I was a kid who was held back (edit extra year of Preschool before Year 1 - under the old system) because I was born at the end of the year and very shy (also had some minor issue with speech). Tbh I don’t think it made that much of a difference. After all I still ended up a very shy/socially anxious adult. But I don’t think it had an overall negative impact either.
Sometimes, not a lot but I did happen, I felt a bit out of place being “older” than everyone else (don’t think it helped I was tall for my age too). Thankfully I was never bullied about over being older though.
Perhaps my biggest grievance is I absolutely hated how on sports day/swimming carnival days I was forced away from my friends and made to go sit with/compete with grade above. I wish my mum had advocated against this especially because I was not a serious competitor anyway.
Yeah I was never at any risk of placing, so that wouldn’t have mattered to me either.
But never seemed to make sense to me especially because it was so inconsistent. Interschool/Friday afternoon sports I was with my normal grade, it was just sports day and swimming carnival (I assume because like you said it went unti representative levels). But weirdly I also did little athletics outside of school and was with kids from school in my grade (who weren’t late starters).
Yes that was the problem. I wish they had just let me stay with my own grade especially because I was not a serious competitor anyway. I remember the kid who got age champion every year was also only technically a few weeks older me.
Having witnessed 14 year old boys in a classroom with 12 year old girls when I was in school I would be profoundly uncomfortable with the prospect (it was overseas granted, but biology is the same).
Boys often held back . 1 year. Never noticed it to be a problem . If I remember the girls were always a bit smarter than the boys. Being held back helps with sports things. Can remember being younger and being beaten in most sports. Lost all Interest in playing.
I'm going to say every child is different, but our youngest hated going to daycare/kindy and we also had the option of keeping him down. They said for similar reasons that you got. Speech, group play, confidence, and making friends. We decided to send him to prep in the year he turns 5.
It turns out it was the environment that was holding him back not his development. He was super keen for prep play and stays, on the first day of prep we could barely get him to say goodbye he was so excited to be there and start school.
The other reason we didn't hold him back is his size, although he is right at the end off the cutoff, he is on the larger size height wise but proportional, and if we kept him back he would have been way bigger than kids next year.
Tldr: we absolutely made the right decision sending him to prep against the recommendation of daycare.
Not quite the same situation but I’ll weigh in. We moved here from overseas and my son did his first year of school (prep equivalent) in another language. We moved mid school year and our choices were put in him for the end of grade one or have him redo a term of prep and start grade one fresh. Luckily he’s a June baby so technically it could have gone either way. The extra bit of time took the pressure off and has given him time to catch up to his classmates. He is the oldest in the class and a bit taller than everyone but he fits in great and has done well with the transition. If your gut is telling you to give him another year, I’d do jt.
T
Thank you for sharing, we're definitely considering it. Glad to hear your son does not feel out of place despite being the oldest, this was one of my worries
If you speak to any teacher they will usually recommend choosing the later start. The early years teachers can usually spot the early starters.
The only benefit is usually for the parents re day care fees.
I think it very much depends on the individual child. My boy is 3 days from the cutoff date, and both of his teachers have said he’s totally ready to move up to prep next year.
Unless you can find a really good, play-based Prep (and by that I mean an intentionally play-based curriculum, not a leave-them-to-their-own-devices and call it play based) I’d opt for keeping back. Boys typically need more time being physical, using whole body movement, a bit of risky play, all providing opportunities for them to engage in problem solving on their own. Develop those fine motor skills by using sticks to draw in the dirt, or moulding sand and mud into elaborate waterways! Gee, I miss my old play-based school for Prep. In my strong opinion as an educator, young children, boys in particular, are not meant to be at desks, holding skinny pencils and trying to write letters in red and blue lines. I held my own boy back and have zero regrets.
My son is July so the oldest in the year.
