Just wondering of there is a FYOS 2012 yet. I have twin boys who are starting school next year and we start our first lot of school visits in 2 weeks os was wondering who else is out there going through the same thing

In some ways I am really excited for them to be starting their school journey but these are my babies....

Kerri

Hi

My DS is starting next year too. We haven't decided what school he is going to yet. I'm going to assembly this afternoon for one of the schools.

I'm excited that he is going to school. I have a 2 year so I guess I will be sadder when she goes to school and I don't have any at home.

Rachel

Thankfully as DD is in grade 3 at a fantastic school, I am quite confident that they will thrive at there school. Is so hard finding the right school though

Do any of the schools that you are looking at old open sessons for your DS to attend - this is what we are going to in 2 weeks - it is open to any children that are thinking of attending next year and is also you used as the start of transition

Cheers

Kerri

My DS1 is starting next year too (if he gets in, which we are pretty sure he will)

Our (Catholic) school had an open day last week, and there was a Kinder 2012 info session that I attended.
We have a parent interview, while he has his readiness assessment Thurs week and then offers go out in July.

My DD1 is in her FYOS and thriving in the environment, so tbh, I'm not sad (yet!), I'm excited to be getting rid of another one!

Hi I have changed the topic title so it is now FYOS (First year of school) 2012.
I hope this thread continues to grow.
I will Pin it for easy access.

Louise

Nooooooooooo! I am so not ready for FYOS 2012!!!

My last baby is starting next year. She is so ready to start. She turns 5 in September, and is constantly asking me "Am I going to school next week?"
With two big sisters at school, Sarah is already so at home at the school - she comes to pick up and drops, assemblies on Fridays. She knows the words to the school song, the cheer song for "bottlebrush" house (her sisters sports house, I assume she will be in the same one). She knows a lot of the teachers, they often stop and chat to us, and always talk to her, including the principal.

On a practical level, I haven't actually done anything yet The girls go to the local public school, so I'll probably pick up and enrolment form sometime this term, when I can bring myself to do it ... I'm going to miss her so much It will be so strange having a couple of days on my own.

First parent information will probably be in Sept I think, and the orientation stuff for the kids is in Nov/Dec

My third child will be FYOS in 2012. Not sure I'm ready for that!

Hi everyone,

My baby starts school next year too. He will go to the school that all his brothers and sisters have gone to so he is very familiar with it too.

He turns 5 in 3 weeks so will be well and truly ready by next year. He too askes if he can go as soon as he turns five as a few of his friends started this year and he cant wait to join them.

You have reminded me I must get an enrolment form soon.

DS has already been to a few transition events i.e healthy harold, easter bonnet parade etc so he is very excited.

DS#3 will probably be starting next year. I still have the occasional doubt we are doing the right thing but I think this stems from the fact his older brothers were both closer to 6 when they started instead of just turned 5 (both for different reasons - DS#1 just wasn't ready and DS#2 would have missed the first 6 weeks of the year due to an OS family trip). Also, my Mum and sister both believe we should wait an extra year and will be doing him a disservice sending him "so young". I tend to think he'll do okay and his pre-school has said they, too, think he'll be ready. Still, it's kind of hard not to let the doubts creep in. I want to make sure we make the right choice.

DS1 will be starting next year unless we decide to put him in next term.
We held him back this year but the school has said he is more than ready and that they will take him now. He has ASD so is a special case, but we are really undecided.

My number one son is starting school next year, and I'm having a hard time coming to terms with it! I'm excited for him and he can't wait, but it's confirmation that he's not a baby anymore!

We're in a real pickle about which school to send him to, the local public school around the corner from home has a great reputation but it's massive, with over 1000 students and it's only primary!!

The other two alternatives are a Catholic and a private school which are much smaller, but will really stretch the budget and are further away (can't walk to these schools).

Hopefully once we have the interviews and tours the decision will become easier...

Don't be too worried about size. I went to a school with about 80 kids so it it a huge difference with the smallest school around here having 300.
DS has special needs and the school he will go to has over 600 kids, but the preps are well looked after, they have their one playground and alternate using it and going to the bigger one with older kids.

Tours and speaking with the principal help. We are so pleased with the principals attitude to everything.

