Readiness for School

I think the best judges to decide a childs readiness for school are the parents. My son Sam was due to start Prep next year but we have delayed it so that Sam starts the year after in 2011. It was about 4 months ago when I started to think that Sam would not be ready. He currently goes to Kindy for 3 days a week, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and by his third day he is tired and asking if he can stay at home with Mom. Sam is not interested in learning at all at the moment – we have managed to work with him long enough for him to write something that resembles his name, so thats a start. He gets bored really easily. His favourite game is playing with his cars.

Sam played on his own at Kindy up until about 2 months ago, content with his own company. He has now started to connect with a couple of the other children there – the quieter ones. Its really great for me to see him making friends. He got invited to his first Birthday Party a couple of weeks ago. I am sure that many Moms don’t want Sam at the Party because he is allergic to peanuts etc, so they probably are thinking it would make things hard. This might be me being paranoid though! Sorry, back to delaying Prep – Sam just is not ready, he would be totally in over his head and I am convinced that I would not see him continue to progress like he has at Kindy.

The C & K Kindy Teacher supports my decision and has helped me monitor Sams progress over the last couple of months. She has had a lady go in to Kindy from Education Qld to observe Sam and do a report. I have obtained a report from our GP to back up my request to hold him back. An application has gone off to C & K at Brisbane who are yet to confirm that Sam has a place at Kindy again for next year. I had a meeting with the Principal at Prep who has said that yes she agrees to hold Sam back for a year and will keep a place open for him at Prep for 2011.

My oldest son Harry was so ready for Prep (his birthday meant he is one of the oldest in his Prep class) but it still took a lot out of him initially. At weekends and holidays for the first 4-6 months he was exhausted. On the first 2 school holidays he was sick and I am convinced this was just due to being tired. I know some may think that I am just trying to cling onto Sam but honest thats not the case, he is just not ready for Prep yet.