Sidwell PK or B/GDS K for summer birthday?

[Anonymous]

To redshirt or not to redshirt given the fortunate choice of PK Sidwell and K Beauvoir and GDS for mature DC.

[Anonymous]

when is your child's birthday - ie, early summer or late summer - boy or girl?

[Anonymous]

Congrats...good place to be. If it were me, I think I'd ask what the age make up for each of those classes is going to be. You can't tell who is "mature" or not, but they might give some insight on if your child will fit into the class well. And ask their current teacher, if you respect their opinion. They might have good insight. If your child is truly mature, I might lean towards K. Good luck! And don't put too much pressure on yourself or this decision. You honestly can't make a wrong decision since all the schools are great.

Full disclosure is that our son is WL at Sidwell & Beauvoir for PK. I have a strong feeling we should hold him back and try again next year since he's June and not particularly "mature" nor immature. Just want him to fit in with the other students. And for what its worth, be careful when listening to other responses since its hard to fully divest from their own motivations.

[Anonymous]

Which school did you think was the best fit for your family?

If you do PK, you will be paying tuition for one more year.

[Anonymous]

If you got in to all three then I'd say just go with the school that you like the best.

[Anonymous]

I gotta be honest, I think this is a strange question given your situation.

Which -school- do you think is the best fit?

[Anonymous]

OP here. Not comfortable disclosing any gender/birthday details but thank you for your responses. Sidwell "feels"" most right; current teachers counselled us emphatically that DC is ready for K when we were applying. Hence the question, whether DC who is relatively tall and confident, will be bored in PK.

[Anonymous]

It's not a strange question if they prefer Sidwell but wonder why it's the only one of the three that went for a PreK placement. Wha significance, if any, should they read into that?

If that is the case, I'd asked the AD directly and see what I thought about the answer.

FWIW, my DD's bday would have let her be a year ahead in public compared to private school. My first reaction was annoyance that the private deadline "held her back." My second/lasting reaction was that I'm delighted to have her home another year before she heads off to college. I think kids get more out of (and are better able to handle) college when they're a little older. And I think that exceptionally bright kids remain exceptionally bright kids regardless of whether they're the oldest or the youngest kid in their class.

[Anonymous]

If I were in your shoes and could afford the extra year of school, I'd keep DC in PK for the extra year. One more year of schooling will be a benefit in the long run. It's not like PK is a big academic year anyway, so boredom is not really a concern of mine.

[Anonymous]

Not a strange question at all! Could be all other things are equal, or the other preferences may be swamped by the question of age. So you've received a lot of good advice, and there are simply pros and cons. FWIW I have children past that age, and one is young for his grade, whereas the other was required to repeat K (late Dec. b-day) when we switched from public to private. My views are part based on them, and part on observations of their classmates. Bottom line is that going to K may have more merit than is commonly felt. 2 points:
1. it is not always better to be older. The big older kids, especially boys, were often like fish out of water they were so physically advanced. A real problem if they are less smart than some of the other kids, which probably is not your situation. Some became bullies (not all).

2. For my young-for-grade son, it was an issue in K, 1 and 2. After that, it has not mattered. Similarly, in my other child's class, the younger kids did not stick out at all, even the physically tiny ones.

[Anonymous]

Context is important! You might wish to lay out the situation to Sidwell, and just say you are struggling with this, and ask what made the distinction for them. If you are non-defensive, you might get an honest answer. Is it possible that your DC is on the line between PK and K, and due to other admissions-type reasons, e.g., too many strong applicants for K, your DC was a bit randomly placed in PK? Alternatively, do they see something about the incoming PK or K group that would suggest they truly believe DC would be better there. Anyway, I would hope they can articulate it, but once again you need to be careful about your tone. Since you're not just complaining and advocating for something different, I think it shouldn't be too hard to pull off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To redshirt or not to redshirt given the fortunate choice of PK Sidwell and K Beauvoir and GDS for mature DC.

OP, given that the one word you used to describe your child was "mature," I think that K might be better. Given the quality of these schools, however, there is no doubt DC will do well at any of those options. BTW, we have a summer b-day boy, and we are not red-shirting because he has been in full-time preschool already, because he would be bored academically, and because socially, he is already used to his peer group and would likely get frustrated with a class of mostly younger children.

[Anonymous]

Good suggestion, 11:56!

[Anonymous]

Don't hold your child back. If you feel he is ready send him to K at GDS or Beauvoir. If you love Sidwell you can always transfer to that school later. Both GDS and Beauvoir are wonderful schools and you can't go wrong. It is silly to hold your son back for another year. My child has a Nov birthday and I hate that she has to be in classes with kids 6-10 months younger but I don't have a choice. If I did and she made the cutoff there is no way I would redshirt and hold her back to be surrounded by kids over a year younger than her.

Also, call Sidwell to ask why PK instead of K when two great schools thought he was ready for K-- they can always change their mind.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Excellent suggestion -- its greatly appreciated, thank you.

Anonymous wrote:Context is important! You might wish to lay out the situation to Sidwell, and just say you are struggling with this, and ask what made the distinction for them. If you are non-defensive, you might get an honest answer. Is it possible that your DC is on the line between PK and K, and due to other admissions-type reasons, e.g., too many strong applicants for K, your DC was a bit randomly placed in PK? Alternatively, do they see something about the incoming PK or K group that would suggest they truly believe DC would be better there. Anyway, I would hope they can articulate it, but once again you need to be careful about your tone. Since you're not just complaining and advocating for something different, I think it shouldn't be too hard to pull off.