Correct Grade

[edwards]

My daughter has just turned 7 and is in Grade 1 (SA). We plan to move to Australia realistically during the last term 2013. My daughter is just learning to read (as per the SA requirement) and is "normal" in relation to school work. I am just concerned what class she should be placed in ... everyone appears to have their opinions but a South African in Australia indicated that it would be "best" to keep my daughter in Grade 1 during 2014 as the "level" of Australian children at this age is "higher" and the difficulty of settling in for just one term before moving "up" is short. This post is not an attack on SA vs Australia, rather whether an extra year in "grounding" basics would be best OR let the process evolve and see my daughter spend only one term (2013) in Grade 1 and move up to Grade 2 during 2014. Any thoughts?

[HadEnoughofJuju]

We had exactly the same fear about our child not being able to catch up to the year 1's. She turns 6 on 20 June which puts her in the group that started year 1 this year whereas she was a prep/Gr 0 in South Africa. We spoke to the principal during the interview (which seems to be common place in state schools here) and explained our situation and that our child was not at the same level as the current year 1's and that English was her second language. There was absolutely no issue with us keeping her in prep year. My reasoning was that I would rather have her in prep now and get promoted to year 1 next year than put her in year 1 now and have her held back because she couldn't cope or catch up.

In the end you need to make the decision you feel is best for your child. The principals and teachers at the schools here in Australia actually do their work and are very understanding to new migrants and their situations. Don't be afraid to voice your concerns to the principal during the interview and explain your reasons for wanting to keep your child in the same year as what they were in South Africa.

The other thing to keep in mind is that there is a lot of support for immigrants here in Australia and the staff really do take the time to evaluate and assist the children with whatever they need. This is not something parents are used to in the South African schools, children there are just left for the most part to fend for themselves.

[Sunnyskies]

I don't see why your daughter should have another year in year 1. My take on it is in the Eastern states they are happy to keep your children in line with what you have done in SA, WA is slightly different. Let her go to Year 2 next year unless there is a real reason to keep her back.

[sianvz]

I have no experience with this whatsoever, but I wonder if it's not a good idea to let her go straight into year 2 next year and see how it goes? I mean she is only 7 so it's not like she'll be doing higher grade science and fail her year. If you notice at the end of next year that she hasn't adapted and is not coping as well as you'd like, perhaps keep her back a year? Or just keep your finger on the pulse through each term and see if extra out of school time is required to help catch up a bit. I am of the opinion that kids rise to the challenge but it also depends on your child's personality.

Are you able to get a curriculum from the potential school for year 2 kids and get one from your child's current school for grade 2 and compare what they get taught?

[LizM]

So glad we don't have to make this decision. Ethan turns 5 at the end of Jan so will start kindy (prep) with his same aged peers in Jan next year.

I think that I would be inclined to put her in Year 1 for the last term and see how she goes in comparison to the rest of her class? If she's really struggling then she can do Year 1 again in 2014.

In the meantime - sign up for "Reading Eggs" - it's a phenomenal programme

[Sunnyskies]

My son was at the end of year 1 when we moved and he had no trouble with year 2 here. I don't believe the Aussie system is streeks ahead and my son was struggling a bit in SA when we left. The major difference here at that level is that there is less emphasis on being able to recite bonds to 10 (Edwards you will know what I mean) at that level, but possibly slightly more emphasis on reading. But even if she is slightly behind they will work with her and you to get her up to speed. Insofar as possible she should stay with her peers - that is the WA philosophy, which is why they gave my nephew a special teacher assistant when they made him move up a year after my sister arrived with him in year 2.

I stressed so much on this issue as I knew my son was struggling a bit, but all was good and he went from struggling to doing really well (other than maths which is still a bit of a struggle when you do it because that is the rule).

[Katerina]

I faced a very similar situation moving from the W Cape to Sydney in Nov 2011. My youngest started school here in 2012 but we soon realised that in NSW they start with their reading and writing skills much younger than we do in S Africa and so her peers were a lot further along than she was.

The school year here finishes about the 3rd week of December. If you can identify a school for your kids to attend early on, ask the principal if your child can join a class for the last 2 - 3 months of the year. This will help you (and the school) to identify how your child fits in with that year and whether it is a good fit or not before the 2014 school year starts. It will also help them get comfortable socially.

My daughter played catch up for about 6 months in Year One, but her teacher was very supportive. Now her reading/writing and maths skills are on a par with her peers, and she is flying! Good Luck!

