Which school year
 

Hi everybody
My daughter was 13 in August, and in the UK she has just gone back to year 9. We are moving to Oz next month, does anyone know what year she will go into in the new school year January 2003?

thanks

Re: Which school year
 

My daughter is 13, well 14 next month. In Scotland she is in 3rd year, I think thats year 10 in England.
I know in Perth that their school year starts end Jan/Feb - 6 months BEHIND UK.
So, when we go to Perth, my daughter will just be starting 3rd year there. Hope this is of some help.

Shona x

Re: Which school year
 

Can depend on whether she is going to state or private school as they can have different entry criteria on age. Also which state are you heading for. I know the NSW cut offs but not sure if others are the same and work colleagues have said they are not.

Talking of NSW
There are only six years here in high school - year 7 - 12
You can leave school at end of year 10, possibly 15 years of age depending on your birthday. My son is 12 (born May) and he is in year 7 one of the youngest. Criteria was he had
to be 12 before end July

Therefore
Age 5 before 31st July - Kindergarten
Age 6 - Year 1
Age 7 - Year 2
Age 8 - Year 3
Age 9 - Year 4
Age 10 - Year 5
Age 11 - Year 6
Age 12 - Year 7
Age 13 - Year 8
Age 14 - Year 9
Age 15 - Year 10
Age 16 - Year 11
Age 17 - Year 12

My daughter was in year 5 in the UK born 29th August - youngest in her class, we moved in May so she only had one term left to do. She is in Year 4 here one of oldest and three more terms still to do - lucky she loves school!!!

I did discuss the chance of her being put into Year 5 and some schools were accepting but we decided that this way she had better opportunity to be with her peer group.

My son was unhappy about being the youngest, having to work from May to December still being in year 7 and 99 hundred other things till he got to school made mates! Loves it!

Snipped from Web site
http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/gotosc...ndergarten.php

Possibly people need to check out other state school sites

What is the right age?

Children may enter Kindergarten at the beginning of the school year in NSW government schools if they turn five on or before 31 July in that year.

Some gifted or talented children may be ready to start school at an earlier age while others may benefit from being a little older. By law, all children must start school by their sixth birthday.

Parents will need to provide proof of their child's age when starting school. When children start Kindergarten, parents/caregivers are also required to provide an immunisation certificate - a record of the child's immunisation status. Speak to your doctor, local council, or school about immunisation.

I would be interested in other state school information (in case we decide to move within Aus!)

Cheers

Re: Which school year
 

My daughter will be 14 in Dec and she is now in Year 8, next year will be in year 9.
In NSW kids start school when they are about 5 and first year of school is called kindergarten (not to be confused with childcare organisation for pre-schoolers under the same name), second year of the school called Year 1 etc. So, even it is called Year 8, it is actually 9th year in school for my daughter.
In Kindergarten they take kids who already 5 y.o. and those who will be 5 before June. Those, who were borne in Sept and after should wait till next year. Those, who were borne in June-August are sort of a border case - school looks at their general mental and physical development deciding whether to admit them now or next year. Private schools are generally more willing to take such kids, I think because they have more resources to look after them.

So your daughter may be in the same year as mine, or 1 year below. May be it is worth to compare school programmes (and of course you can write me directly if you have more questions, may be my daughter will answer some of them :)).

Tatiana

Re: Which school year
 

Technically, she will be 14 next year, and here in W.A., kids are in Year 9 in the year they turn 14. I think it's similar in other states but you'd have to double-check that. In W.A., high school consists of Years 8 through 12. You start Year 8 when you are 13, but that's not carved in stone. There are exceptions.

The schools here prefer to keep kids with their age group, number one. But you can also get assessment tests done to see where she fits academically. You'd want to do this before putting her in any class when you get here. It's pretty stressful for kids, especially teens, to start in a new school, in a new country, so you'd want to do it right the first time.

You could put her in school for the last few months of the year in Year 8, just to make friends and get settled. That's what we did and it worked well. Then she'll start Year 9 along with her peer group next year. If you put her in Year 9 next month, it might not be enough time to catch up and get into Year 10 next year. It's high school and many elective courses have prerequisites that she might not be able to satisfy the requirements for.

But then again, it depends on her previous experience in school and perhaps some assessment test results. Bring along report cards obviously, but also curriculum outlines and examples of her work to give the teachers here an idea of what has been covered already and where she's at.

Good luck,

Helena