Edge Early Learning’s 24 SA centres under scrutiny by the Education Standards Board
A well-known childcare operator must boost staff numbers and conduct fortnightly inspections across its 24 South Australian centres.
A childcare operator which runs 24 centres across South Australia has been put under strict conditions for the next year, following a series of concerning reports.
Edge Early Learning SA must have managers do fortnightly visits to its centres, increase its ratio of staff to young children and review supervision procedures, including conducting headcounts of children.
It follows an incident which was “self-reported” by staff at the company’s Plympton centre involving a child left in a classroom while children moved to another area.
No further detail was given about the incident.
That centre must now conduct headcounts every 15 minutes and have extra staff in some rooms.
A spokeswoman for Edge Early Learning said a parent of the “child involved was notified at the time”.
She said there was “no risk to the children” and “no requirement for wider parent communication”.
The Plympton centre was issued an emergency action notice by the sector watchdog, the Education Standards Board (ESB), on August 22.
As well as conducting headcounts and rostering extra staff, the centre was required to “clear all emergency exit routes of debris, discarded resources and carpet”.
ESB chief executive Benn Gramola said “proactive monitoring” also identified “a number of compliance issues” across Edge Early Learning’s 24 SA centres.
This led to the company agreeing on August 28 to a 12-month enforceable undertaking to make improvements, including bringing in an external consultant and organisational psychologist.
Edge Early Learning’s spokeswoman said the company was working closely with the ESB “to ensure the highest standards of safety and care in all of our centres”.
“Our priority is to provide families with confidence in the care and education their children receive, and we welcome all measures that strengthen the safeguarding of children in the sector,” she said.
So far this financial year the ESB has issued varoious centres across SA with at least 31 compliance or emergency action notices, or imposed other conditions.
On Tuesday The Advertiser revealed that a northern suburbs childcare centre was forced to close temporarily and undergo a deep clean after the ESB discovered a raft of alarming hygiene and safety issues.
Little Shining Stars early learning centre at Virginia was closed on Friday and reopened on Wednesday, after a follow-up inspection.
Staff had been told to stop filling baby bottles with water from handwash basins, to replace cots and mattresses that do not meet safety standards and to remove or enclose vermin control bait boxes “to ensure they are not accessible to children”.
The state government recently announced an extra $21.8m for the ESB to conduct more checks on centres over the next five years.
