What to do, or not to do, at the Green Acres parent interview.

[Anonymous]

Just wondering, if you wait to apply to private schools at a later entry year (i.e., send your summer birthday boy to public school kindergarten), will he still be disadvantaged in the application process? In other words, at the middle school or high school levels will they still look at birthdays? And as for Green Acres, if they have a June 1st cutoff and you have a kid with a June birthday, could they be admitted to pre-k and then go to k a year late?

[Anonymous]

just for reference, i think the oldest child in pre-k this year turned 5 this past june (2008), with maybe a few more born in july and august. the youngest will turn 5 in late spring (i can't remember if it's april or may). i have no idea what the school policy is about summer birthdays. but the kids this year seem pretty well spaced from june to late spring. there aren't any kids in prek this year who turn 5 in july or august 2009.

[Anonymous]

Green Acres sounds wonderful. Sounds like there is no way my kids with June and August birthdays would ever be able to attend....This just doesn't make any sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just wondering, if you wait to apply to private schools at a later entry year (i.e., send your summer birthday boy to public school kindergarten), will he still be disadvantaged in the application process? In other words, at the middle school or high school levels will they still look at birthdays? And as for Green Acres, if they have a June 1st cutoff and you have a kid with a June birthday, could they be admitted to pre-k and then go to k a year late?

At Maret, for example, they will tell you it's common to have the summer boys repeat K or even 1st grade. At 4th grade they will tell you they will evaluate case by case based on the maturity of your child. Sidwell, Beauvoir, GDS are all the same. At Sidwell, I was told 3rd grade would need to be repeated.

For your summer birthday boy you thought could go to K, you can (1) go to private pre-k, (2) go to public pre-k, (3) go to public K.

If you wait for junior high or high school to go to PRIVATE you will be out of luck in terms of your decision. Your child will be less likely or willing to repeat 9th grade. He will just be the youngest in his class. For some this will work better than others and all will survive.

So don't get bothered by the schools that post June 1 guidelines (not cut-offs) because they are no different than the school that post September 1 cut-offs but adhere to a June 1 or earlier guidline.

Hope this answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Green Acres sounds wonderful. Sounds like there is no way my kids with June and August birthdays would ever be able to attend....This just doesn't make any sense.

We postponed a year because of our summer birthday DC. In the end, this made sense. Even if the schools accepted, DC would have been the youngest in the class by 15-18 months. It may not matter now but we realized 12 years from now it might matter more so we kept DC in preschool on additional year. It happens.

The summer birthdays you see or hear about are almost always girls.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. My June DC is a boy (1st child) and August DC is a girl. But I imagine even an August girl (since it's so late in the summer) would need to start late?

[Anonymous]

Your summer child might have an easier time getting in at a later grade. 2nd or 3rd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. My June DC is a boy (1st child) and August DC is a girl. But I imagine even an August girl (since it's so late in the summer) would need to start late?

It depends on the school and the scenarios can play out all different ways (their applicant pool and where all the candidates fit). Bottom line if you like a school you should apply especially given your boy/June and girl/August birthdays. If it was the reverse I would say it was a long shot statistically but your scenario is perfectly reasonable. Yes, you need to pay the application fee and yes, you need to do the tours and playdates but if nothing else you will have established a relationship with the schools that interest you. Some schools like Maret will ask you to reapply the following year for the same grade.