My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.

[Anonymous]

There's another redshirting thread, but I wasn't sure if this goes here or there. Anyway ...

I don't understand why people won't name names. We have a kid with a very late August birthday, so we called around the privates and spoke to the admissions directors or others in the admissions offices. Here is what they said, not verbatim, but the bottom line after 5 minutes or more on the phone:

Maret: we want older kids
Sidwell: we're flexible, though usually end up with older kids
Concord Hill: happy to take younger kids
Sheridan: happy to take younger kids

I know we spoke to Beauvoir and GDS but don't remember exactly their bottom line, so I don't want to characterize it.

[Anonymous]

PP @ 11:54, just to be clear, were those schools telling you they end up with kids on the older end of the usual range for K (5-6 years old)? Or were they saying they seek older kids that have been held back beyond the usual age range?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP @ 11:54, just to be clear, were those schools telling you they end up with kids on the older end of the usual range for K (5-6 years old)? Or were they saying they seek older kids that have been held back beyond the usual age range?

We were asking about admissions for our child, not really questioning about the class makeup in the end (which of course depends on who decides to attend after being admitted). As other posters have said, it's better to focus on your own and not worry about others. But we wanted to be realistic about chances at admission. Maret was the one we felt a "young" child would be disadvantaged in the process, maybe Sidwell but not as much.

All of the admissions people at each school were very nice and open and trying to be helpful for us. I'd encourage everyone to have these same conversations with them directly. Hard to say whether there is a wrong or right answer.

[Anonymous]

I wish one or more elite private schools in DC would, for once and all, put children in the correct grade. When the admission committee is holding the application of a nearly 6 yr old, I wish, say, Sidwell's admission committee would have the balls to say Hey guess what? You don't belong in kindergarten. I wish that Beauvoir, for example, would put 4 year olds in preK and 5 year olds in K. The applicants whose child will turn 7 will have to apply elsewhere, in my dream scenario.

Funny, because some might say that maybe you should take a dose of your own medicine. And I don't mean this to be rude. But if you are so firm in your beliefs, then why don't you avoid the private system that you don't approve of and send you children to public schools. And if enough parents did that, then perhaps the privates would follow suit. So while I actually agree with you, I am but an "n=1" and don't have enough confidence in my DCPS system and will thus adapt to a system that won't accpet my son until he's a bit older. Anyway, its a free world. If you don't really like something, vote with your feet and head in the opposite direction. But there's obviously a reason why these schools do it the way they do it. So I doubt they are going to change any time soon.

[Anonymous]

It's not a "free world," PP. Just sayin' . . . .

[Anonymous]

Check the WIS web site. After 1st or 2nd grade they do their own testing admissions, no cut-off dates bind their applicants. We turned down GDS and Maret for WIS partly looking in the future to our younger child who attends DCPS a full year ahead of age.

[Anonymous]

This amounts to nothing more than "pre-flunking"--you hold your child back a year because you fear they would flunk, if they went in the age appropriate year.

Anonymous wrote:It's a problem when it's too late: when a "held back" kid whose parents really know they should have been at the grade ahead but worried their kid was not going to be a classroom star at any grade becomes Big Moose. There's a lot of Big Moose boys walking around, knowing they failed their parents the first time around and insecure that they're still no better off. Then they bully others who are on grade level, younger and smaller and...brighter.

[Anonymous]

Most of the kids I see entering Kinder as 6 year olds are perfectly fine and have been redshirted by parents looking for an edge socially, academically and/or athletically. These kids tend to be leaders in the classroom and on the playground. It's blatantly unfair. I am angered somewhat by these parent's but more so at the school. The school should be ensuring 1st grade kids aren't mixed in with kinders.

[Anonymous]

I will tell you that this has become a huge problem. There are kids going into 9th at my DC's school that are almost 15.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will tell you that this has become a huge problem. There are kids going into 9th at my DC's school that are almost 15.

I'm not getting this. My daughter turned 15 in 9th grade, and she wasn't redshirted. I would think most kids going into 9th would be almost 15.

[Anonymous]

I think you all should relax a little. I went to private schools in the 80s and was always one of the very youngest in my class (August) while in HS some of my peers were 14-15 months older. It did not matter at all in any way. They did not have an edge on the other kids, and in fact I liked being young. Just focus on your own kid and stop worrying that other kids are gaining some kind of imaginary advantage over yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's another redshirting thread, but I wasn't sure if this goes here or there. Anyway ...

I don't understand why people won't name names. We have a kid with a very late August birthday, so we called around the privates and spoke to the admissions directors or others in the admissions offices. Here is what they said, not verbatim, but the bottom line after 5 minutes or more on the phone:

Maret: we want older kids
Sidwell: we're flexible, though usually end up with older kids
Concord Hill: happy to take younger kids
Sheridan: happy to take younger kids

I know we spoke to Beauvoir and GDS but don't remember exactly their bottom line, so I don't want to characterize it.

WIS favors older children...my DD turns 4 in late summer, August. We were told she tested "young", whatever that means. She had a good playdate, has attended Montessori for two years, and very bright according to her teachers and tester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's another redshirting thread, but I wasn't sure if this goes here or there. Anyway ...

I don't understand why people won't name names. We have a kid with a very late August birthday, so we called around the privates and spoke to the admissions directors or others in the admissions offices. Here is what they said, not verbatim, but the bottom line after 5 minutes or more on the phone:

Maret: we want older kids
Sidwell: we're flexible, though usually end up with older kids
Concord Hill: happy to take younger kids
Sheridan: happy to take younger kids

Sheridan does not always take younger kids--they have asked summer kids to apply again the next year from what I have heard. I think that is the general trend everywhere except for maybe GDS. I asked a 1st grade teacher at one of these schools and she said there was one young August bday in the grade--that was it.

[Anonymous]

Most schools will not come out and say that they will not take summer bday kids but if you ask them for the numbers you won't find many especially with boys. Some schools are more receptive but most will want to give summer birthday kids the gift of time. So, yes schools may have 1 or 2 summer birthdays (usually girls).but if birthdate did not influence admission decisions you would probably have 1/3 of theythe class with birthdays from the summer who just turned 5.

[Anonymous]

I got this quote from a school's website

We have found that students are most successful in the program when they are “older” and have the stamina to stay on task for the entire day. Research shows that girls should be fully five and boys five and a half before they enter class. Typically at least half of the students turn six by the end of the calendar year.