How safe is your child? See how your childcare centre compares on safety here

Hundreds of Victorian childcare centres and kinders are failing safety standards. Is your child’s centre one of them? Check here.

Kayla Mossuto, Piers Mossuto and their son Ned, 5. Picture: Tony Gough

More than 500 childcare centres and kinders statewide aren’t meeting federal standards of care.

Child safety, staffing, supervision and management of emergencies are among problem areas for the centres.

It comes a decade after a new ratings system was brought in to ensure centres are up to scratch.

The Saturday Herald Sun can reveal more than one in 10 of Victoria’s 4300 childcare centres, preschools and outside school hours centres is struggling to care for kids properly.

More than 80 centres were “working towards” standards on at least five of seven key quality indicators — including the all-important criteria of ensuring the health and safety of children.

There were 13 centres failing on all seven indicators, 30 which were failing on six out of seven and 36 on five out of seven.

One 60-place childcare service — Cranbourne Christian Fellowship Centre at Turning Point Church — was rated as “significant improvement required”.

The centre, which did not return repeated calls, was deemed to pose a “significant risk to the safety, health and wellbeing of children”.

Some centres have failed standards for more than a decade but are still caring for hundreds of children – and charging parents up to $120 a day.

The “working towards” rating applies to 47 per cent of Victorian family day care centres, 20 per cent of outside school hours care centres, 15 per cent of long day care centres and 5 per cent of kinders.

They include services in country areas such as Ballarat, Bairnsdale, Bacchus Marsh and Mildura.

Such services are also located in outer suburbs including Croydon, Cranbourne, Dandenong, Caroline Springs, Mill Park and areas closer to the city such as Surrey Hills, Kew East, Brunswick and Malvern East.

A number of centre operators expressed frustration the ratings were done some years ago however, telling the Saturday Herald Sun they’d worked hard to make improvements.

The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority — the federal rating agency — reported childcare breaches of standards continued to rise in relation to protection from harm, emergency evacuation procedures and the upkeep of centres.

Of those rated “working towards” nationally, 12 per cent had six or seven problem areas, and 47 per cent had three to five problem areas.

Hundreds of childcare centres are not meeting federal standards but others are exceeding the benchmark. Picture: Tony Gough

Nationwide almost half of all approved children’s services reported at least one serious incident in 2019/20 – the latest statistics available.

Incidents involving injury, trauma or illness account for 80 per cent of serious incidents.

One in three Australian childcare providers had at least one serious breach, with nearly half of all family day care centres having one or more breach

According to the latest federal data, more than 1000 Victorian centres also had conditions placed on their operations.

These reflected concerns about their management of bushfire risks, training of staff, soil contamination, access to outdoor space, supervision of children when toileting and the placement of playground equipment.

Other centres had stipulations about the chaining of dogs, access to pools onsite and notifications about other adults living on site.

The biggest group of services not meeting standards were private for profit (23 per cent), followed by state schools (23 per cent), Catholic schools (18 per cent) and independent Schools (17 per cent).

Research led by University of Queensland Professor Karen Thorpe shows the “working towards” services were affected by lower morale of staff, greater turnover, and lower staff enthusiasm.

“Directors in these services described tensions between the demands of making profit, pleasing parents and supporting educators as taking a great toll on their wellbeing,” she said.

Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority chief executive officer Gabrielle Sinclair said centres were required to have high standards before they could open their doors.

“When services are ‘working towards’ it means they are still providing a safe environment and program,” she said.

Stephanie Murray, Dyllan Murray and their kids Jaxon, 3, and Kaidyn, 1, and Alexis, 2 weeks, use childcare services. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

She said all services should make ratings information available to parents.

Community Childcare chief executive officer Julie Prince said high quality childcare benefited all children.

“It’s always worth families asking about the rating of their services,” she said.

Suzie Ismail from Laugh & Learn Family Day Care said the rating was done many years ago. “We have continued to work hard to ensure we meet the standards and believe it’s an ongoing process,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Gabow Family Day Care said the rating was done four years ago under previous management and they had done much to “turn this around”.

Daeng Phonchone from Swan Childcare in Derrimut said her service was rated “working towards” on all seven indicators 18 months after opening.

She said the service had made a lot of improvements since then.

“We are working with the families and the children and the community,” she said.

A spokeswoman from Swan Childcare in Richmond said her service was “doing OK”.

“We are very positive,” she said.

CHILDREN DESERVE THE BEST CARE

Parents say it’s vital they’re informed about whether childcare centres and kindergartens are up to scratch to care for their kids.

Kayla Mossuto and husband Piers, who send five-year-old son, Ned, to a childcare centre and a kinder in Vermont, said both were exceeding the federal standards.

The national rating system, which also covers out-of-school care, had been especially helpful in giving parents confidence that centres were up to scratch.

“We did do some research before selecting where we were going to send Ned,” Ms Mossuto said.

“It was important to us that essentially he was going to be receiving the care and education we were after.

“Early education is really important and the standards are there for a reason, so it does surprise me that there are places in Melbourne falling behind.”

Young mum Stephanie Murray said it was reassuring that the Pakenham childcare centre attended by her children Jaxon and Kaidyn was meeting the federal standards.

“If I’m leaving my kids with someone for six to eight hours a day, I want to know they’re getting the care they need,” Ms Murray said.

SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT REQUIRED

Cranbourne Christian Fellowship Centre, trading as Turning Point Family Church,

Cranbourne

‘WORKING TOWARDS’ ON ALL CRITERIA

Brown St Family Day Care, Leongatha

California Gully Outside School Hours Care, California Gully

Camp Australia, Southern Cross Grammar, Caroline Springs

Dynamic Kids, Campbellfield

Future Super Stars, Sunshine

Gabow Family Day Care, Thomastown

Laugh & Learn Family Day Care, Mernda

Mernda YMCA Early Learning Centre, Mernda

Peekaboo Childcare Centre, Corryong

Swan Childcare, Derrimut

Swan Childcare, Ringwood

Twinkle Turtle Family Day Care, Coolaroo

Unicorn Family Day Care, Werribee

EXCELLENT

Albert Park Preschool Centre, Albert Park

Balnarring Preschool, Balnarring

Cambrian Preschool, West Melton

Clarendon Children’s Centre Co-op, South Melbourne

Gowrie Victoria, Broadmeadows Valley

Source: The Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority

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