I picked up our enrollment forms last night - made it all a bit more real - they have there first visits next week

I found it really hard to find the right school for DD as our local school that we could walk too had a really bad reputation. Of our local kinda that was next door only 3 kids out of 27 went to and 1 has since left. It then came down to 2 schools, both about the same distance drive, one was over 800 kids and growing and the other was 180 kids and located in a 'country' setting. Aftter doing the visits and meeting witht principle we went with the smaller school as we felt it was the right choice for DD - and we have not been let down. It has about a 20% Special needs and also a high portion of talented/gifted. We did a seachange last year and have now moved back as one of the reasons was I the school down there was so focused on the Naplan (grade 2's were already practicing tests and the teaching was geared towards Naplan and they discouraged SN) that I wanted the same start to school that DD had for DS1 & DS2

For those that are still undecided about schools I would do the open days but I would also request a tour when classes are running as normal or see if there is any sessions that you can attend with your child in the classroom - this is what my boys have next week, we are attending even though we have already made the decision but it gives you a really good chance to speak to the teachers and see work in progress

Cheers

Kerri

DS1 had his assessment yesterday and did really well. The assessor was very impressed.
I had my parent interview a few hours later (formality really as we have a child at the school, I'm active on the P&F, & the Head of Primary actually spent most of it cuddling DD2 lol)
We've been given early acceptance, and will have to decide during orientation in Oct, if we want him to go or not.
There are only 3 x 2007 children applying. (DS1 would be second youngest.)
Not sure yet, if it will be 2 or 3 classes. (TBH, if it's 2 classes of 32-35 kids, instead of 3 x <25 like this year, we will more than likely hold back)
My DD1 is one of the youngest in the grade and doing very well, so I have no qualms about sending him younger. Leo is the youngest in his school readiness class, very popular (def not follower type, he drums to his own beat lol) and cluey, but the bigger class sizes have thrown me. Just thinking aloud here lol
urgh, deja vu of last year. Decisions, decisions.

Hi everyone
My baby starts Kindergarten next year, I am really unsure about how I'm feeling about it at the moment. Tonight we had her Interview for enrollment, DD seemed to do okay with it all and she is pretty much has a spot as her Brother is in Kindy this year at the same school. Formal letters come out in October for offers.

How is everyone else going with their LO enrollments?

Public school is easy No interviews or assessments.
And yes, I have taken the step ... I have given Sarah's details to the school secretary, she will contact me around August to give me the date of the parent information night, where I get the enrolment forms.

We have our first visits tomorrow - both boys have been sick so I am hoping that they have a good night sleep and feeling alot better tomorrow or they will miss out

My third starts school next year too! I can't believe it and boy am I going to miss her! She is my little buddy.

BUT, she asks every day "when is it next year?" so she is more than ready

She will go to a different school than the one my other two started at, hopefully they will change with her at the same time. As we are moving from the public to a private school, it is like I am starting all over again, as everything is new.

We are very excited though!

Leanne xo

I put in the enrolment forms for DS#3 today. Also paid for the kinderstart program the school runs. He still just seems too little though pre-school assures me he'll be ready to go. It does reassure me somewhat seeing him with other kids of a similar age who also start next year (they're Nov/Dec birthdays) as he's no different in behaviour and ability. I'm sure he'll be fine being the third child. I'm just used to my kids being closer to 6 when they start.

ETA - PP, my DS is just like your DD. He keeps saying in 2 more sleeps he'll go to school. I have to constantly explain that he'll go to school one day a week after 2 more school holidays, NOT sleeps.

My little one starts in 2012 too. We're now in the process of applying for the out of zone school we think will suit him and we have applied for the in-zone schoolw hich will take him

Hi everyone
Number three starts school next year.

Hi Almond eyes I'm scared for you! Special needs kids a very stressful to make decisions for.

Tayla starts her transition days at the start of next term. She has her uniform all ready and has been nagging me to get her school bag.

We are in Vic. So the first year is called prep and it's full time. She is in preschool this year for two days a week. The preschool is on the school grounds although separated by fences. So they get to talk to the older kids through the fence. My older ones are always coming home telling me about what Tayla got up to. The Prep teacher visits each day, for the two days, she has her morning tea with the little ones. Getting to know them.
It's never been a big leap for my kids to move onto school(apart from the special needs stuff) they do a lot of assemblies together and those special days like the Easter hat parade are all jointly done.

Our transitions are just as smooth. They start third term and go one morning a week. Then forth term it's for a whole day. So she will be in preschool for 2 days and school one day. By the time they actually start school in February next year, it's no big deal at all for the little ones. Some kids, like my ASDer did, can do more time at the school for the transitions.

I kind of feel sorry for the other kids at the preschool who go into town schools. They don't seem to get much time at the schools before they start at all.

We live in a rural town. Our school only has four class rooms and only 72 kids this year in total. Tayla's year level will have 9 kids in it. There will also be 9 grade ones in the room too, being composite classes.
The teachers have a full time assistant who helps out the kids that don't have aids. It's funded by the school.

