Our cut-off for Kindergarten is 5 yrs by Sept 1st and 6 yrs by Sept 1st for first grade. My son's birthday is September 11th and he is a very bright little boy. I knew he would be bored if we didn't get him into school so we sent him to a private school in a neighboring city. (The cut-off there is Oct. 1st) Getting him into school was so important to us that we would have moved in order to get him enrolled this past year but ended up sending him to the nearby Catholic school even though we are not religious.
I have a huge problem with schools not having some sort of "grace period" when it comes to admitting children who just miss the cut-off date. I believe there should be assessments done on children who are within a month or so of that date if the parents believe that their child is ready. If it turns out that a child isn't ready, no harm done. They get held back a year and although they may have made some friends, chances are they aren't totally emotionally bonded with them. What happens to the children that start later who are advanced learners? In my experience it takes too long to skip a grade and by that point they may have already lost interest in school. I was given the Gifted and Talented test just before I entered high school. When I was told I could skip right into my freshman year, I turned them down. There was NO WAY I wanted to leave the friends that I had been with since Kindergarten. In my case, I wasn't held back and I started school when I was 4 so I was already the youngest in my class. I'm guessing that may have been the reason for the school department brushing off my parents' concerns about me not being challenged enough as a child. ? I would have been much better off had I skipped a year earlier on because I did end up being quite bored when I got to high school. (I should have moved when I had the chance though. Hindsight is always 20/20.
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I think that holding a child back for a year is completely up to each parent, but I personally don't believe that children should be held back just to "be the best at sports" or to "be the biggest kid in the class" or "get their driver's license before their peers". These are all things that I was told when I worried about my son not being able to start kindergarten when he turned 5. Parents should make that decision based on their child's academic ability and social skills.
If you haven't guessed- this was a big issue for my family this past year.