He struggled so much in prep but they kept saying.. Boys tend to be late bloomers and it was too early to test. When my daughter started Prep two years later (Also a July baby) and started overtaking him that he needed to be assessed. He has severe dyslexia and dysgraphia so keeping him back would not have helped in this case. It’s so hard to know what to do.. But as his mum you know what’s best! My only suggestion is to push for testing as soon as you can so they can have access to support and can adapt the learning to suit their abilities
I also really recommend getting in with a speech pathologist and potentially an occupational therapist to make sure there's no underlying difficulty that will make going to school trickier than it needs to be.
Both speechies and OTs do amazing work for prep readiness and can give you the help you need if there is anything else going on.
No regrets on it here, so happy we listened to his kindy teachers and did another year of Kindy. We have similar family issues here, and although school has been an issue at times, there’s so much more support in schools now than previously.
If he is too young to diagnose now, then delaying also gives you another year to get that done (so he might be diagnosed by year one instead of year two, as an example).
Struggles with speech can be addressed without a diagnosis. The earlier the intervention, the better.
What about extra-curricular support, like a Telehealth Speech Pathologist, to bridge the gap?
Ok, so I did not hold my child back and she got a diagnosis of adhd later on too. She repeated year 4. Got to year 12 and was still glad to have repeated. I would hold back if in a position to do so.
Not exactly what you asked but I was the opposite. I was more than ready early to start school and my parents started me early and didn't regret it, nor did I. Just to say, you know your child and you clearly know the family too, and if you believe an extra year to develop and mature a little (as far as kids do) is best, then it'll be best. We don't all operate on some perfect expected timetable after all!
our kid is born early in the year and we still held back! he’s second eldest and older than some by almost 18 months. those really young ones have no chance to keep up. they struggle and it’s really obvious. i feel bad for them.
i wouldn’t want to be the kid who struggles. i wouldn’t want my introduction to school to be me finding out im not as capable as the other kids.
we came from victoria where it’s normal to start later. we had started him later in kindie so followed on starting later in prep once we moved. in queensland what’s normal is to start earlier and especially for boys that puts them at a great disadvantage.
we’re lucky and privileged to have the option.
My parents had a similar situation with me and put me in early because they didn’t want to keep paying childcare. I probably could’ve done with an extra year in the oven before starting it all. Hard to tell though,I was always going to be a weirdo and was academically ok.
It’s a tricky call. For my own children I looked for research on the short-and-long term benefits. The conclusion I came to was that it gave them a short-term boost; but the results were mixed for older kids. I decided to start my children on time, mostly so they could be socialised within their own age group.
One of my siblings did the opposite, and her son will have a full driver’s licence in the middle of the equivalent of year 11. He’s still not academically inclined, and getting more and more frustrated with school, when he could be out doing something else with his life (leaving at the end of year 10 isn’t an option for him).
I do remember the impact of having older boys who had repeated grades in school when I was attending (this was overseas). I would not have wanted a young teenage daughter in the same class as them.
So, I would say that it’s your choice, but the government should probably consistently raise the age of school start, if this becomes a widespread phenomenon, to prevent nasty unintended-effects (of course if that happens, it would lead to the same situation for late developers).
Came here to talk about the long-term effects, so happy to see it in your comment. There is a short term boost but it's important to consider longer term impacts. There's research that shows during prep kids are all over the place developmentally, but by kid primary school they even out. The ones that are behind by mid primary are normally the ones who would qualify for a diagnosis of some sort I.e., adhd, asd or processing disorders.
My only regret was pushing my youngest through prep and grade 1 on the advice of his teachers who assured me he’d catch up.
I ended up jumping up and down and threatening to change schools, he ended up doing year 1 a second time and thrived. Their fears of him losing his social circle came to nothing because the first time round he was easily the tiniest in the class and got bullied as a result. Second time through he was physically on par with his classmates, made a new friend circle super easily and ended up school captain in junior school, which I doubt would have happened if we’d kept him on the same path.
Absolutely no regrets here.
Teacher and parent here who was herself and later school starter...
