Moving to Victoria, what would you do?

[noisewithdirton]

We will be moving to Vic from U.K. sometime next year. Oldest DS is in year 7 here and is inside the cut off to go into Year 7 when we get there. However when we lived in Sydney he was the youngest in his year by 18 months in some cases due to parents having the choice to keep kids back. My dilemma is do we send him back to primary school to be among peers more his age or do we keep him in year 7 having already started secondary but run the risk of him being a lot younger than his peers? Really struggling with decision - WWYD?

I sent eldest back to primary school - massive mistake she hated it and the other kids were less mature anyway by uk standards - not a bad thing but a problem for missy

Interesting - yes think he would hate it having got used to secondary but he isn't the most mature of kids either..

Oh neither was she, but the last year of primary in Perth she literally spent say under a tree reading ignoring everyone

Out of curiosity, where in Vic? (Born and bred country Victorian here...)

I live in Sale, Vic. I moved here from Townsville QLD and moved there from UK 6 years ago. We arrived in October with my DS having started Y7 in UK in September. He started school here in Y7 but they were finishing the school year in December and he would have effectively missed a whole year of school. I made the school keep him in Y7 for another year and with the move to Vic it turned out well. He was born in Nov and is actually one of the youngest in his year. Also a lot of people start their child in school the year they turn 6 not 5 like the UK so kids tend to be older in the year anyway.

It will be around Geelong area as that is where DH's job will be but not sure where we will live yet. That is my worry - in Sydney we started him at 4 turning 5 as we wanted to keep him in sync with UK for when we returned but he was so much younger than the others. Made a huge difference when he started but was OK by year 2. Now we are going back again forewarned I want to make the right choice! Does anyone know whether the majority or minority are held back? It is more the age of peers that concerns me rather than academics. He is April born so literally just makes the cut off. We have no choice with my youngest he will have to go back from year 4 to year 3. It's just the having started secondary and returning to primary vs being really young in the year that I can't decide!

Hmmm tricky choice with him possibly being primary age or secondary age rather than you just choosing between two possible primary years or two possible secondary years. I'd enrol him in the year that would put him in line with the age of the Vic children in his class - so if he'll turn 13 some time in the calendar year (Jan-Dec) that you move I'd enrol him in year 7 and if he'll turn 12 in the calendar year you move I'd enrol him in year 6.

Thanks yes that's the problem - he will turn 12 next calendar year but by the time we move will have done 2 terms of year 7. It's going back to primary school that is the issue!

What does your DS think? If you feel he has a reasonable understanding the issues I'd be tempted to be guided by him...

He can see the pros and cons of both - I think we will take his views into consideration definitely - if he was dead set against going back to primary for example, so yes perhaps we will wait and see when we get there, also perhaps talk to the schools I think.