Gemma Angell is a qualified teacher with a science degree, a critical thinker who doesn’t take big parenting decisions, like school readiness, lightly. 

Her daughter Violet, a March baby, would normally have started school as a five-year-old. So she hadn’t considered sending Violet as a four-year-old until her husband said he thought she should go early. 

Unsure about her decision, Gemma took Violet to a kindergarten orientation session. It did not go well. 

“One teacher shut me down and said Violet was not ready, but the other teachers were great, patient and supportive,” Gemma says. “They said to give it time because the first day wasn’t an accurate reflection of how they would cope overall.” 

“By the sixth orientation she was loving it. She looked forward to it and wanted to go,” Gemma said. “She was coping and she was ready. The orientations sealed the deal.”

Halfway into the year, Violet is thriving and at the top of her class academically.
“I do sometimes second-guess our decision, but mainly due to other people’s opinions,” Gemma said. “When I look at Violet I don’t regret it for a second. 

“She reads, writes and does word puzzles every chance she gets. She loves going to school.”

… (ignore) the opinions of people who don’t know your child … kids develop differently

Gemma’s advice is to be guided by children as individuals rather than by the opinions of people who don’t know your child. 

“You’re never going to make the perfect decision, there’s always going to be two sides,” she said. “I don’t think a number really matters. Kids develop differently.”