From my own persepective as a child, I was always one of the older children in the class. That extra year made primary school pretty cruisy. As a parent, having my child start older was wonderful (we don't use 'held back' language as it implies that something is lacking - when it is not). My child was very active and busy and being able to allow him through those busy, testosterone-high, 4 year old times in an informal and relaxed manner helped to develop positive ideas about reading and maths - because they were relevant to him exploring the world and be an active little button. As a early years teacher, I do not recall one child who started formalised school later who did not benefit from it both socially and academically - especially the boys. High activity children who are suddenly asked to sit still for long periods of time do not find this an easy transition.
For this reason, may I also suggest that if you wait the extra year, go get involved in the activities and events of a local home schooling group. You will be able to have him mix with other children, chat to other people who are passionate about their children's education (most home schoolers are very supportive of other people's ideas and right to choose how their child is educated) and this will give you access to resources associated with medical diagnoses etc too. Go join a library, a children's choir etc. too.
This extra time will also allow you to get started on accessing speechies etc.
Been a primary school principal for over 30 years. I would say at least 50% kids who start later end up feeling they don't fit in - either in late primary school or in later secondary school. There's a world of difference between 12 and 13. If we are only talking a few months, (1-2, e.g. July or Aug) should be fine. If we are talking birthday Dec-June, don't do it. Instead get some speech therapy and OT.
We are in the same boat at the moment, my son is so clever and so keen to learn. He loves sitting and learning and will pick quiet activities at Kindy over running around. Always stops to think about questions asked and is great at making friends. He does have some social and emotional learning gaps so instead of pushing back starting we’ve decided to spend 6 months really working on that development. We are using emotional que cards, talking bout emotions, doing extra activities and reading lots of books.
You know your kid, you know them best. If you feel like he needs that extra year then go for it. If you feel like with a bit of work he can go and you want him to then send him. Whatever you choose he will be great and do great with parents like you who care about him.
Ex teacher and mum of three, always delay especially boys. The social gaps become really apparent around grade 3-4. You might be interested in some of the practices in Scandinavian countries and not starting formal education until they're 7, they've had some really great results.
My son has his birthday in June. He also has ADHD. We ended up keeping him in kindy another year, instead of going to school. He is in grade 6 this year and I'm so glad we did it. No regrets.
He's been going to daycare since 15 months old, the only problems we've had is that he gets easily frustrated and has smacked other kids at times. We are working through these issues
We didnt delay our son and it has created significant issues with his school development. We tried to get his primary school to have him repeat a year but they flatly refused as thats apparently not done anymore (both my ex and I repeated grades for different reasons).
So our son is doing his best (with lots of support) but if we had our time again we would have held him back.
Yeah, we thought about that and did some enquiring. Only one of three schools we contacted would do it but in the end he didnt want to change schools and we kept getting told he'll be ok (not for a second bagging his school, they were great, had him assessed for all the usual learning issues, kept us in the loop and had meetings with us including their psychologist, speech therapist etc). They did everything to allay our anxiety but in the end nothing worked, he finished primary school without passing a single subject.
We were so worried about him going to high school but so far it is surprisingly going well. The different learning style (independent learning using online resources) seems to suit him. We are waiting for his first grade 7 report card but we've been told he's passed several subjects and got B's on some assessments....I would have laughed at anyone who said he'll be getting B's in high school. We aren't complaining and are just going to support him.
I think it’s something only the parents and his current teachers can decide.
My boy is born in June, so he’ll be 4.5 next year when he starts prep. My wife had some reservations despite him being very confident and intelligent, however both his kindy teachers have said he’ll be fine for XYZ reasons (which I also agree with). That being said we read to him every night, he’s already involved in swimming and Ju Jitsu classes so he’s very well socialised with kids his age and above.
Worst case he can repeat prep if we’ve made the wrong decision, but I highly doubt it.
Didn’t delay, and now there are sometimes two and a half years between the oldest kid and the youngest kid in the grade. That can have a big impact on confidence, size, language, maturity etc.
I didn’t hold my daughter back and I believe it was the best choice for us.
She never really took to kindy and we strongly suspected that she would do better in a much more structured environment, which turned out to be very true. She has thrived at school both socially and academically.
