Hi everyone
My son is turning 4 early september and all his friends from the krippe are leaving to kindergarten I know the cutoff date for a child is April 1st that is before by or before that date he should be 4 ( am i correct?) but I also heard about exceptions but not in details. Has anyone got any experience with whether I can discuss with the geminde and if they would be flexible in that matter and accept my son in kindergartner? or it is not worth trying ?

Many thanks for any insights

Do you feel he's ready for kindergarten, or is it because his older pals are leaving him?

In my son's class there are a couple of very young boys but the youngest turned 5 in June and the differences between him and the boys who turned 5 earlier in the school year are quite stark. I know some kids are accepted early to kindergarten but it's few and far between.

The authorities would have to assess your son on maturity as well as ability. They have a whole load of years in education to come, there's no sense in rushing kids into the system if they aren't absolutely ready.

I agree with Sandgrounder, there are enormous differences between children at 4 and 5 years old. Don't forget that there are 2 years of kindergarten so your child (possible) at 4 years old will be in class with children who turned 6 years old during the summer, for their 2nd year of kindergarten.

If its a question just about his friends, I wouldn't even try to contact the authorities, they won't accept it. If its a question of maturity, you'd probably have to start with his pediatrician, and get him assessed with doctors' opinions. But it is already July, I'm not sure you would even have enough time to do this.

My eldest has his Birthday in mid-May.

He was accepted early. We specifically asked as we were moving from one Gemeinde to another and didn't want to put him in a new Krippe for a year.

We had to apply to the Gemeinde and he had to be tested by the school doctor for aptitude and maturity.

Additionally, they'll only grant this if there is actually room in the Kindergarten.

Once at Kindergarten, he was on six-weeks probation.

I have heard of children who have done this but then been moved back down as they weren't as ready as the parents thought. Then you have the problem of trying to get a Krippe place again.

thanks for the responses! in terms of maturity and independence I believe he is doing a good job yet what is the criteria can u give some examples if possible and I also think I am short in time yet I will try!



Thanks again

I wasn't at the doctors but they really just want to find out how mature he is and whether he is ready for Kindertgarten.

It's in his best interests that they do this without any pre-knowledge of the tests on his part.

I don't think giving you a breakdown of what they actually did so you can coach him (if that's what you are thinking) will help him in the long run.

The first step is to ask whether the whole thing's actually possible.

I would be inclined to say that if he's not 'mature' enough to let his 'friends' go off to kindergarten without him, then let him be a 4 year old for another year and put him into the right age-range for the swiss system - I've never heard of a kid being at a disadvantage for being the 'oldest' in the group - but I've certainly seen plenty of cases where being the youngest sets you up for being easily led, intimidated or discriminated against...

If you do put him in early, the pressure to 'perform' to the higher age-range will not be just at kindergarten, but every year... any time he under-performs it will be "oh, he's too young'...

I can understand tom1234's comment for a child where the cut-off is april but his child was born in May, however April - September is a quarter year... that's a big gap...and remember there will be kids who are out the top of the age range, so he will probably have kids up to 18 months older in his class, if he's in a 'single grade' and up to 2.5 years older if it's a two year class.

Isn't it interesting how different cantons have different cut off dates?

In Canton Vaud (as far as I know), your child has to have turned 4 by the 30th June, in order to start school that August.

If your child is born between 1st May and 31st August, you can apply for your child to be advanced or held back a year.

In effect the OP's child will still be 3 years old if he starts school in August!

I wouldnt waste your time, he is too young, exceptions are made with children who are born in May. And you would firstly need the '4year old' check-up from the pediatrician.
Why do you want your child to stsart Kindergarten at such a young age? The curriculum is not cut out for a 3year old. Do you think he could manage school every day, and once a week, in the afternoon too?

In Zurich, children who turn 4 in may, june or july might be accepted for attending in the same year. But: you must write a letter to the local school authorities and then they and maybe a pediatrician and the school psychologist will decide on wether your child will be accepted or not.

My own kids are at the other end of the age range: they both started kindergarten with 5 years (birthday in may and june), and being one the oldest child was the best that could happen to them. It might be tempting now to send your child to kindergarten early, but think of the years to come: if your child is one of the more mature ones in school class, it will be easier for him to follow the schedule and also the social skills are often better. Now that my elder daughter is at the end of class 1, it is obvious that some of the younger children struggle more in getting everything organised every day.

Wishing you all the best

Keep in mind that this cut off date is in the process of being harmonised by HARMOS initiative. It is being implemented in VD this year, but other cantons have other implemention dates. I assume ZH is not implementing it yet as they signed it a bit later, but it will eventually come.

Per HarmoS, all Cantons signing it will be harmonised to 31 July cut off date, and there will be no more open window, ie. the option to have them enroll slightly early or late. Sooner or later it will come to most of CH, as most cantons have signed up to this.

