Use this page as a starting point, not a verdict. Year-level equivalence is genuinely useful for orientation — but as you'll see below, "same year level" never means "same content learned," and the gap between those two ideas is where children get mislabelled. Bookmark it, and read the caveats after the table.
The equivalence table
Ages are approximate and based on the typical age a child is for most of that school year. ACARA is the Australian Curriculum; Cambridge stages broadly track English National Curriculum year groups; IB spans PYP (primary), MYP (middle years) and DP (diploma); US grades follow Common Core.
| Age | ACARA (Australia) | Cambridge | IB programme | US (Common Core) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | ||||
| 5–6 | Foundation | Primary Stage 1 | PYP | Kindergarten |
| 6–7 | Year 1 | Primary Stage 2 | PYP | Grade 1 |
| 7–8 | Year 2 | Primary Stage 3 | PYP | Grade 2 |
| 8–9 | Year 3 | Primary Stage 4 | PYP | Grade 3 |
| 9–10 | Year 4 | Primary Stage 5 | PYP | Grade 4 |
| 10–11 | Year 5 | Primary Stage 6 | PYP (final year) | Grade 5 |
| Middle / Lower Secondary | ||||
| 11–12 | Year 6 | Lower Secondary Stage 7 | MYP 1 | Grade 6 |
| 12–13 | Year 7 | Lower Secondary Stage 8 | MYP 2 | Grade 7 |
| 13–14 | Year 8 | Lower Secondary Stage 9 | MYP 3 | Grade 8 |
| Secondary / Upper Secondary | ||||
| 14–15 | Year 9 | IGCSE (Year 10) | MYP 4 | Grade 9 |
| 15–16 | Year 10 | IGCSE (Year 11) | MYP 5 | Grade 10 |
| 16–17 | Year 11 | AS Level | DP 1 | Grade 11 |
| 17–18 | Year 12 | A Level | DP 2 | Grade 12 |
Onedai's free diagnostic currently covers the Year 5–6 band specifically — that's roughly ages 10–12, or Cambridge Primary Stage 6 to Lower Secondary Stage 7, IB PYP's final year into MYP 1, and US Grades 5–6. Other year levels are in development.
Caveat one: the calendar shifts everything by up to a year
This is the caveat that catches families out most. The Australian school year runs January to December. The UK and US run September to August. That difference, combined with different age-cutoff dates, means a child can be placed up to a full year apart depending only on their birthday and which direction they're moving.
A child finishing Year 5 in Australia in December who moves to a UK-style September-start school may land in Year 6 or repeat into a lower year, depending on their birth month and the receiving school's policy. The table tells you the nominal equivalent. Your child's birthday and the school's cutoff tell you the actual placement. Always confirm with the receiving school.
The table answers "what year level?" It does not answer "is my child ready for it?" Those are different questions, and only the second one matters for how your child actually does.
Caveat two: same year level ≠ same content
Even when two systems agree your child belongs in the equivalent year, they will not have taught the same things in the same order to get there. Each curriculum sequences topics across the years differently. So a child can be correctly placed in the equivalent year and still arrive having never met something the new class covered last term — while being ahead on something the new class won't reach until next year.
This is why an equivalence table, used alone, quietly misleads. It tells you where to seat the child. It tells you nothing about which specific topics transferred cleanly and which didn't. I've written about how that plays out — and how to tell a real gap from a timing mismatch — in "We moved countries and our child is behind."
Caveat three: IB and Cambridge aren't single ladders
Two quick structural notes, because they trip people up. IB is three separate programmes — PYP (ages ~3–12), MYP (ages ~11–16, numbered 1–5), and DP (ages ~16–19). A school may offer only one of them, so "an IB school" doesn't tell you which stage your child slots into without checking. Cambridge similarly runs Primary (stages 1–6), Lower Secondary (stages 7–9), then IGCSE and A Level — and not every Cambridge school runs every phase.
How to actually place your child
Three steps that beat reading equivalence off a table:
1. Confirm the nominal year with the receiving school. Use the table to expect a range, then let the school's cutoff and your child's birthday settle it.
2. Find out what content transferred. Not the year level — the actual strands and skills. This is the part schools rarely volunteer and the part that determines whether your child thrives or quietly struggles.
3. Diagnose before you tutor. If you're worried about gaps, get a curriculum-mapped diagnostic that tells you which specific sub-skills are missing. Then you can decide whether your child needs a short catch-up or nothing at all. (More on reading those reports: understanding your child's assessment results.)
Past the year level — what's actually missing?
Onedai's free diagnostic maps your child against their curriculum and tells you which specific gaps are real. 20 minutes. Full report. No payment, no commitment.
Start free assessment →A note on accuracy: these equivalents are typical, not official. Curricula revise their structures, schools apply their own placement policies, and age cutoffs vary by country and board. Treat this as orientation and always confirm specifics with the relevant school or curriculum authority.