He will be among 60 students in Eglinton Public School’s kindergarten class of 2015 – and, surprisingly, he says he is looking forward to starting.

“I always cry because I think Mum’s gone,” Darius said about starting school.

“[But] I’m looking forward to finding new friends to play with in class.”

Older brother Malachi, 6, said he is looking forward to Darius joining him at the school.

“We’ll get to play with each other,” Malachi said.

Darius’ mother Mandy Debenham admitted she will probably shed a tear or two when the youngest of her four children finally starts school.

Mr and Mrs Debenham’s older children, daughters Hailee, 18, and Paige, 16, both enjoyed their time as students of Eglinton Public.

“Our older girls were there and they loved it. It’s a small community, so it’s better than the bigger schools,” Mrs Debenham said.

“I’m excited about him going; it’ll be great when he starts to learn to read.”

Darius knows maths is part of the curriculum, and already knows the beginnings of some words.

“I’m good at writing the starts [first letters] of words,” he said.

On Friday, Darius will be among the students undertaking the Best Start Kindergarten Assessment – a NSW Department of Education requirement to identify each child’s literacy and numeracy knowledge. 

He will then have his first full day of school on Monday.

Figures from the Department of Education show that Eglinton Public (489 students) had the largest enrollment of Bathurst district public primary schools in February 2014, followed closely by Bathurst Public (486).

Bathurst West Public School was the next biggest with 389 students, followed by Kelso Public (273), Raglan Public (226) and Bathurst South Public (222).

Bathurst region’s smallest schools, in February 2014, were Sofala Public (16 students), Black Springs Public (13), Burraga Public (10) and Rockley Public (9).