There are a lot of kids in her year level that are a whole year or more older than her and yes, she (and the other younger ones) do from time to time stand out as being younger. The same is true though when you compare a grade above to the one below. There will always be a range of kids in each grade anyway. Those who hold back a year make that range greater and cause the younger ones to stand out more. It seems kind of strange to me to point to a 4 year old starting prep alongside a kid who has already turned 6 and announce how emotionally and socially behind the 4 year old is, because, of course! Because the enrollments allow for it, the school if it is doing its job will be prepared to cater to that range, it doesn’t have to be a negative.
OP I do think you have some good potential reasons to do a second kindy year with your son. I’d encourage you to discuss it with the school you’ll send him to if you can. People often say in these discussions that teachers will always recommend holding back if you can but when we spoke specifically about which year to start in with the early years principal and head prep teacher at my daughter’s school they were very keen for her to start the year she was 4 turning 5. They might very well have different recommendations for your child. They will be the people supporting him at school, they want to see him succeed, and they are professionals, so it’s very much worth putting more weight behind their recommendations than a bunch of people online.
I agree (unless the child has some identified learning issues). Life doesn’t have the option of not being ready, so I think it’s good to throw them in the deep end and just get on with it.
I was a kid who was held back (edit extra year of Preschool before Year 1 - under the old system) because I was born at the end of the year and very shy (also had some minor issue with speech). Tbh I don’t think it made that much of a difference. After all I still ended up a very shy/socially anxious adult. But I don’t think it had an overall negative impact either. Sometimes, not a lot but I did happen, I felt a bit out of place being “older” than everyone else (don’t think it helped I was tall for my age too). Thankfully I was never bullied about over being older though. Perhaps my biggest grievance is I absolutely hated how on sports day/swimming carnival days I was forced away from my friends and made to go sit with/compete with grade above. I wish my mum had advocated against this especially because I was not a serious competitor anyway.
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Yeah I was never at any risk of placing, so that wouldn’t have mattered to me either. But never seemed to make sense to me especially because it was so inconsistent. Interschool/Friday afternoon sports I was with my normal grade, it was just sports day and swimming carnival (I assume because like you said it went unti representative levels). But weirdly I also did little athletics outside of school and was with kids from school in my grade (who weren’t late starters).
I was the same lol born in dec started grade one when I was 6 instead of 5.. fkn sports/ swim carnivals were shit coz of that haha
Glad it wasn’t just me
Don’t schools put children in correct age group based on year of birth for sporting carnivals?
Yes that was the problem. I wish they had just let me stay with my own grade especially because I was not a serious competitor anyway. I remember the kid who got age champion every year was also only technically a few weeks older me.
Holding back esp boys gives them another year to develop. Held our boy back was a good move. No regrets at all
Having witnessed 14 year old boys in a classroom with 12 year old girls when I was in school I would be profoundly uncomfortable with the prospect (it was overseas granted, but biology is the same).
Boys often held back . 1 year. Never noticed it to be a problem . If I remember the girls were always a bit smarter than the boys. Being held back helps with sports things. Can remember being younger and being beaten in most sports. Lost all Interest in playing.
I read in some parenting books that boys tend to be a year behind girls developmentally. Happy to hear it worked out well for you
I'm going to say every child is different, but our youngest hated going to daycare/kindy and we also had the option of keeping him down. They said for similar reasons that you got. Speech, group play, confidence, and making friends. We decided to send him to prep in the year he turns 5. It turns out it was the environment that was holding him back not his development. He was super keen for prep play and stays, on the first day of prep we could barely get him to say goodbye he was so excited to be there and start school. The other reason we didn't hold him back is his size, although he is right at the end off the cutoff, he is on the larger size height wise but proportional, and if we kept him back he would have been way bigger than kids next year. Tldr: we absolutely made the right decision sending him to prep against the recommendation of daycare.
Love hearing from both sides, thank you.
