Port Phillip childcare: Dodgy Elwood, Elsternwick centres exposed in State Government review

An Elwood after school program fined $15,000 for lax supervision is among the centres named and shamed for shocking safety failures. See if your local centre made the list.

Several childcare centres in Glen Eira and Port Phillip have failed to meet safety standards. Photo: iStock

Shocking safety failures have been exposed at childcare centres in Port Phillip and Glen Eira.

More than 230 childcare providers across the state were closed or slapped with serious safety notices by authorities from 2018 to 2020, including more than 110 family day care centres found to have an “unacceptable risk to the safety, health and wellbeing of children”.

It comes after every childcare centre in the state was given a rating by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, with several centres in the area exceeding the national quality standards.

Eight centres across Port Phillip and Glen Eira are among those to be named and shamed, including Camp Australia’s Elwood Primary service, which fronted court over claims of inadequate supervision of children and failure to ensure children were properly protected from harm.

Camp Australia was fined $15,000 for letting children leave its Elwood venue without authorisation.

Another Elwood provider, Shinetime Early Learning Centre, recorded 10 safety breaches, including for failing to keep furniture and equipment safe, clean and in good repair, failing to keep proper records of child attendance and operating without a nominated supervisor.

The Foam St centre was issued a compliance notice in April last year after it complied with orders to bring itself up to standard.

Team Holiday, which runs out of Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre, was slapped with an emergency action notice after authorities deemed the service posed “an immediate risk to the safety, health and wellbeing of children”.

Meanwhile, TeamKids, at Port Melbourne Primary, came under fire for inadequate supervision and failing to protect children from harm and hazards, with Elsternwick’s Tree House Early Learning Centre and Lamdeni School also facing tough scrutiny over similar claims.

Early Childhood Minister Ingrid Stitt said the vast majority of the state’s 4500 early childhood services did a fantastic job.

“But we want parents to rest assured action is taken if providers do the wrong thing,” she said.