What age do they go to kindy?
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Forum Name: Kindy and Beyond
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Topic: What age do they go to kindy?
Posted By: Brenna
Subject: What age do they go to kindy?
Date Posted: 16 October 2007 at 5:41pm
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Toni's thread about enrolling Caitlin has made me realise I have no idea how kindy works!
What age do children go and how many days do they go for? What's the diff between kindy and daycare?? Thanks!  -------------  My beautiful 2 girls...nearly 4 and 13 months
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Replies:
Posted By: Millie1976
Date Posted: 16 October 2007 at 6:51pm
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Hey Anna,
Funny you mention kindy. I went and had a look at our local kindergarten last week. They start taking children from 3 years of age and they have 3 afternoon sessions per week running from 1:00 - 3:30 pm. Apparently they have two classes - one in the mornings for the slightly older kids and the younger children in the afternoon. I was given an enrolment pack and was told that I could already start filling in forms etc and send back. ------------- Sebastien 2 years old Olivier 3 3/4 years old |
Posted By: my2angels
Date Posted: 17 October 2007 at 8:25am
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Kindys have different starting ages, normally from around 3yrs and they go to afternoon kindy at that age, 3 afternoons a week. When they turn 4 they go to morning kindy which is every morning normally till 11.30 except the days there is no afternoon kindy and they can stay an hour later.
Kindy is much cheaper than preschool but i dont think the teachers are necessarily qualified, there is more parent involvement, its limited hours and generally free play rather than structure like preschool. |
Posted By: AlyAyde
Date Posted: 17 October 2007 at 8:30am
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Well our 2 year old just started kindy last week (she will be 3 at the end of december) They usually start from 3 but they had places and because Jayde always comes with me when im on parent help with lissy they asked if she would like to start. Cant beleive my baby is going to kindy already.
our afternoonies go for 3 days a week 12.45 till 3.15 mon, tue, thurs Kindy vs daycare.... kindy is about 30 kids all the same age and everything their is aimed at their agegroup.... Daycare mixed range of kids usally 0-5 usually have a higer ratio of carers to children. ------------- Jayde 25/12/04 Alyssa 08/04/03 http://Alyayde.bebo.com |
Posted By: AlyAyde
Date Posted: 17 October 2007 at 8:31am
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ps the teachers have to be qualified at kindy!! ------------- Jayde 25/12/04 Alyssa 08/04/03 http://Alyayde.bebo.com |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 17 October 2007 at 8:33am
the teachers do have to be qualified! You cant work in early childhood now without having qualifications. The do encourage parent involvement but it isnt necessary. The afternoon sessions are more free play based but when they go to the morning sessions it is more structured and leaning towards getting the kids ready for school. I dont believe it is a kindys job to "teach" our children but more to encourage them to learn through play and also modelling and encouraging good interactions and behaviours. It is best to enrol them in kindy about 2 yrs old and every kindy is different as to when they can take them depending on location (some country kindys i know of take kids as young as 2) and how many are already attending and how many on their roll. One of the kindys in my area is so popular they generally cant take the kids till they are almost 4! |
my2angels wrote:Posted By: my2angels
Date Posted: 17 October 2007 at 8:35am
But isnt the ratio of qualified teachers to children different? I know for example at my neices kindy the other day there was a notice on the board that they were having school visits the next day and needed 2 parents to stay at kindy with one of the teachers. And I know that at daycare they have relievers that arent qualified. |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 17 October 2007 at 9:02am
i dont think they are supposed to do that. If i knew my kids were being looked after at kindy by parents i would be talking to the kindergarten association. I know that a few years back the rules for kindy etc workers changed and that you had to be qualified. I'm pretty sure the only time parents are asked to help out at kindy is if they are going on trips and request parent helpers. |
Posted By: Glow
Date Posted: 17 October 2007 at 9:15am
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Kindy is like a preschool- where as daycare, you take you child if you need time out or go to work
