic here in the early years as the U.K

Oh!..... also be aware that different States have different handwriting rules/styles.....my two eldest learnt rounded fat writing with 'entries' and 'exits' in the U.K, 'straight' writing without 'entries and exits' in South Australia and finally 'Queensland Script' here on the Gold Coast!!

Good Luck with your move :0)

Jan

quoll

Absolutely do not worry!!! Whenever she arrives she will be placed with her age peers and go through the system with them. She will not miss anything crucial in that time - are you sure you have the year levels right though? Mostly the UK is actually ahead of Aus in its grade name progression, remembering that year 1 is actually the second year of full time school here - the states have different names for their first year.

moneypenny20

You're the parent so you'll worry but there's honestly nothing to worry about. She's far too young for it to cause any problems at all. Forget this one and move on to the next thing on the worry list - if you're anything like most of us, there'll be quite a few things there

spartacus

I have a daughter who started grade one late, but I'm a dad, and therefore have no useful information whatsoever.

SillyOldBag

That gave me a good giggle on a wet Tuesday afternoon

spartacus

You sillyoldbag!

Nix and Mike

Unfortunately I do have my years right as I am currently living on a small island in the Caribbean! Here she is in kindergarten and they do not learn to read or write until Grade One. She is also not educated in English. However, she is personally very interested, and we do a little with her at home. So she does know her letters, can read 3 and 4 letter words, and can write very simple sentences with lots of spelling mistakes.

I guess I need to let it unfold as it should and address the challenges as they arise.

THANKS for all the answers....the overriding response is "don't worry" !!! And I am going to try and follow that advice - hard as a parent !!

Nix