Inspire Early Learning Warriewood: Childcare centre closes leaving 90 families out in the lurch

A dispute over rent has led to a popular northern beaches’ childcare centre closing — throwing the lives of 90 working families into chaos.

Bayview mother Elizabeth Lough, with her son Leo. Ms Lough has had to find, along with other families, alternative long day care for Leo after the Inspire Early Learning centre at Warriewood abruptly closed its doors indefinitely. Picture: Supplied

The lives of about 90 northern beaches working families have been thrown into chaos after a popular kindy abruptly closed.

Parents have been scrambling to find alternate long day care options after the Inspire Early Learning centre at Warriewood ceased operating due to what it said was a Covid-related rent dispute.

Its owners say they were trying to negotiate a payment for overdue rent, but were “locked out” by the building’s owners at the end of January.

Now desperate mums and dads are trying to seek confirmation from the business’ owner if they will receive refunds for fees — averaging about $125 a day — they paid in advance.

And staff at the centre, in a business park on Jubilee Ave, are trying to chase up pay, and other entitlements, allegedly owed to them.

The Inspire Early Learning centre at Warriewood abruptly closed its doors indefinitely last month. Picture: Supplied

On Monday, it was confirmed the centre would be shut for good.

But in an email to client families, dated January 30 under the name of Inspire’s founder Sophie May, parents were advised that the centre would be “closing the rest of this week”.

The email stated that “we are working through” a “recent dispute with our landlord” which “stemmed from the pandemic rent relief/waiver/deferral”.

“The matter is complex and requires extensive legal advice, thus we are fumbling our way through with the agent,” the email stated.

“We have no intention of shying away from our responsibilities — with the landlord, nor with our staff or families.

“As you can appreciate, surviving the pandemic is only the first phase, now it’s the clean up; dealing with staff shortages and keeping the business viable.”

Bayview mother Elizabeth Lough, with her son Leo. Ms Lough is chasing up information, and a refund, after the Inspire Early Learning centre at Warriewood abruptly closed its doors. Picture: Supplied

In response to questions from the Manly Daily on Monday, Ms May confirmed that the dispute centred around payment of overdue rent and that the business had received a rent arrears notice in early December.

Ms May wrote in her response that the business had been negotiating a payment plan.

“Thus the instalment paid,” Ms May wrote.

“A notice was sent to me on Wednesday 25th Jan for proof of payment. I was in a meeting and phone out of battery. Did not reply until after 5pm.”

Ms May wrote the business has been “locked out” on Friday, January 27.

“We paid any instalment to the landlord’s agent on Wednesday 25th January, only for staff and families to find the situation on Friday morning,” she wrote.

“Majority of families cancelled their children’s enrolment last week. We informed the rest of the families of the permanent closure today.

The Inspire Early Learning centre at Warriewood closed its doors in late January 2023. Picture: Supplied

“A very sad decision.”

But parent Elizabeth Lough, of Bayview, whose son Leo, 4, has been enrolled at Inspire for four years, said she and other families had not received any updates from Ms May.

“We basically got an email on Monday afternoon that there was a rental dispute with the landlord,” Ms Lough said.

“They said they’d been locked out, couldn’t access it.

“I work four days a week, I need childcare so I started looking for alternatives and the staff, a lot of them casuals, have had to look for other work.

“It’s hard to know what’s actually going on. This (rent issue) must have been going on for a while for the landlord to close the doors.”

Ms Lough, who has managed to find a space at another centre for Leo, said it appeared the centre was operating at near capacity and the staff had been “great”.

The United Workers Union (UWU), representing the childcare centre staff, said educators at Inspire Early Learning Warriewood had been locked out of the centre without pay.

UWU’s executive director (Early Education), Helen Gibbons, said the centre closed its doors without warning “leaving parents scrambling to make arrangements for young children and workers owed thousands in unpaid entitlements”.

“This is a sector where wait times for places are only growing, especially in areas like Warriewood. Educators deserve for their questions to be answered,” Ms Gibbons said.