Otumoetai Primary School principal Geoff Opie was not keen to see 4-year-olds in formal education.PHOTO/FILE
A move to allow 4-year-olds in primary schools has been met with mixed reactions from Bay principals and parents.
Some parents want options for their bright kids, while others want children to learn through play for as long as possible.
"We are not aware of any supporting research that says this is a good idea," said Peter Monteith, principal of Inspired Kindergartens, a network of 21 kindergartens across the Bay of Plenty and beyond.
"Younger children, aged up to 6 or 7, benefit from play-based learning, which is offered by our early childhood centres."
"Children develop socially and educationally at different ages. Maybe some children will benefit, but research suggests that's not generally going to be the case."
For Judea father-of-four Hemi Tipene, who also has two foster children, the option to let advanced children attend school early would have been good for his family.
His eldest daughter had been an above average learner, and would have coped well with an early transition.
"For our family, it would have been hugely beneficial to start her at four-and-a-half. "But it really it does have to be in the best interests of the child. I wouldn't like to see this being abused."
Otumoetai Primary School principal Geoff Opie was not keen to see 4-year-olds in formal education.
We've gotta let kids be kids.
"We've gotta let kids be kids. From my perspective four is too young. Sometimes five is too young. That's what we have preschools for."
For his school, cohort starts would simplify planning around staffing and resource allocation.
"Children coming in as a group together makes it easier for schools to manage."
At Brookfield School, cohorts would present extra challenges, principal Robert Hyndman said.
"Being a smaller school, having students start on their birthdays works well."
Other students could help individuals settle into the routines and show them where everything was. This would be harder with a big group of new students.
Sometimes students turned up for their first day of school with no warning, Mr Hyndman said.
"Because our enrolments are unpredictable I think planning for us would be problematic. Each term we would not really know how many children will be starting," Mr Hyndman said.
Your views: 4-year-olds in schools
We headed down to the Tauranga downtown waterfront to ask parents and caregivers for their thoughts on 4-year-olds attending primary school.
"This one here [grandchild] is 3 years old and she's so intelligent. I could see that she would be a good candidate for starting school a bit early."
"What if parents just want to get rid of their kids as soon as possible?"
- Rex Alderson, Bethlehem
"I'm not so keen on it. I home school our kids so that we can keep play going as long as possible. My son is 5-and-a-half and I don't think he's ready for school. I would prefer the age be pushed the other way, to start later."
- Christine Kirkby-Sing, Rotorua
"We're here visiting from Australia and that [starting at 4] is what happens there. I preferred for my child to go at 5 years, 8 months instead of 4 years, 8 months because I think it's important to have that play at home. It comes down to parental choice.