Hawkesbury childcare: Region among NSW’s worst for placements in local centres

Families in Sydney’s outerwest are among the most affected in NSW by a childcare drought. Read the shock figures.

Families in Sydney’s outer western suburbs are being forced to fight for dwindling places in childcare centres across the Hawkesbury — as shocking statistics reveal a ‘daycare drought’.

Childcare providers have detailed nightmarish delays of up to two years to get kids into early learning facilities, as waitlists balloon into the hundreds at local centres.

Pictured at Lizzards Preschool and Long Day Care at Hawkesbury Heights in Sydney are 4 year olds Zahli Fitzgerald, Madeleine Doyle and owner of the day care centre Melissa Amirilayeghi. Picture: Richard Dobson

Lizzards Preschool and Long Daycare Director, Mellissa Amiri, said her centre had more than 130 children currently waiting for placement.

“We tell parents as soon as they’re pregnant to get on the list, we don’t usually have vacancies come up during the year,” Ms Amiri said. “Places really only open up when children move onto kindergarten.”

However, the impact of Covid-19 has placed additional pressure on the in-demand centre, as staffing shortages threaten the Hawkesbury Heights centre.

“We have always struggled to find an Early Childhood Teacher (ECT) and as the director, I had to go and do my ECT degree because we couldn’t find anyone.”

Pictured at Lizards Preschool and Long Day Care at Hawkesbury Heights in Sydney are 4 year olds Zahli Fitzgerald and Madeleine Doyle. Sydney is experiencing an ongoing lack of availability for childcare. Picture: Richard Dobson

Meanwhile, a carer at Collective Daycare in Richmond confirmed parents were facing lengthy delays of one to two years for placement at the centre.

“There is a huge shortage of childcare in the Hawkesbury, we’re full, we don’t have any vacancies and we get calls every second day for care,” she said.

“We rely on qualified educators that work from home and there are not many qualified educators and not many qualified services — the Hawkesbury has grown and the facilities haven’t grown with it.”

Julia Turner is the director of an early learning centre in Vineyard, who encourages parents to apply for placement “when they are pregnant”.

“Some parents need to go back to work but there is nothing we can do,” she said. “You call them back six months later and they still haven’t had any luck.”

Zahli Fitzgerald and Madeleine Doyle. Picture: Richard Dobson

New data from the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University suggests there is just one available place for every seven early learning-aged child across the region.

Statistics have outed the Hawkesbury as one of the most impacted regions across the state, with almost 94 per cent of the area considered a ‘childcare desert’.

Deputy Opposition Leader and shadow education spokeswoman Prue Car said access to childcare close to home is “crucial for working families”.

“Young families living in the Hawkesbury need local childcare places,” she said. “They cannot afford for the Government to drop the ball.”

However, Hawkesbury state Liberal MP Robyn Preston said the NSW Government was working with the industry to make it easier to provide local early learning services.

“There is more availability to accommodate childcare centres in residential areas, thanks to changes to legislation,” Ms Preston said.

“We need early learning to accessible for families in the Hawkesbury.

“However, there are young families moving into new and existing communities across the northwest, so demand for housing will also increase demand for childcare placement.”