going to private school K from public school K

[Anonymous]

My dd is age-eligible for public school K next year, but not private school K. This is her last year of nursery school. How would private school view it if we sent her to public school K next year, while applying for private school K (so she'd have two years of K instead of one year of pre-k and one year of k)?

[Anonymous]

why not send her to private school PreK next year?

[Anonymous]

OP here. Some of the schools that we're interested in don't have pre-ks. Also, we want to give public school the chance -- it's possible that the year in public school K will be more successful than I can imagine now, and then we would just keep her there.

[Anonymous]

You ask 'how would private school view it if ..." and I think the answer depends on her actual birthday. Is it Aug. 31st, or is sometime in the spring, etc.

[Anonymous]

It's the end of September -- so before the public school cut-off of Sept. 31 but after the private school cut-off of Sept. 1.

[Anonymous]

Oops, I meant Sept. 30, of course.

[Anonymous]

Have you asked some of the privates about how they would handle this situation? Given that we're talking about a girl here (who tend to be more school ready than many boys), I think there may be more flexibility. Whereas in the publics, there is NO flexibility.

[Anonymous]

The DC private schools (Big 13 ) seem to use that Sept. 1 only as a quiet guide for the brochures. I personally think the real cut-off is June 1 for the vast majority of applicants.

So with that in mind, I would predict that admissions offices wouldn't bat an eye if you applied a late Sept., about to turn 6 yo girl for K.

But. Your public K year is apt to be much more academic, maybe much, much more, than any Big 13 private. I'm familiar with DCPS and MCPS, and my child is in private. So you have to think through in advance how strange and maybe frustrating it could be for your child if she learns to read pretty well in MCPS, and do all the skip counting, etc. and then has to spend a whole year in a private K emphasizing social skills and reading readiness.

[Anonymous]

Why not apply for first grade after a successful K year?

[Anonymous]

Big 13 ... I love it!!!

[Anonymous]

We had the exact same situation (mid September birthday) and called around the local privates. The sense we got was that many of them would REQUIRE that our child repeat a grade no matter what his teachers, test scores, etc. said - so they would stick to their birthdate guidelines even though they differ from the DC cutoff. Very weird in our opinion. Repeating a Pre-K or K might not be a huge deal, but if the kid is ready to progress then they should be allowed to progress. We also found it funny how all of these DC private schools follow the Maryland cutoff date and not the DC cutoff date! Tells you who butters their bread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not apply for first grade after a successful K year?

Not the OP, but there aren't many spots available for incoming first graders, as it isn't an "intake" year.

I think identifying the schools that interest you and having this discussion with them would be the place to start.

[Anonymous]

We did this with our son. He repeated K in private. Not an issue although he says he was held back for K which is sort of true