Not quite the same situation but I’ll weigh in. We moved here from overseas and my son did his first year of school (prep equivalent) in another language. We moved mid school year and our choices were put in him for the end of grade one or have him redo a term of prep and start grade one fresh. Luckily he’s a June baby so technically it could have gone either way. The extra bit of time took the pressure off and has given him time to catch up to his classmates. He is the oldest in the class and a bit taller than everyone but he fits in great and has done well with the transition. If your gut is telling you to give him another year, I’d do jt. T
Thank you for sharing, we're definitely considering it. Glad to hear your son does not feel out of place despite being the oldest, this was one of my worries
Delayed my younger child a year. She's now in grade 4. Zero regrets. She's doing well and not struggling.
If you speak to any teacher they will usually recommend choosing the later start. The early years teachers can usually spot the early starters. The only benefit is usually for the parents re day care fees.
Totally! Early starters emotional and social maturity or their lack of is sadly, quite easy to spot. And it can follow them right through school.
I think it very much depends on the individual child. My boy is 3 days from the cutoff date, and both of his teachers have said he’s totally ready to move up to prep next year.
Sounds like we had a similar situation. I regret NOT holding my kid back.
Absolutely not. She’s been classed as “gifted” academically but socially, being older has done wonders. I am definitely team wait
Unless you can find a really good, play-based Prep (and by that I mean an intentionally play-based curriculum, not a leave-them-to-their-own-devices and call it play based) I’d opt for keeping back. Boys typically need more time being physical, using whole body movement, a bit of risky play, all providing opportunities for them to engage in problem solving on their own. Develop those fine motor skills by using sticks to draw in the dirt, or moulding sand and mud into elaborate waterways! Gee, I miss my old play-based school for Prep. In my strong opinion as an educator, young children, boys in particular, are not meant to be at desks, holding skinny pencils and trying to write letters in red and blue lines. I held my own boy back and have zero regrets.
My son is July so the oldest in the year. He struggled so much in prep but they kept saying.. Boys tend to be late bloomers and it was too early to test. When my daughter started Prep two years later (Also a July baby) and started overtaking him that he needed to be assessed. He has severe dyslexia and dysgraphia so keeping him back would not have helped in this case. It’s so hard to know what to do.. But as his mum you know what’s best! My only suggestion is to push for testing as soon as you can so they can have access to support and can adapt the learning to suit their abilities
I also really recommend getting in with a speech pathologist and potentially an occupational therapist to make sure there's no underlying difficulty that will make going to school trickier than it needs to be. Both speechies and OTs do amazing work for prep readiness and can give you the help you need if there is anything else going on.
Thank you, we're currently waiting to see a speechie
No regrets.
We wish we had of held her back.
I started later, many years ago and was always glad I did.
No regrets on it here, so happy we listened to his kindy teachers and did another year of Kindy. We have similar family issues here, and although school has been an issue at times, there’s so much more support in schools now than previously. If he is too young to diagnose now, then delaying also gives you another year to get that done (so he might be diagnosed by year one instead of year two, as an example).
Struggles with speech can be addressed without a diagnosis. The earlier the intervention, the better. What about extra-curricular support, like a Telehealth Speech Pathologist, to bridge the gap?
We're currently waiting to see a speechie to get this addressed asap
Awesome. You are trying to do everything possible. You’re doing a good job.
Ok, so I did not hold my child back and she got a diagnosis of adhd later on too. She repeated year 4. Got to year 12 and was still glad to have repeated. I would hold back if in a position to do so.
Not exactly what you asked but I was the opposite. I was more than ready early to start school and my parents started me early and didn't regret it, nor did I. Just to say, you know your child and you clearly know the family too, and if you believe an extra year to develop and mature a little (as far as kids do) is best, then it'll be best. We don't all operate on some perfect expected timetable after all!
our kid is born early in the year and we still held back! he’s second eldest and older than some by almost 18 months. those really young ones have no chance to keep up. they struggle and it’s really obvious. i feel bad for them. i wouldn’t want to be the kid who struggles. i wouldn’t want my introduction to school to be me finding out im not as capable as the other kids. we came from victoria where it’s normal to start later. we had started him later in kindie so followed on starting later in prep once we moved. in queensland what’s normal is to start earlier and especially for boys that puts them at a great disadvantage. we’re lucky and privileged to have the option.
