By Melissa Grant
Is my child ready to start school?
It’s a question many parents agonise over before enrolling their son or daughter in prep.
Moving from pre-school to primary school is a big transition – the teaching hours are longer, the playground is bigger and there are lots of older kids.
In Victoria, a child needs to turn five by 30 April of the year that they begin school, but mums and dads often debate whether to hold their son or daughter back.
Education transitions expert Emeritus Professor Bob Perry says parents need to ask themselves if there is a compelling reason why their child shouldn’t be starting school if they are old enough.
“I basically come from the position that if a child is age eligible to go I would need to know some reason why they shouldn’t go.
“I think children thrive on the challenge at school as long as they are supported by the teachers. We shouldn’t deprive them of that challenge.”
Here, Prof Perry explains what parents need to consider before sending their child to primary school.
CHILD’S AGE: The first thing a parent has to look at is their child’s age – will their child be old enough to start school? There are different age cut-offs in different states, and sometimes different areas, such as the Catholic system, have different age cut-offs.
THE CHILD’S THOUGHTS: Does the child think they are ready to go to school? Parents should be talking to their child about going to school and seeing what that means for the child. What does the child think school is about, how do they think they will go at school, do they know anyone else going to school?
THE OTHER OPTION: If a child doesn’t go to school with their cohort of friends, what are they going to do? Are they going to have another year of pre-school? How is that extra year of pre-school going to challenge them differently to the year they’ve just done?
DANGERS OF REPEATING: I’m not at all enamoured with the notion of repeating any year of a child’s education. Some parents make the decision their child can go to school as soon as they are age eligible as there is a fallback position that they can repeat and it won’t be a big deal. But it is a big deal. It is a big deal in the way the child will lose a group of friends and it is a blow to a child’s prestige. It seems to be a really poor excuse when parents say ‘I don’t need to make this decision because if it doesn’t work out then they can repeat’.
THE RESEARCH: Children who start school when they are a bit older will of course function better in the first year of school because they are a bit older, they are wiser, they know a bit more. But the research is clear – that washes out after a while. There is no great advantage in being older later in school.
ASK FOR ADVICE: Parents should be taking advice from people who know their child – that means other parents and preschool teachers. The school teachers don’t know your child and they don’t get to know them during orientation weeks. If a child is age eligible they can go to school providing the child is comfortable about going to school and the parent can work on that, unless there are special circumstances. Of course there are some children who are developmentally delayed and they may need special provision. Everything else being equal, prep teachers are trained and prepared to take children as they come. A lot of prep teachers will tell you they would rather have older children than younger children, but that’s not the point. These children have a right to school education at that age. Show me why they shouldn’t have the school education at that age when they are eligible.
BOYS V GIRLS ARGUMENT: There are suggestions that boys should start school later than girls. But what about the individuality of this whole thing? There are very young boys who will flourish in school. There are older boys who will go to school and not flourish. Same with girls. It’s an individual thing.
EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL SECURITY: The key for starting school is that the child feels they belong there, that school is actually a place suitable for them. Parents also need to look at their child’s makeup and how certain issues can be addressed. If your child is shy, if they don’t have many friends, if they don’t like to be around other people – I think they are actually signals for the parents and teachers to do something about it, rather than signs of school readiness. The parent might arrange some play dates with other children who are going to the school. There will be things that the children are a little bit worried about – but we don’t know until we ask them. Some children can be apprehensive about school toilets. That can be addressed by visiting a public toilet. There are things that the parents can do. The signals are emotional and social.
ACADEMICS AREN’T IMPORTANT: I don’t think it matters if your child can write their name, count to 10 and say the alphabet. They are not necessary.
It’s useful for the child to be able to recognise their name as it helps them find their hat, jumper and bag. The challenges for children as they settle into school are social and emotional challenges. Look at how your child functions with other children, look at how they talk with adults, look at how they are happy to occupy themselves.
BEWARE OF CHECKLISTS: There are lots of schools that have checklists for school readiness. I actually get frightened when I look at those lists as there are some things that I can’t even do. I’ve seen lists with things like ‘can deal with difficult situations successfully, can deal with criticism successfully’. What does that mean for a four and a half, five year old child? The important things are that you want the child to wake up in the morning and be pestering you to be getting into the car and going to school.