[miraclebabycaw]

I would put her into year 2 and go from there. My son turned 6 last December. In South Africa he should have gone to gr 0 last year but because he was only turning 6 at the end of the year and because he was a boy and very immature I kept him out of school and could kick myself now. Because he had not had a full year of formal schooling every school I spoke to said he needed to go to Reception. He is in Reception this year and going ahead in leaps and bounds with his reading. He was born prematurely and has a bit of a problem with writing but this is due to hand eye issues. He will get there with the correct OT. He is far ahead of the class in maths as his creche teacher in RSA was big on maths and English, however as they were not allowed to start reading before school he did not do this. He is now battling socially as he is the oldest in the class and the other children are very immature compared to him. Sounds so silly but at 6 he just cannot make friends. He is one of the sweetest, nicest little boys (and I am not saying this because he is my son,this is from teachers and friends alike), easy going, helpful and polite and yet is battling to make friends. I am giving him a bit more time and working with his reading and writing skills and plan on speaking to the school about moving him up to year 1 for the 3rd term to see how it goes. My daughter is also very mature and skipped grade 7 as she turned 13 early in the year so she went to gr8. Her teacher said she is more mature than a lot of the girls in her class. I think our kids grow up a lot quicker than the ozzie kids and as so are more mature than the ozzie kids. Because of this they manage much better emotionally and therefor academically when they arrive. JMHO

[HadEnoughofJuju]

Ok I guess, I miss read that one a bit. If she is meant to go to grade 2 next year then I would also say put her in year 2 when you arrive, especially f she is going to start school and be there from the first term.Our situation was a little different in that if we put Jessie in the year she was meant to be it would mean that she has lost three terms of her prep year in South Africa and the first term of year one in Australia.That gap for us was simply too great.

If I have I work it out according to the date guidelines then your daughter, according to her age, should actually go to year three (that's if I am not mistaken). Jessie turns 6 before the end of June which technically puts her in the year one group so if your child turns 8 before June 2014 the she should be in year 3. That would defiantly be a far too big of a jump.

[Kath]

Hi

We have a similar challenge; our son is 6 and in Grade 1in Joburg, turning 7 in June (next month), and when we applied for a school (to start beginning of 2014) in Perth, I was told that according to his age he should be in Grade 3 in 2014. Their cut-off is June (unlike SA's Jan cut-off) for ages. They have however agreed to put him on a waiting list for Grade 2 for 2014 as it will be too stressful for him to jump a grade. I'm quoting the advice from a SA teacher who now teaches in Perth; "The grade 1 year in SA is very well done and I would imagine that he would cope with grade 2 here quite easily - especially as he will be one of the older more confident ones."

I hope this helps you a little. I was also quite stressed about this, but happy that we have now decided on which class to apply for.

[Eva]

I can only share our experience. We moved here as my son was about to start grade 1. In South Africa he had done Grade R or Grade 0 at the pre-primary school he was at and they did NO reading, the Grade R at the local school did introduce reading in a small way, but nothing at the pre-primary school. He went into Grade 1 here and was in the top reading group in his class, grade 5 now and he is still in the top reading group.

So from my experience, I would say, put her where she belongs. She will fit in somewhere in the class, bear in mind there will be many levels of competency anyhow. I didn't think in Queensland the reading level in Grade one was any higher than my older boys in Grade 1, learning to read, in RSA.

And I have since helped with reading at the next school my son went to in Grade 2 and there are extremes in each class I have worked with. If you work with your child at home with her reading she will be fine.

If you want to ask any specific questions, feel free to send me a PM.

Eva

[AndreaL]

I say, put them in the year they are meant to go into (if it is not the last few weeks of the year), you would be surprised at the vast range in reading abilities within one class.....remember that children with learning disabilities are incorporated into the mainstream school system, so the schools cater for al learning abilities.

Also kids don't fail here ( at least not in primary school) so if a child were kept back there would have to be some serious reasons for doing so.

Kids are very adaptive, I see non English speaking ( and I mean, Philipino, Asian) kids enter schools all the time with absolutely no exposure to English and they do fine.

[Gizmo]

I am not sure that you will have a choice in the matter.

Note - all the states have completely different schooling - from the age that they start school through to how they determine what year your child will be in.

In WA in particular, formal schooling starts at age 4!!! This is different to states over east I believe. From what I have observed with new South Africans arriving at our school, the school places them in the year they are supposed to be in age-wise and then monitors their progress. If they are unable to catch up, they will be placed in the appropriate year.

Remember, kids are like sponges - with the right teaching, they can really flourish. Also, within each class there is a HUGE range of different levels which the schools here cater for. In our class in particular - our daughter is 7 and is in year 2 - there is the advanced group who are reading at a "Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton" type level, right down to a kid who has not yet moved onto chapter books (one of the kids has Autism). The teacher deals with all of these levels and does it well.

