KindiCare Quality Index reveals Victorian childcare centre ratings in Australia

Is your childcare centre worth the money you pay? In Victoria there are 234 centres rated as ‘fair’. See where your local one rates and compares.

Exclusive: More than 1000 Australian childcare centres are underperforming, according to comprehensive ratings based on official inspections, as well as parent reviews.

The 2022 KindiCare Quality Index rated 1072 childcare operations ‘fair’, which is the bottom category.

They accounted for 6.3 per cent of Australia’s centres.

In Victoria there are 234 centres rated as ‘fair’. Bottom of the list is Montessori Beginnings Officer with a score of 6.5.

There are 122 childcare centres rated ‘outstanding’; 492 ‘excellent’; 1567 ‘very good’ and 1551 ‘good’.

There is only one centre in the country with a perfect score of 10 – Essex Heights Juniors in Mount Waverley in Victoria, which has been crowned the best childcare centre in Australia by KindiCare.

The KindiCare app and childcare comparison website, which released the index, has worked out a unique score for every early learning service based on their current and historical assessment and ratings under the National Quality Framework from the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), parent and community feedback and reviews, the stability and length of operation of the service as well as other characteristics known about a service.

Kinder kids Shiu 4 and Larissa 4 relax in a meditation and yoga room at Essex Heights Juniors. Picture: David Caird

KindiCare founder and CEO Benjamin Balk said those who rated ‘fair’ are mainly centres that are still ‘working towards’ meeting national standards. Others have not been inspected for many years which meant they lost marks.

He noted that some of the top performing centres have introduced risky play in their activities, such as allowing children to climb trees.

Others are ripping up astro turf and laying grass, so kids can play and get dirty, which parents liked.

Mr Balk said in a sector suffering a critical shortage of qualified educators, the country’s number one centre, Essex Heights Juniors boasted 11 Bachelor or Masters qualified teachers.

The centre has a wellbeing officer dedicated to looking after staff.

Centre owner and director for 25 years, Paula Papanicolaou, attributes her success to looking after her staff.

“We have two wellbeing officers,” Ms Papanicolaou said. “One is responsible for the wellbeing of staff and the other for the children.

“Our educational leader is full time off the floor, providing support to staff in all rooms and having private one-to-one sessions to explore their learning goals.”

Mr Balk said Essex Heights Juniors’ approach provides a shining example of how to overcome workforce issues as shortcomings in the early learning sector were laid bare at last week’s Jobs Summit.

“Look after your educators and education looks after itself,” Mr Balk said.

He said more than 2000 early learning services nationally achieved a KindiCare rating of nine or above.

About 10 per cent of services nationally were recognised with an excellent

rating with the top two per cent receiving the newly introduced ‘outstanding’ rating for achieving a KindiCare Rating of 9.5 or above.

News Corp has asked Montessori Beginnings Officer for comment.