It's a public school and the buildings and facilities are all 12 months old. It's has better tech, sports, and facilities than all the big town school. So the only dis advantage is the amount of kids. Apparently some mums see this as a disadvantage and send the kids on a bus for an hour to the town to be in a class of 25 preps

All the forms are being sent out today. I just finished putting them all together, that's how I know

Hi mamfa!
DS is doing well. I did my first reading session yesterday and he just sat with me, but it was chaos in the room and we had arrived late. He is getting on well with the kids and his teachers.
I'm considering dropping him down to four days a week so we can work on things together one on one and to give him a bit of a break as well. He's only had 7 days at school so far and I'm worried he will burn out.
Tinking of funding some teacher aide time ourselves but haven't looked into it yet. there are a couple of other special needs kids in his class so they have a fair bit of aide time.
He is coming home happy but exhausted which is great. I think he's actually getting worn out mentally for the first time.

I would have loved a small school like that. My primary school had less than 100, DSs has over 600! But its SEU is well respected and mostly deals with ASD so it's a good fit for us.

.

Hi everyone - thought I will join in here as DS will start next in 2012. He was offered a position at the local Catholic school, and at an out of area public school (same distance away as the in-area school). We have taken the Catholic one as the school is much smaller with 2 "streams" (classes) in each year - compared to probably 7(!) at the out of area public school. The public has a slightly better "academic" reputation, while the catholic got a new principal this year that the existing parents are raving about.

I think my main concern is that DS will decide he doesn't like school - what will I do then?

And how will I do packed lunches 5 days a week!

Well this morning I dropped off our confirmation that both boys will be starting school next year.

I am still questioning whether Noah should be starting school. He is looking down the path of an ADD (inattentive) diagnosis and will have lots of struggles with school but unfortuanlty does not get any funding for aide time. But is another year of Kinda really going to do him any good and will there be more issues with seperating him from his twin. I think that there is just that tiny seed of doubt that I am not doing the right thing that I keep going over and over through my head!!!

Anyway we have started to collect uniforms - we are really lucky that several friends have given us some of there old school tops which are in great condition, I would prefer to have one for each day which means needing 10 tshirts and a couple of jumpers. My next biggest problem is getting tops small enough for Noah that fit over his big head. I am hoping that I can get some size 4 as the size 6's I have come down to his knees (fit his twin perfectly though!!!)

qak - we have gone for an out of area public school that is quite small (170 kids) - our local promary school has 9 prep classes next year - They average 20-25 in each year level which are split into multi age classes, the juniors (prep-2) will have 2 Streams. The bigger public school has a much better 'acedemic record' on the 'My School' website but with only 20-25 kids each year level and our school does have a high level of special needs it really skewes the results

There is only one term left of Kinda and they start school - boy time has flown quick this year

Kerri

qak,

I was so confident that our DS would get into our local catholic school (state top 25) next year that when I got the letter from the school saying he wasn’t accepted because of overwhelming number of siblings, I was totally crushed not to mention I had a car accident the same day. Our alternative was either enrolling him to the local public school or a catholic school in a neighbour suburb. A lot of parents raving about the public school and most DS’s close friends will be there next year. DS wants to go there too; however the catholic school academically is much stronger.

After visiting both schools, I was convinced that DS will excel in the catholic school. DS is extremely sociable so making new friends in a new environment is not an issue for him. I guess my point is no one knows your kids better than yourself. Whether you DS like the catholic school or not, you cross the bridge when you get there. We enrol DS to a private school at year 3 which requires 2 hours travelling everyday, I don’t know what we will do but I am not going to worry about now.

Btw, we still don’t know the after school care situation because it is under going tender process.

Can't believe it's last term of the year!
16wks and counting until day one next year!

DS1 starts orientation next week, for three consecutive Wed mornings. He is very excited!

Hello I haven't popped in this thread for a while. Orientation day is this Friday for DD, I don't know how she is going to go though. She seems excited about starting School next year and she knows the school almost back to front, as she comes with me to pick up DS.
This afternoon we went to the uniform shop to see what the sizing is like with the skirts, the size 4 fits well now but I don't know how she will grow in the next 6-12mths. She refused to try on the size 6, so that is going to be fun.

16wks until the beginning of term 1 2012... wow that isn't that far away at all

Wow, can't believe its 16 wks to go!

Our first DS is starting next year, we have orientation next month and getting uniform end of this month, just hope he doesn't outgrow them, he will be 5.8 when he starts so i guess its just size 6s for him.