Depending on where you live & population numbers you can start kindy as early as 2. Kindy is for 2-3hrs 3 days a week, roughly & daycare could be anything from 1hr to all day, everyday, depending. Prices are relatively similar as well- depending on the establishment, funding & town etc. When i worked i choose homebased daycare for Brae & really felt comfortable with 1 carer & the small child adult ratios. We have also used kindy- but prefer smaller number for learning quality. And 3 teachers for 30 odd kids? I guess it would depend how you what to use it, to what choice you want to make & where to send your child etc etc etc. Hope that may help Anna  ------------- Mummy of Two Boys B: 2004 K: 2007 |
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 17 October 2007 at 9:29am
| most places have fully qualified staff - or astaff that are on their way. by 2008 I thihnk it is, all staff in all schools, primary, secondary and early childhood must be fully qualified - before this you could get a LAT (limited ability to teach) which meant if you had certain qualificaions but NOT a teaching diploma you could still be in a school. my japanese teacher had a LAT. |
Posted By: Paws
Date Posted: 17 October 2007 at 1:07pm
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I'm presuming though if the day care has a learning environment then that would be the same or similar as whan they would get at Kindy? ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 17 October 2007 at 6:21pm
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Daycare - small ratios - usally 1 teacher to 6 children or smaller (our saycare has a ratio of 1 - 3 with babies and 1 - 4 with toddlers and 1 - 6 with the preschool), longer hours 7.30 - 5.30pm, have to have a licence to run the daycare, usually privately run, usually hourly fee. Centres usually have an "under 2's" and "over 2's" area - Andrew's one has a nursery (birth - 2 1/2) and a preschool (2 - 5) and he moved from the nursery at 2 and 10 months. Set times for meals. Meals are usually provided. Not all do this but have an extention programme for 4 years old. Kindy - larger ratios - usally 1 teacher to 15 children (45 children at each session), shorter sessional sessions, come under a kindergarten association in the area, usually sessional fee, like to have parent help at each session - usually done as a roster, a lot more parental imput with the "PTA" so you are more likely to be asked to be on the commitee. Sessions are done on age. Children can usually snack when they want. You usually have to provide food for your child All teachers have to have an early childhood education qualification to teach in either a kindy or daycare. By 2008 a teacher has to have a Bachelors degree to get the new pay rate, if they have a Diploma then they can do further training to be up to the bachelors degree level to be on the same pay scale. The experience of a teacher no longer means anything. Both can (if the centre has taken it up) have the 20 hours free early childhood education. I'm in the process of studying early/primary education so am learning a lot about all of this, and a lot of the study I did with my early childhood certificate was comparing daycare, play centre, kindy etc. If you want I can try and hunt it out and send it to you. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 17 October 2007 at 10:02pm
It pays to check with your kindy tho...there are few in our area and they all had diff ages they were starting and different practices re snacks etc. the one gabriel attends doesnt have a roster of parent helpers at all and the snack is fruit which the parents provide and it is always put out at the same time and available for a while and water is available all day. However a diff kindy i visited the snack was provided by the parents and could be anything so long as it was "healthy" and the kids had to sit around in a big circle and eat at the same time. so visiting and seeing how they operate will give you a better idea. Oh and i was told too that the AKA (auckland kindergarten association) is now taking a more active role in management so committee meetings are a thing of the past, instead "whanau" meetings are encouraged for parents input. |
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 18 October 2007 at 9:58am
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Does Kindy still operate terms similar to the primary school ones, with breaks for holidays? ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">   [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: my2angels
Date Posted: 18 October 2007 at 10:24am
| yes Kindy is closed during school holidays, one of the other differences between that and preschool, they stay open during holidays but do close for a couple of weeks over christmas. |
Posted By: susieq
Date Posted: 18 October 2007 at 2:07pm
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Plus in some areas there are also Private Kindys that take children as long as they are toilet trained and are agian more expensive than public kindys,
Private Kindys also are more structured out here where I live the kids dont get into the public kindys until closer to 4 but there are two kindys where they are getting in at 3 and a bit |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 18 October 2007 at 3:42pm
| theres an article in the latest tots to teens about what to expect from you kindy... |