In WA, the year you are in is calculated on your age and whether you were born before or after July 1:

http://www.det.wa.edu.au/curriculumsupport/earlychildhood/detcms/school-support-programs/early-childhood-education/home/calculator.en?oid=Article-id-11572345

[edwards]

Thank you all for your comments. Reading your comments, I think the best thing would be to place my daughter with similar age group children and monitor her with her new teachers. I think I "went in thinking" from a SA point of view forgotten that many schools have worked with similar situations before with children from other countries. I think (I hope) we are at an advantage that our first language is English. I think I need to just have confidence in the system and as long as I support my daughter I'm sure she will shine!

[Gizmo]

Thank you all for your comments. Reading your comments, I think the best thing would be to place my daughter with similar age group children and monitor her with her new teachers. I think I "went in thinking" from a SA point of view forgotten that many schools have worked with similar situations before with children from other countries. I think (I hope) we are at an advantage that our first language is English. I think I need to just have confidence in the system and as long as I support my daughter I'm sure she will shine!

Australia is 25% foreigners, so the schools are very used to kids from other countries. Speaking English as a first language will be a huge advantage - the three families I know of who had their kids put back after assessment were not 1st language English speakers - this really made a big impact.

[Eva]

They also provide language support to non English speaking kids, there are two Afrikaans kids at our local school and I was asked if I could work with them, don't think my Afrikaans is up to scratch, LOL!

[AnnelizeK]

My children 11 and 9 - any advice - keep them back or let them swim?

[Eva]

swim! swim!

[mcbear]

We had a similar predicament, which we spent far too much time stressing over.

There is a huge age range in each class here, the Victorian cutoff is April, so I had the choice of putting my daughter in Grade 3 where she would skip a whole grade and be one of the youngest in the class, or put her in Grade 2 (she finished Grade 1 in SA) where she would be one of the oldest in the class but not skip a grade. We chose the second option, and it was the right decision. She is flying at school, and they split the kids up into different abilities anyway, so she is in the top group pretty much doing the next grades work anyway. But socially she is in the right group, the kids here are a lot "older" than ours (or at least compared to mine).

You can always go up a grade if you find it necessary, but going back a grade is not so easy.

Also, the SA standard is good, although slightly different. In some regards she was behind (reading), but in others she was ahead. Here the focus is more on thinking than doing, that will be an adjustment from 'rote' methods used in SA.

In your instance I would not repeat Grade 1, definitely not. My daughter was also 7 (turned 8 in January) and finished grade 1 in SA.

Edited May 22, 2013 by mcbear

[AnnelizeK]

Thank you for the help on that!

[legallyblond]

My situation is the following: I have one daughter currently in grade 5 and twins (a boy and a girl) in grade 2. We plan on going over to Perth during January 2014. Firstly, when do I have to register them in school - can I do that when we are there or do I have to start looking at schools now already and enrol them whilst stil in SA?

My second question: My son was struggling a bit emotionally and I was at one time advised to keep him back in grade R. Because he is one of a pair of twins I decided against that and rather put him in a private school where there is only 10 children in the class. He is keeping up but is nowhere near the level of his twin sister. His emotional immaturity and lack of motivation is still evident in his assessments. In addition our first language is Afrikaans.

Both my daughters will have no difficulty adjusting but I am concerned for my son. He will turn 8 now in October. Would you recommend that I out him in year 2 and his twin sister in year 3.

[AndreaL]

Would he not adjust more easily with the support of his sister in class with him? I think boys generally are less mature/ motivated than girls at that age ( I have an 8 year old son in year 3).

Looking at the kids in my sons class, there is a great range in academic and emotional levels, quite rightly, as each of them is an individual and are treated in that respect.

You are more than welcome to pm me if you have specific questions.

If you are considering going private, you may have to start contacting schools for information ( I'm not sure if they will register you until you are onshore and they can sight your residence) and state schools must admit pupils if they live in the catchment area, so have you decided where you will settle in Perth?

[dkm]

Thank you for the useful posts! As Gizmo says, we might not have a choice in the matter! My daughter is in Grade 0 and will probably have to start Grade 2 Jan 2014. If it was up to me, I would insist that she goes to Grade 1. I cannot imagine how she will cope missing out on a Grade 1 year but hopefully the school will make the right call!

[TQO]

Thanks for that wealth of info Gizmo - good to know!

[AndreaL]

We went to Perth and the catholic school decided to put my daughter in Year 1, even though she should have been in year 2, we then moved to Albany when she was a quarter of the way through year 2 and they put her into year 3, so she effectively didn't do year 2 and she had no problem.

I did ask that she be put in a composite 2/3 class and was monitored to see if she was coping with the year 3 work.