We have orientation starting next week too. I'm not too concerned about my DD as she is regularly at school with your big sister (Year 3). In fact she has been wanting to go since we got the acceptance letter, she couldnt understand why she couldnt start the following week. Now she is asking whether she will start school the day after her birthday (November) as she will then be 5 and a big girl.

Hi all

DD is starting school next year and can not wait. He big brother was in prep this year and she is now raring to go. Orientation starts on the 3rd Nov for us. Fortunately this time round she has some of her creche friends going to the same school, last year DS only had one other child which made it a bit harder. All in all is very exciting but a little sad as my baby will be a big school girl

Wendy

Well, I now have 2 girls excited about kinder next year ...
DD3 because she is going to be IN kinder
DD1 because she is going to be a kinder buddy

Cass is only in yr4 at the moment, and the buddies are usually yr5 (going into yr6). But they don't have enough yr5 students to cover the new kinders, so have asked for volunteers from yr4. DD1 is so excited about it! They have a meeting tomorrow to find out the name of their kinder buddy.

First orientation for the kids is next Wednesday.
9-10am the little ones meet their buddies, do some fun activities together.
10-11am little ones spend some time with the kinder teachers, group singing etc, parents can watch, before everyone going on a walk around the school.

Hi, my DS starts school next year and I'm trying to find some nice grey shorts and pants for him. Where do I find them? I've only seen really daggy ones so far, although I haven't looked very hard. Thanks!

Our first (of three) school orientation meeting was on Tuesday, and I am pleased to report DS liked it! There will be 2 streams, so the kids were split in two groups alphabetically - this worried me because of the 8 kids DS knew, 7 were in the other room. He wasn't bothered at all about being "left" while the parents went off to the hall.

They did some "fun stuff" (blocks, toys) and had some story time (3 bears) and had to trace a house drawing - DS wrote his name on his one. They are being "assessed" as to which class they will be in - I am not sure if they are aiming for overall ability grading or how the classes will be decided - they told us based on a number of things, so I am not really clear if it is ability based or someting else. The kids got chips and popper drinks (bribery! no wonder DS liked it)

The parents were treated to the school song (OK, admit I teared up on this!) fashion parade of uniforms, breakdown of school fees and rules on car pickup LOL. We got morning tea too!

I felt sorry for a neighbour's DS - they have already asked the principal about gifted and talented facilities - "not that we will push him" - poor kid hasn't even started school yet

So we had a good day, has relieved my initial worries because DS does not like change. But he is ready for school!

(ETA popper drinks, not pooper!)

Well, I am definitely going to absolutely NO problems with Sarah starting kinder

She had her first orientation session yesterday.
The kids met their buddies - Sarah has 2, and they are lovely girls. They then spent an hour or so with their buddies, doing drawings, playing with blocks etc (basically preschool type activities). The buddies then went back to class, and the children did some group singing and dancing with the kinder teachers. We then went for a walk around the school, in smaller groups. Sarah loved going into the kinder classroom (the kinder class was in the library).
Back to hall, and the big buddies came back for morning tea/lunch/snack time in the COLA.

Speaking to the teachers later, 2 of the teachers both commented on how great Sarah had been. Confident, joining in, behaving extremely well. Given how much time she has spent at school over the last 5 years, I'm not really surprised But it was lovely to hear that she was so relaxed.

Next session is in 2 weeks - groups of 5 or 6 new kids, meet up with their buddies and spend the afternoon with the current kinder class, doing craft etc.

My DS will be starting Prep next year. I may be hanging out for it lol
He's done the Pre-Prep program through the school for the last year & a half and is desperate to get to Prep.
I'm not worried about him at all. He's been hanging around the school since DD was in Pre-Prep, so pretty much knows most of the teachers already and lots of kids. Only sad thing is that his two best mates won't be with him as one is going to another school and the other has to stay in Pre-Prep as he misses the cut-off. But he makes friends very easily, so I'm not concerned

He's a tiny little thing compared to some of the bigger boys, but what he lacks in stature he makes up for in personality lol

DS is starting primary school next year. We have completed orientation now and bought the uniform so now we just wait.

he is been paired up with a lovely year 5 buddy and seems quite excited.

He will be one of the younger ones (March birthday) and I was in two minds before school orientation, but he is so ready to go.

I know quite a few other mums from Playgroup, or as neighbours etc so hopefuly that will help us settle in to school life. I still think I'll cry like a baby on the first day.

Oh I'm also waiting to hear on an OOSH place - have your schools finalised them?

Thought I'd join in as its my first's child's FYOS in 2012. Orientation is in November and we are all excited about it. (OMG I'll need to start packing lunches!) He will be going to public school, though not the local one.

