Childcare centres in Waurn Ponds and Norlane are among nearly a dozen nationally to be placed under administration

Mounting debts have seen a childcare chain placed under administration, leaving parents in two Geelong suburbs wondering what’s next.

Hundreds of children could be left in limbo as childcare centres face administration.

Daycare centres across Geelong are in limbo as a major childcare chain confronts its multimillion-dollar debts, leaving hundreds of families in the lurch.

Finnish Early Childhood Education (Australia), which operated in Waurn Ponds as HEI Schools and in Norlane as ILO Early Learning, is reportedly facing debts of up to $17.5m.

The childcare centres have been taken under the operation of administrators WLP Restructuring which was appointed in February to assess the finances of the centres.

WLP Restructuring partner Alan Walker said, in a letter sent to parents at the Waurn Ponds centre last week, that administrators were undertaking “an urgent assessment” of the centre.

“The primary objective of this process is to stabilise and preserve the business of the centre to ensure that the educators can continue to provide care for your children,” the letter continued.

One parent said she took her two children out of the centre after receiving the letter.

“It’s just very uncertain what’s going to happen and what it even means for the centre going forward,” she said.

She said that there had been a “mass exit” of staff at the start of the year, which saw many children also leave for other centres.

The HEI Schools centre in Waurn Ponds

Mr Walker said the childcare centre would continue to operate as usual, with no expectation of changes to care services, resources, operating hours or staffing.

The HEI Schools centre in Waurn Ponds opened in 2022 with capacity for up to 120 children, while the ILO Norlane Centre opened in 2020 and was licensed for up to 122.

A former staff member at the Waurn Ponds centre, Alice Vecoli, said that she often felt the centre did not have enough staff for the number of children.

“We were so tired. Run off our feet doing a million jobs when you have 12 (children) and you only have two staff free.”

Ms Vecoli said the company “were very big on expanding”, and consistently talked about new opening new centres.

“Maybe they got too big for their boots,” she said.

Ms Vecoli also said she experienced issues getting her superannuation paid while working at the centre.

With the facility in administration she is concerned that money might not ever come through.

The ILO Norlane Early Education Centre.

Another centre previously owned by the same parent company in Lara underwent similar turmoil late last year when it was liquidated following a winding up application by the Australian Taxation Office.

It was bought by Vantage Education for $1.2m to operate as Kidscape Early Learning Centre.

The tax office made an application in May last year against the Waurn Ponds centre, but the matter was settled at the time.

The HEI Schools centres were modelled on a Finnish curriculum which the HEI website described as supporting children to be “active agents” in their own learning.

Parent company Finnish Early Childhood Education is majority owned by Hong Kong-based investors and had has 20 individual entities listed on the ASIC register.

The administration decision has affected nine centres across Victoria, including the two in Geelong, and two in NSW.

HEI Schools was approached for comment.

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Originally published as Childcare centres in Waurn Ponds and Norlane are among nearly a dozen nationally to be placed under administration