Stating the obvious, but your son would then always be the youngest and the question of maturity and what he can do is going to trail throughout his school years. He may be mature enough for kindergarten, but will he have the social maturity necessary to do well once he gets to grade school?
Just wanted to remind you that you're actually making a decision which will affect the rest of his school life.

even if you did move him up he's probably end doing 3 years in kindergarten. born in September - you've got no chance.

Hi, just a thought but in my gemeinde there is a process for making an application to enter kindergarten early and the cut off date for starting this process has long passed....I think you had to register interest in starting making such an application by mid April! I am refer to "my gemeinde" as I think that even gemeindes within the same Bezirk district operate different processes!

Maybe a good place to start would be to find out what the process is for your
gemeinde, whilst you decide what to do.

Maybe the process has a specific timeframe and you may have no decision to make.

Good luck.

this is the official information of Zurich.
As your son turn 4 in September, I don't think they'll accept him. Think of it - he will start Kindergarten at the age of 3 - and the oldest kids in his group will be 5 already! This is a huge gap in maturity

www.stadt-zuerich.ch/kiga-eintritt
Kinder, die bis zum 30. April eines Jahres das vierte Altersjahr vollenden, treten jeweils auf Anfang des nächsten Schuljahres in den Kindergarten ein. Ab 2014 verschiebt sich dieser Stichtag um jeweils einen halben Monat bis 2019 der Stichtag - gemäss HarmoS- am 31. Juli ist.
In der Stadt Zürich erhalten alle Eltern der Kinder mit Geburtsdatum vor dem Stichtag ein Anmeldeformular.

HarmoS
Das HarmoS-Konkordat wurde auf den 1. August 2009 in Kraft gesetzt. Die beigetretenen Kantone haben für die Umsetzung sechs Jahre Zeit.

Der Kanton Zürich muss den Stichtag für den Eintritt in den Kindergarten anpassen, vom 30. April auf den 31. Juli. Der Regierungsrat beabsichtigt, dies in mehreren Schritten zu tun (von 2014 bis 2019) jeweils um einen halben Monat. Damit kann verhindert werden, dass ein Schülerjahrgang zu gross wird. Dies gäbe Probleme bei der Schulorganisation und würde elf Jahre später die betroffenen Jugendlichen bei der Lehrstellensuche benachteiligen.
Am 25. August 2010 hat der Regierungsrat die Massnahmen zu 'San 10' festgesetzt. Der Beginn der Umsetzung des Schuleintrittalters gemäss Harmos wird neu auf das Jahr 2014 verschoben.

Vorzeitiger Eintritt
Für einen vorzeitigen Eintritt (Kinder, die vom 1. Mai bis 31. Juli das vierte Lebensjahr vollendet haben) wird kein Formular ausgestellt. Für diese Kinder erfolgt der Eintritt nur auf schriftliche Anmeldung der Eltern bei der zuständigen Kreisschulpflege.

As others have said I wouldn't even try to get him in this year. He's 5 months younger than the cut off date, almost half a year. Although he may be sad his friends have moved on and he's still in the krippe he will make new friends and if he has particularly close friendships you can always organise playdates with them. Also just because he was friends with someone in krippe it does not mean these friendships would last into kindergarten or even that they will be in the same kindergarten class.

I've had so many children in classes who should have waited another year in nursery/ kindergarten etc but the parents pushed for them to be in school. They are not ready and as a result end up struggling, remember it's about emotional readiness as well as academic. I suspect even if you did manage to get him in this year he would have to do an extra year in kindergarten as I doubt he would be ready for school along with the rest of his class.

As someone who skipped a grade, I wanted to add in some thoughts. When I first began grade school, they tried to skip me two years. My parents thought that was too much and they chose to skip me a year - thinking this would be just fine.

Emotionally, it was tough. I have always looked really young and it was even harder being up a year. I seriously looked about twelve when I graduated and I was always embarrassed when people thought I was in grade 8 instead of 12. Socially, I was shy and I was always hanging out with kids who were older. Of course, all the stuff like drinking and dating is something you get exposed to at a younger age if you're moved ahead in school.

It's not to say all kids will have my experience. But it's just one perspective to keep in mind. Me personally, I wouldn't skip my kids a year ahead if it was an option.

by the way, I'm one of those "early enrolled" kids myself, too... and looking back, I'm not sure if that was the right decision made by my parents... I was one year younger than my classmates.

Move to Ticino, the school cutoff date is December 31, though you actually start attending kindergarden the day you turn 3.

Tom

Certainly by now the schools have all made their classes to start in August.

Our son was born end of June and the cut off in Zug is end of March. We applied mid-February and they got back with the "yes he can start" decision mid-May after visits to his kindergarten and a test. Now I think it would be too late for an August start.