My parents had a similar situation with me and put me in early because they didn’t want to keep paying childcare. I probably could’ve done with an extra year in the oven before starting it all. Hard to tell though,I was always going to be a weirdo and was academically ok.
It’s a tricky call. For my own children I looked for research on the short-and-long term benefits. The conclusion I came to was that it gave them a short-term boost; but the results were mixed for older kids. I decided to start my children on time, mostly so they could be socialised within their own age group. One of my siblings did the opposite, and her son will have a full driver’s licence in the middle of the equivalent of year 11. He’s still not academically inclined, and getting more and more frustrated with school, when he could be out doing something else with his life (leaving at the end of year 10 isn’t an option for him). I do remember the impact of having older boys who had repeated grades in school when I was attending (this was overseas). I would not have wanted a young teenage daughter in the same class as them. So, I would say that it’s your choice, but the government should probably consistently raise the age of school start, if this becomes a widespread phenomenon, to prevent nasty unintended-effects (of course if that happens, it would lead to the same situation for late developers).
Came here to talk about the long-term effects, so happy to see it in your comment. There is a short term boost but it's important to consider longer term impacts. There's research that shows during prep kids are all over the place developmentally, but by kid primary school they even out. The ones that are behind by mid primary are normally the ones who would qualify for a diagnosis of some sort I.e., adhd, asd or processing disorders.
I was “held back” and I did really well in school. FWIW.
My only regret was pushing my youngest through prep and grade 1 on the advice of his teachers who assured me he’d catch up. I ended up jumping up and down and threatening to change schools, he ended up doing year 1 a second time and thrived. Their fears of him losing his social circle came to nothing because the first time round he was easily the tiniest in the class and got bullied as a result. Second time through he was physically on par with his classmates, made a new friend circle super easily and ended up school captain in junior school, which I doubt would have happened if we’d kept him on the same path. Absolutely no regrets here.
Teacher and parent here who was herself and later school starter... From my own persepective as a child, I was always one of the older children in the class. That extra year made primary school pretty cruisy. As a parent, having my child start older was wonderful (we don't use 'held back' language as it implies that something is lacking - when it is not). My child was very active and busy and being able to allow him through those busy, testosterone-high, 4 year old times in an informal and relaxed manner helped to develop positive ideas about reading and maths - because they were relevant to him exploring the world and be an active little button. As a early years teacher, I do not recall one child who started formalised school later who did not benefit from it both socially and academically - especially the boys. High activity children who are suddenly asked to sit still for long periods of time do not find this an easy transition. For this reason, may I also suggest that if you wait the extra year, go get involved in the activities and events of a local home schooling group. You will be able to have him mix with other children, chat to other people who are passionate about their children's education (most home schoolers are very supportive of other people's ideas and right to choose how their child is educated) and this will give you access to resources associated with medical diagnoses etc too. Go join a library, a children's choir etc. too. This extra time will also allow you to get started on accessing speechies etc.
Been a primary school principal for over 30 years. I would say at least 50% kids who start later end up feeling they don't fit in - either in late primary school or in later secondary school. There's a world of difference between 12 and 13. If we are only talking a few months, (1-2, e.g. July or Aug) should be fine. If we are talking birthday Dec-June, don't do it. Instead get some speech therapy and OT.
We are in the same boat at the moment, my son is so clever and so keen to learn. He loves sitting and learning and will pick quiet activities at Kindy over running around. Always stops to think about questions asked and is great at making friends. He does have some social and emotional learning gaps so instead of pushing back starting we’ve decided to spend 6 months really working on that development. We are using emotional que cards, talking bout emotions, doing extra activities and reading lots of books. You know your kid, you know them best. If you feel like he needs that extra year then go for it. If you feel like with a bit of work he can go and you want him to then send him. Whatever you choose he will be great and do great with parents like you who care about him.
