Queensland’s childcare centres ranked worst to best
A staggering number of childcare centres have been slapped with a low rating following an independent audit of facilities in Queensland. See how your centre rates. FULL LIST
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The majority of Queensland childcare centres and kindergartens are meeting or exceeding government standards, but at least 280 across the state could be doing better to care for our children.
The National Quality Framework, determined by the The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, assessed each centre and program’s performance across 7 key quality areas.
These criteria included educational program and practice, children’s health and safety, physical environment, staffing arrangements, relationships with children, collaborative partnerships with families and communities, and governance and leadership - which together made up a centre’s National Quality Standard (NQS) level.
An app which launched in 2020 has released its latest Queensland rankings to reveal the state’s best and worst kindergartens, with all 3126 centres ranked.
KindiCare has drawn from the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority ratings, as well as reviews from Google and the KindiCare platform.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE ALL CENTRES RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
“My wife and I went through the childcare journey ourselves and something we found talking with other families was that no one really understood the government ratings and trying to compare them against reviews,” KindiCare founder Benjamin Balk has previously said.
“The KindiCare rating provides a much finer scale and takes into account both community feedback as well as government feedback and other attributes as well.”
In total, 280 centres were graded as failing to meet government standards - ‘working towards NQS’.
Of the more than 3000 Queensland childcare centres graded, there were 1,942 centres meeting NQS level.
Another 751 childcare centres in Queensland were exceeding NQS level.
Only two childcare centres in the state had ratings which exceeded 9.8 out of 10.
In first place was Brisbane centre Everton Park Child Care and Development Centre, with a KindiCare score of 9.9. It was also listed as exceeding NQS expectations.
Everton Park Child Care and Development Centre is a privately owned and operated centre with a qualified Early Childhood Teacher as Licensee.
For more than 24 years Con Clifford has worked with his management team on a shared journey to provide the best outcomes for children and families.
“Our team of dedicated Early Childhood professionals have committed themselves to continually reflect on our practices and make changes to reflect discoveries in brain development science and current research on Early Childhood Development,” Mr Clifford said.
“Through this research, collaboration and hard work we have built an amazing natural environment where each child is nurtured as the unique individual they are while they explore, discover and create learning experiences in their own time frame.
“Everton Park Child Care and Development Centre is very proud to have held the highest official rating from ACECQA (Excellent) for 3 consecutive rating periods and are excited to continue on our journey to provide the best possible start to the education journey of all children who are enrolled within our service.”
In second place was Ashgrove Memorial Kindy, also with a KindiCare rating of 9.9.
The director Lisa Cranny said she was proud to be recognised.
“We have a strong and dedicated team of teachers and educators whose primary focus is providing a rich environment where our children, families and wider community feel very welcome,” Ms Cranny said.
“Many families comment that as soon as they walk in the gates of our Kindy, they feel the sense of calm and belonging. Our teachers and educators are very qualified and experienced and love forming that special bond with all children to help them thrive.
Another childcare centre in the top 10 was Little Scholars at Deception Bay, with a KindiCare rating of 9.8, it was the third highest ranked in the state.
Jae Fraser, Founder and Managing Director of Little Scholars Deception Bay, said he was thrilled to have been recognised.
“The team at Little Scholars Deception Bay went above and beyond what is expected at the ‘Meeting NQS’ level, so to be recognised as ‘Exceeding’ is exciting and something we’re really proud of,” he said.
Goodstart Early Learning North Lakes, with a KindiCare rating of 9.8 also placed in the top 10.
“We are very grateful to be apart of such a wonderful cohort of centres, we at Goodstart North Lakes College Street always strive to be the best we can be to ensure we can support our families children and community now and for many years to come,” a spokesman said.
“We take pride in nurturing and cultivating the next generation of young Australians.”
A spokesman for Straverton Kindergarten at Chelmer, with a rating of 9.8, said they were also delighted to make the top 10 in the state.
“We value children as unique, capable and competent individuals and celebrate learning as a collaborative process between children, educators, families and the community,” they said.
‘Failing’ centres were those not yet meeting NQS levels. A majority of the lower ranked centres were in remote areas, with limited funding and resources.
One of the childcare centres in the bottom 10, with a KindiCare rating of 6.5, was Lady Gowrie Blackall Early Years Service.
A spokesman for the childcare centre said it had not been rated since 2017.
“At that time we were rated as ‘Meeting NQS’ for 3 out of the 7 rating at this service,” they said.
“Lady Gowrie Qld welcome a reassessment for this service to reflect our work done since 2017, when we had just opened.
“We now operate a strong program for 21 children, playgrounds and have a community engagement officer based at the centre. We acknowledge our committed staff team working with children and families every day in this community.
“We believe looking beyond the overall rating provides a much better idea of a service’s performance.”
KindiCare founder Mr Balk said the centres which fell to the bottom of the list often provided a crucial service to a regional area with less funding and resources than metropolitan centres.
“They tend to be more independent and you’re unlikely in regional areas to find some of those larger, expensive chains of childcare providers,” he said.
“In regional areas, sometimes it’s the access they have to resources and quality of staff (affecting their ratings).
“Early learning services are incredibly important for those communities.”
Mr Balk said affordability and accessibility in remote areas were crucial because children were at a disadvantage if they couldn’t access childcare in the first few years of their life.
The top 10 and bottom 10 childcare centres in Queensland were all contacted for comment.
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