Pommie Granite

Child has to be 6 by 30June in the year in which they start.

So if your child is born on 1stJuly, then he/she will be 6yrs and 7 months old when they start school.

Is it just me that finds this really worrying?

DebiE

They start Prep the year they turn 5, if before 30th June.

My son is in Prep. He turns 6 in Dec and will start Grade 1 end of Jan when new term starts after summer hols.

My daughter is 4 and will start Prep when the new term starts in Jan. She will be 5 in May 08.

Have a look at this link. Hope it explains all.

http://education.qld.gov.au/publicat...sue1_prep.html

Pommie Granite

Thanks Debi...well thats a bit of a relief.

I'm not sure what the government are playing at by not making prep compulsory?!?

moneypenny20

Because presumably they believe that children should learn how to interact and play long before they are required to know their ABCs. When my kids started Nursery in the UK for a year before Reception, it wasn't compulsory. Has that changed?

rebnatoli

In England (not sure if Scotland differs) I think school is only compulsory from the age of 5 and a half. However I'm glad mine had access to free nursery places from the age of 3 in the UK.

Scotschick

Hi

My son doesn't turn 6 until 31 December but is already in Grade 1 here in the Brissie suburbs. Not sure whether all schools are the same around here but we certainly had no problem getting him into class despite him being the youngest.

DebiE

Schools in QLD are generally the same. It all depends on the child whether they're ready for Prep. Some kids are ready to go before others. Each child is access to see if they're ready.

The Prep year is new to QLD and 2007 was the first year to bring Prep Year in to schools across QLD. They've had a few teething problems, especially with boys, not being socially ready. So, the cut-off date was put back to the 30th June.

Here's another link - http://education.qld.gov.au/etrf/year1readiness.html