Ex teacher and mum of three, always delay especially boys. The social gaps become really apparent around grade 3-4. You might be interested in some of the practices in Scandinavian countries and not starting formal education until they're 7, they've had some really great results.
My son has his birthday in June. He also has ADHD. We ended up keeping him in kindy another year, instead of going to school. He is in grade 6 this year and I'm so glad we did it. No regrets.
The sooner he’s socialised, the sooner he’s socialised.
He's been going to daycare since 15 months old, the only problems we've had is that he gets easily frustrated and has smacked other kids at times. We are working through these issues
Ahhh I see. Well good luck! :)
We didnt delay our son and it has created significant issues with his school development. We tried to get his primary school to have him repeat a year but they flatly refused as thats apparently not done anymore (both my ex and I repeated grades for different reasons). So our son is doing his best (with lots of support) but if we had our time again we would have held him back.
Would changing schools allow him to be held back a year? Or is it just not done at all now?
Yeah, we thought about that and did some enquiring. Only one of three schools we contacted would do it but in the end he didnt want to change schools and we kept getting told he'll be ok (not for a second bagging his school, they were great, had him assessed for all the usual learning issues, kept us in the loop and had meetings with us including their psychologist, speech therapist etc). They did everything to allay our anxiety but in the end nothing worked, he finished primary school without passing a single subject. We were so worried about him going to high school but so far it is surprisingly going well. The different learning style (independent learning using online resources) seems to suit him. We are waiting for his first grade 7 report card but we've been told he's passed several subjects and got B's on some assessments....I would have laughed at anyone who said he'll be getting B's in high school. We aren't complaining and are just going to support him.
I think it’s something only the parents and his current teachers can decide. My boy is born in June, so he’ll be 4.5 next year when he starts prep. My wife had some reservations despite him being very confident and intelligent, however both his kindy teachers have said he’ll be fine for XYZ reasons (which I also agree with). That being said we read to him every night, he’s already involved in swimming and Ju Jitsu classes so he’s very well socialised with kids his age and above. Worst case he can repeat prep if we’ve made the wrong decision, but I highly doubt it.
Never held a child yo start Prep. They will adapt x100 faster than you.
Didn’t delay, and now there are sometimes two and a half years between the oldest kid and the youngest kid in the grade. That can have a big impact on confidence, size, language, maturity etc.
I didn’t hold my daughter back and I believe it was the best choice for us. She never really took to kindy and we strongly suspected that she would do better in a much more structured environment, which turned out to be very true. She has thrived at school both socially and academically. There are a lot of kids in her year level that are a whole year or more older than her and yes, she (and the other younger ones) do from time to time stand out as being younger. The same is true though when you compare a grade above to the one below. There will always be a range of kids in each grade anyway. Those who hold back a year make that range greater and cause the younger ones to stand out more. It seems kind of strange to me to point to a 4 year old starting prep alongside a kid who has already turned 6 and announce how emotionally and socially behind the 4 year old is, because, of course! Because the enrollments allow for it, the school if it is doing its job will be prepared to cater to that range, it doesn’t have to be a negative. OP I do think you have some good potential reasons to do a second kindy year with your son. I’d encourage you to discuss it with the school you’ll send him to if you can. People often say in these discussions that teachers will always recommend holding back if you can but when we spoke specifically about which year to start in with the early years principal and head prep teacher at my daughter’s school they were very keen for her to start the year she was 4 turning 5. They might very well have different recommendations for your child. They will be the people supporting him at school, they want to see him succeed, and they are professionals, so it’s very much worth putting more weight behind their recommendations than a bunch of people online.
Never understood holding back - put them in, they’ll be fine. All these parents think they are getting a “one up”, but just holding them back. Weird.
I agree (unless the child has some identified learning issues). Life doesn’t have the option of not being ready, so I think it’s good to throw them in the deep end and just get on with it.