Queensland’s best and worst suburbs for childcare revealed

Australia’s 16,552 child care services have been rated on quality and value. See list of best and worst in Queensland.

Three-year-olds Layke and Isabella with educator Shanelle Everest. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Demand for childcare services in Queensland boomed in the past six months, as families fled Covid lockdowns in southern states.

Parents relocating from Sydney or Melbourne to the sunshine state accounted for more than half of all inquiries for places at some early learning centres, according to an analysis by KindiCare, an app that compares the quality and cost of daycare centres.

Newer and high-growth suburbs to the outer north and south of Brisbane were the most sought after, along with the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.

“Housing affordability and remote working are definitely driving greater migration to lifestyle change locations in Queensland such as the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast,” KindiCare founder Benjamin Balk said.

“The postcode covering Pimpama, Upper Coomera, Coomera and Willow Vale had the highest childcare demand of any area in Queensland, two times the national average.

“For families, it’s going to be harder to get into childcare in Queensland at the moment compared to what it would have been a year ago.

“Longer waitlists are expected as childcare operators build new centres and try to catch up with the demand that‘s occurring.

Three-year-olds Layke and Isabella with educator Shanelle Everest. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland President Majella Fitzsimmons said smaller towns are reporting an increase in demand for childcare, which they have not “experienced to this degree” before.

“At the moment many parents are saying they are on waiting lists for childcare services due to capacity caps and this is because there is a workforce shortage in early childhood education,” she said.

“More families have moved to regional areas, largely for the safety from Covid because we haven’t seen it hit Queensland as much as metropolitan areas like Melbourne or Sydney.

“In Townsville, in particular, we’ve seen a very big shortage of housing because of the families moving from interstate so investment from the government to support the growth in regional areas is needed.”

Brisbane suburbs Bardon, Everton Park and Daisy Hill topped the list of best-performing childcare locations.

Thursday Island, Moranbah, Blackwater and Mareeba Miles were rated the worst.

Using Federal Government quality ratings combined with user rankings, KindiCare assessed Australia’s 16,552 child care services between May and November this year.

KindiCare’s rating system took into account the quality of care and value for money offered by the early learning services.

“You’ve got just as much chance of a poor performing centre being in the heart of the city as it being in a regional area,” Mr Balk said of the results, crunched for the first time.

Tasmania was the worst-performing state overall.

“What the top and bottom centres highlight overall is that it is important for every family to look in their local area to see how quality compares against the national benchmarks,” Mr Balk said.

“And also how centres in an area compare against each other when considering suitability and value for money.

“Whilst not black and white, regional areas do tend to perform worse than metro areas, particularly in Queensland, Victoria and NSW where participation in early learning is the highest.”

Across the country, family day care services continued to perform lower than all other early childhood education and care types.

Mr Balk said it came largely down to the service being under resourced compared to other parts of the sector.

“If you look at the average childcare centre, you can see centres have anywhere from 28 to 180 children in a centre and so they tend to be more structured,” he said.

“When it comes to family daycare, they tend to operate under a different structure where individual educators might have four children in their home that they’re looking after.

“So there’s not the same sort of structure and rigour as what you see in centre based care, which is why it tends to underperform.”

QLD BEST PERFORMING SUBURBS FOR CHILDCARE

1. Bardon

2. Mooloolaba

3. Daisy Hill

4. Everton Park

5. Oxley

6. Wynnum

7. Ferny Hills

8. Yamanto

9. Bulimba

10. Chermside West

11. Burleigh Waters

12. Hervey Bay

13. Urraween

14. Milton

15. St Lucia

16. Lawnton

17. Shailer Park

18. Worongary

19. Springfield Central

20. Heatley

QLD WORST PERFORMING SUBURBS FOR CHILDCARE

1. Thursday Island

2. Moranbah

3. Blackwater

4. Mareeba

5. Miles

6. Goondiwindi

7. Weipa

8. Cannonvale

9. Sarina

10. Beaconsfield

11. Salisbury

12. Kingaroy

13. Port Douglas

14. Ingham

15. Graceville

16. West Mackay

17. Yarrabilba

18. Mount Isa

19. Stanthorpe

20. Noosaville