HELP!! - Parents whose daughter started School as a 4 year old

Hi there,

I would like to hear from any parents whose daughter started Primary School in Melbourne at 4 years of age and whether you are happy about or now regret your decision. My daughter will be in that situation in 2009 as she was born in April and I need to decide whether to send her then or the following year.

I would very much appreciate your feedback.
[Edited on 01/08/2007]
[Edited on 02/08/2007]

hey im 16 and i started school when i was 4 and most of my friends did too i think that it has its good and bad points.
i mean i wood have finished school when i was 17 which i thort was quite good because i wood have taken a year off and traveled or sumthing
but on the other hand i think that maybe i wasnt ready to start school.. i had a lot of trouble (whether it was my school or just me) with things like timestable and a few other things.. its really up to you tho.. maybe f u think shes ready then sure why not but if you dont think she is then you can hold off that extra year..

my sons born in april too, so we have decided to put him in to school at 4yrs and 4mths old, if we can see he is ready we will, if not we will wait.

good luck with your decision.

I started school when I was four but I remember I didn't like it.......I would be in the same situation with emm....I would wait the following year she will have plenty of years as school would love to have her home for another year....and would sent her to kindergarten

I myself started school when i was 4 and see n issue to it. If anything its a good thing for a few reasons ...

1. By year 12 they will only be 17 so wont be able to be going to pubs and clubs, thus interupting their vce

2. By yr 12 they wot have a drivers licence to distract the from their studies.

3. If for what ever reason your child needs to stay bck a year in school ... they have age behind them as they will be the same age as the other kids.

... all in all im glad i started school when i did ... try it .. if it doesnt work its not the end of the world, just take them out and wait.

Hi there,
This question I have encountered myself and in my opinion there are a couple of things you have to take into account. Do you live in a metro area or country area? Is your child small for her age? Are you planning on sending them to public or private school? Is you child eligible to defer? My 2nd child's (girl) birthday is in March and she turned 5. She is a big girl and is mistaken for being in grade 1 already, and she can confidently read level 4/5 readers, spell and is quite advanced for her age but I wouldn't dream of sending her to school until next year particularly if you are sending her to a public school. Bullying is a massive problem at schools now, and my son has had problems with this. The schools are unable/couldn't be bothered, to enforce any type of discipline when it comes to these children and I believe that if you can give your child any advantage when it comes to school, DO IT! You need to weigh up the pros and cons, but for me and my family's experience with school so far, there are no cons for deferring.
Hope this helps

Hi there again,

There is one more thing that I forgot to mention in my reply, I have read other peoples responses and the issue of deferring wasn't really around 10-15 years ago. Not many parents did it, so your child would have been the odd one out but now most preschools will advise you to do it if you have the option, and from my experience at my son's old school, the younger, non deferred children, really stood out in the class. Most of the kids who were struggling, were the younger ones.
Anyway, good luck with your decision.

x
[Edited on 13/09/2007]

Hi there!! I went to school also at the age of 4. Primary school was okay but by the time I got to year 7 (at 11 years of age) most kids were turning 13, some 14 if they had missed a grade etc. Even though I was educationally developed enough to go to school at 4, I found it socially difficult being younger during my high schooling and felt i could have done with an extra year at kinder for the social aspect of things. It was a bonus being 17 in year 12 - thus having an extra year under my belt to do things - but bad on the other hand since I had to wait half the year to go anywhere which was licenced. I thing its your choice!!