We recently moved to a new part of Australia, and as the school year is starting next week after extended holidays, my daughter attended the local primary school yesterday to enroll her two boys, aged 7 and 10. The kids were to be starting in Year 3 and Year 5 respectively.
There were no dramas with the year 3 kid, he’s all good to go on Tuesday.
But the school is refusing to enroll the 10 year old saying he should be enrolling in Yr 7 at the local secondary school.
Now I know different states have slightly different arrangements vis a vis age and year levels, but I’ve spoken to local people, contacted other schools in the vicinity, shit, I even contacted the fucking Qld Education Dept* for clarification, and YES, KIDS NEED TO BE 12 YEARS OLD TO START SECONDARY SCHOOL NOT FUCKING 10.
I have no idea what the school is on about. Shit, poor kid doesn’t even turn 11 until the end of the year, and whilst he is bright as a button, he’s still a young 10. So come Tuesday, we have nowhere to send the kid to school unless some dumb cunts at the school come to their senses.
Fuck.
*I have made a formal report to the Ed Dept who will be investigating, god knows how long THAT is going to take.
OK, I know nothing about Australia’s education system (or next to nothing), but what was their rationale when you pointed out – um, my kid’s 10 and secondary school starts at 12? I’m just wondering what the logic is here on their part. This just strikes me as all sorts of bizarre. Like I can’t imagine moving to another state and them saying my 10-year-old fifth grader is supposed to enroll as a 7th grader. I feel like I’m missing something here.
There is no logic. Apparently the deputy principal just shrugged and said, “my hands are tied”. I feel like I’m in some sort of alternate universe, because NONE of it makes any sense whatsoever.
Hopefully the Ed Dept get onto it sooner rather than later so we can get Mister 10 into school at the start of the school year and not some random date down the track.
Best of luck to you. This just seems Twilight Zone level bizarre to me. “My hands are tied?” In what way? Just nutty. I’m a relatively chill guy but in a situation like this that makes no sense, I’d probably go apeshit. Hope it all works out.
Are you sure there was not a clerical error in your grandchilds paperwork? This sounds like a big failure to communicate.
I’m not saying you were at fault in anyway. Someone down the line may have him aged as 11 on a form. I’d go back. I’d stubbornly sit in that guys office til he had his boss there and a written explanation.
Then call the newspaper or local media.
You know, the law says they MUST enrol all school-age students who live in their zone, and that you must send your kids to school every day.
I mean, I’d be strongly tempted to turn up next week for first day back with both the sprogs, and just sit outside the office with grandchild-the-elder, explaining sweetly that you can’t go home because you’d be breaking the law, until they find a fifth-grade class to put him in
Got on the phone to the school myself, and after quite a bit of time listening to awful hold music, finally got to speak to someone.
Still no reason given why they were refusing to enroll him, but they admitted they’d made a grave mistake, were very, very sorry for the confusion they’d caused, and yes, Mister 10 will be in Grade 5 this year.
That was Plan B (or C because it’s next Tuesday) and in the meantime I was going to contact the local member’s office for an intervention as well. Warren Entsch, yay.
But YAY, the munchkins will be all dressed up in their new uniforms on Tuesday and proudly marching in to 2020 at their new school, barring some other fucknuckle screwing up again.
What I think happened, but of course nobody will admit anything:
When my daughter attended the school yesterday, the office staff initially assumed that Mister 10 was just there for decoration and would be enrolling at the local secondary college because he IS quite tall for his age. She laughed, told them his age, and presented all the official paperwork.
I suspect nobody actually LOOKED at the paperwork, including birth certificates, and assumed she was trying to get him shunted down a couple of grades because of developmental issues.
He doesn’t have any developmental issues, he’s a normal 10 yr old kid that loves Minecraft, fart jokes, and annoying his little brother, but the conversations between yesterday and today insisted that Mister 10 undergo cognitive and psych testing.
Soooo, I think some dick made some erroneous assumptions and wanted to follow through with them to save face. I’d love to see their face/s when the Education Department conducts an investigation.