The only slightly nerve wracking thing will be that he will not know anyone there, most of his friends from daycare will be going to the local Catholic school (not an option for us). He keeps asking whether he will see his friends at the school and I tell him that he will be going to a school with lots of new people to make friends with.

I do have a couple of questions though - when do you start buying uniforms/shoes and supplies?

The school has just taken over the uniform shop so it is now in the school hall. They are open in the summer holidays so I will wait until December or January. I hope they have sufficient stock! And shoes will definitely be January.

I don't know about supplies yet - I gather the (Catholic) school provides (but there is a fee) and they are communal supplies. It wouldn't surprise me if grand parents have already bought "named" stuff though LOL which might be disappointing for them.

I am looking at the uniform list now, looks like I am up for

Summer shirt $22 x 4 $88
Shorts $22 x 4 $88
Navy Socks $14.50!! x 4 $58 these are probably the most expensive socks DS ever had!

Sports polo (crest) $28
Shorts $22
White socks $14.50

Hat $10
Bag $50 - not compulsory but is said to be good quality
Library bag $6
Badge? $4

So I am up to $370 that added up quickly! And shoes are on top of that

Winter I will leave until later but the prices are:

Trousers $47.50
LS shirt $25
Jacket $40
Sloppy joe $27
Tie $20

Winter sports jacket $37
track pants $25

Our item prices are similar Qak. I work on the days that uniform shop is open so bought them all at the special orientation shopping day. Shoes I will buy next year.

I bought

4 regular polo shirts
2 pairs grey shorts
1 sports uniform
4 pairs grey socks
1 library bag
1 hat

Got a hand-me down jumper from a neighbour and I will buy a new one next autumn -DS doesn't feel the cold so I doubt he will wear the 2nd hand one at all.

We are using his current pre-school bag until he needs a new one and then we'll get the school one,

So about $230 all up.

$14.50 for socks? And I thought ours were bad at $7 lol

DS has a uniform for Pre-Prep which carries through to Prep, so I don't have to buy him anything, thankfully. He has DD's old shirts and a tonne of hand-me-downs from older friends. Will have to buy a new uniform in Grade 1 though as our school is changing uniforms (and name).

We get our book packs via the P&F at the end of the term. Then its a matter of keeping them safe until school gets back

Well, I don't have to actually buy any uniforms for Sarah ... she has 3 dresses already hanging up that her big sister has just outgrown. Little bit of nuisance, as Sarah is almost as big as her sister Elizabeth, so I'm going to have to double up on jumpers, and probably will be in the same uniform size pretty quickly.

The only thing I really need to buy for Sarah at the moment in a couple of hats - I have 2 hats for each of the girls, so I can put one in their bag, and keep the spare in the glovebox of the car.

Books etc .. our school started doing bookpacks last year. $20 for all their books and stationary. It's all kept at the school, the books will come home early in the term to get covered.
Oh, and having 3 children at school, I only need to pay for the first 2 book packs

I remembered to go up to the OOSH place yesterday afternooon. They said morning places are available, but afternoons there is a waiting list - they *think* they will be increasing the number of places they have available.

Gulp. It is going to make it extremely difficult to work if I can't get afternoon places. Lucky I have very easygoing employers, not sure what their reaction would be if I said I will need to leave 1.45 (city) to get home by 3!

I was told a couple more weeks before they will be doing any offers. Crossing my fingers I get places. I live about 8 doors from the OOSH centre/school, hope that works in my favour.

Wow, it looks like our school uniform prices are on the more expensive side. I also see that I can get an art smock... is this necessary?

I think having an art smock will be compulsory, but you may be able to get a non-school one IYKWIM - depending on the school. How much are they?

Art smock - $18.50

I think you could probably go to Toys R us and get one for under $10, or Big W etc in back to school sales ... question is whether that is handy or if travel will cost you more!

My DS will also be starting Kindergarten (NSW) next year - a very, very excited mummy over here!
He has his first Orientation day tomorrow and I can't wait! Haven't started on the school uniform shopping yet, but will be checking out their clothing pool tomorrow for winter gear (as the jumpers, jackets are the most expensive on the uniform list).

My DD had her first orientation last Thursday (second one this Thursday) and loved it. She has an older sister in Year 3 so has been waiting to get to school. On the way there she asked if she would get homework and if she could stay for the whole day. Needless to say she had a great time and didnt even give me a backward glance when she went in.

I don't need to buy too much this year but our school uniform is changing so will need to buy new ones at the end of next year. Only need to buy sports uniform and hat.