sarskis

Hi

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of their kids being able to "move up" a year in NSW. I have been in touch with a primary school in Sydney and have been told that my daughter will only start kindergarten in January when we head over - she is 6 (7 in August) and is in year 3 here in Ireland already.

Any one know if it is allowable in any circumstances to move them up a year? We will return to Ireland at some stage and I don't want her to be so far behind when she rejoins the school system here...

Any help appreciated! This is probably our biggest worry about heading over.

Thanks

Hutch

At primary school here, the years in stages - Early stage 1, stage 1, stage 2 and stage 3. Those stages straddle years though - so stage 1 covers years 1 and 2, stage 2 is for years 3 and 4 and stage 3 is for years 5 and 6. As such there is plenty of leeway to move kids ahead - though not often actually 'up' a year.

For instance, my son is well ahead of the curve in literacy and is in a mixed 1/2 year where he isn't held back and can learn at year 2 standards if he wants to/can. However the system recognises that learning to read, write and add-up is actually only a part of primary education and that learning to get along with each other is just as important. So my son gets the best of both worlds - to socialise with kids his age and to learn with kids of his standard.

Obviously the make-up of the years and the whole class structure depends on the size of the school. My son attends a small rural primary, where there are just two kindy classes, two year 1 etc - we have friends in Brisbane and their child's kindy class was one of nine!!

You can find out all about the system here. An overview of the primary curriculum is here.

quoll

Australian schools are not big on acceleration usually however I think you have been given wrong advice there. In the normal course of events your daughter would be in year 1 this year - kids generally turn 6 in the year that they are in kindergarten so at the beginning of 2009 she would be going into year 2 which is effectively the third year of full time school. However, she is just over the cut off to be in a year above (31 July) and they may be prepared to negotiate if she has already done 4 years of full time school.

As Hutch said, some schools have composite classes (multi age) usually across a 2 year range and so you may be lucky and find a school which would put her with her age cohort but as one of the younger ones in the composite.

Most schools will put kids with their age peers unless there are extenuating circumstances for doing differently. Usually that is wise advice because the impact of being the "wrong" age socially, especially at older years, can be quite tricky.

Mrs Jackaroo

We arrived in April (NSW) - our daughter was 6 at the time......7 in the November (so younger than your little one) and she went straight into year 1 here no questions asked - she was in year 1 in the uk too so no difference. Your daughter will be too old for Kinde - they have definitely got that wrong!

sarskis

Thank you so much for the help...

Can I just be sure -

Would my daughter automatically go into year 2 in Jan 2009? And am I right in that primary school is 6 years in NSW as opposed to the 8 years they do here in Ireland?

Thanks
Sarah

Mrs Jackaroo

If your daughter turns 7 in August.....in the January she would then go into year 2 - yes there are 6 years in primary

sarskis

Thanks for your help, that is such a relief.

NickyC

There are actually 7 years in Primary in NSW - K to 6.

sarskis

It is so confusing to me- I have been trying to get my head around it for ages! Think I have it now... Year 2 will be perfect I am sure for her and there seem to be some nice schools in the area we hope to be...

THANKS

Mrs Jackaroo

You're right Nicky sorry - I always forget about kinde

Rosscarbery

If it's any help, I have found the school system here to be much more similar to the Irish system than the UK system. Having grown up in Ireland the UK school system was always a puzzle to me whereas here it feels just like home!

I have also found them much more flexible with regards age. My 9 year old should technically be in year 4 but, as he is dyslexic, I really wanted him to go back a year and it was no problem.