New Poster -- September Birthday -- Private vs. Public

[Anonymous]

Hello. I am new to this forum and this is my first post. I have visited this site weekly seeking information and have not been disappointed. Overwhelmed and confused on occasion but never disappointed. So, thank you.

Our dilemma. We have a 4 year old. Her birthday is in early September but obviously after Sept. 1 which is the cut off for some/most schools. She is currently in a Pre-K program (DC) and we have started to look in DC & MD for Kindergarten programs for next year. I spoke with one school (MD private) that stated they strictly adhere to the Sept. 1 deadline. If we wanted to send her to this school she would have to enter their Pre-K program as she would not be 5 by Sept. 1, 2013 in order to enter K. I know we have MANY more schools to review but I was just wondering how many parents were faced with this dilemma and what did you do? I have a feeling this may be the situation we will face when checking out other schools. What would you recommend and are there any specific schools we should look into? BTW, we are MD residents. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

I would not consider this a dilemma unless you are looking at public schools. My dd has an August birthday, and all but one private wanted her to repeat K when we applied for 1st grade, in spite of her 99% WPPSI. They thought the developmental gap between her and her class mates would be wide.

[Anonymous]

Lowell school has a September 30th cutoff as does Capitol Hill Day School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not consider this a dilemma unless you are looking at public schools. My dd has an August birthday, and all but one private wanted her to repeat K when we applied for 1st grade, in spite of her 99% WPPSI. They thought the developmental gap between her and her class mates would be wide.

OP here -- yes, we are considering public schools as well. In your situation what did you do? Did you have your DD repeat K? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lowell school has a September 30th cutoff as does Capitol Hill Day School.

OP here -- Thank you so much for the recommendations.

[Anonymous]

My DD has an early October birthday. We didn't have any trouble finding privates that would accept her for kindergarten at age 4. They did assess her first, but she was accepted and is currently a 4 year old kindergartener.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, forgot to add we're in Silver Spring, MD and looked mostly locally.

[Anonymous]

I posted about my dd's August birthday. She started 1st, and even her teachers didn't realize she was the youngest. However, we noticed a huge gap in physical and social development for middle school. She was 10 years old in 5th grade, and there were girls as old as 12 by the end of the school year. I didn't like their influence on her, quite frankly, although her close friends tended to be younger, too.

That said, if the private you want her to attend thinks it would be better for her and her classmates to repeat PK, I would strongly consider it. One other thing to consider - you don't know that you will want her to stay at one school, and some schools have younger kids repeat a year when they are old enough to notice that they are repeating. I have friends with daughters at Sidwell and NCS who entered the schools in late elementary and were asked to repeat, and those were kids with early September birthdays. I don't know that that is policy, but thought I would share the anecdotes anyway.

[Anonymous]

There seem to be several 6 year olds in my child's K class at a private school, which leads me to guess that our private would probably encourage you to repeat PK too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD has an early October birthday. We didn't have any trouble finding privates that would accept her for kindergarten at age 4. They did assess her first, but she was accepted and is currently a 4 year old kindergartener.

Not the OP, but could you share which area schools were willing to take your child (once established that she was ready). We are in Takoma Park and in a similar situation. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Feynman School has no strict cut-off date.

[Anonymous]

Thinking ahead too, I'm not sure I would want my kid looking at colleges when they are only 16 but that is just my own opinion.

[Anonymous]

I have a just turned 10 year old in 5th grade. I am not aware of any (though there are surely some) kids that are 12 starting the year. If you go public there is much less repeating so kids are likely more true to the year. In Moco you can test in for the first 6 weeks on the year so mid-October. I guess if we had chosen private and many kids were held back/or wait till 6 we might have had to consider waiting too. But in public it has worked out fine, DC is at a gifted magnet and has a lovely group of friends.

[Anonymous]

I have a friend who was in a similar situation and he had his child tested in MCPS and she was admitted to K though she has a Oct Bday. She is thriving and is now in 4th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a just turned 10 year old in 5th grade. I am not aware of any (though there are surely some) kids that are 12 starting the year. If you go public there is much less repeating so kids are likely more true to the year. In Moco you can test in for the first 6 weeks on the year so mid-October. I guess if we had chosen private and many kids were held back/or wait till 6 we might have had to consider waiting too. But in public it has worked out fine, DC is at a gifted magnet and has a lovely group of friends.

This is the policy in PG County, too. I take it to mean that the school has determined it's better to have kids in this window who are ready be placed with the older year, or they wouldn't have this policy.